Picture by Caprice Miller
“The Lord is my light and my salvation— so why should I be afraid? The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble?” – Psalm 27:1 (NLT)
Holy Cow! Who would have thought that an overhead light and sunglasses pocket of a car could look like it wants to eat you? That is not a face I want to have stuck in my head. So much for peaceful dreams as that image pops up!
In a similar manner that’s what can happen when the stresses of life get to us. They become “scary monster faces” that keep us awake at night as we wonder when and how they will attack us. We become that child again that is convinced there is a monster under the bed AND in the closet. We become so convinced of their presence that we have our parents come look in those places for us to scare them away. It was always a comfort to realize that our parents had some sort of “super hero mojo” that made the monsters go away. Those monsters were no match for them. If only we could have the same “mojo” for ourselves as adults. Oh, but we can!
The verse above is a great reminder that our God is our protector. I love the questions it asks – “…so why should I be afraid?” “….so why should I tremble?” Many times we allow even the possibility or thought of the presence of monsters in our life to overwhelm us. Our minds spin with “What if” questions. These are questions that keep us distracted and draw our focus away from God, our protector. As a result of this mind game, we mentally, and sometimes physically, curl up in the fetal position waving a white flag of surrender. In these times we forget about the power of the God we claim to know and love. The enemy, with his mind games, causes us to be ineffective for God’s purposes. We don’t have the courage to step out and do what God created you to do. We don’t even have the courage to lift our voice and call on Him to take us out of the spin cycle of fear that the “what if” game creates. God is bigger than that. We should not be afraid or tremble because we are His.
But then there are other times when the monsters in our lives are actually very real. They come in the form of illness, violence, debt, addiction, loss and a host of other things that can go under each of these categories. When we are faced with these real life monsters our lives can quickly be turned upside down. It is at this point that we come to the proverbial fork in the road of our life journey. One road will be full of overwhelming fear, pain, and grief that the monster of the circumstance can cause. If will consume us and cause more destruction.
The other road will have its share of fear, pain and grief also. However, this fork in the road will have rest stops for us to pull in to. Not the seedy, questionable rest stops. No, these rest stops are truly refreshing for our souls. They are full of light and reminders of how God is working on our behalf even though we may not be able to see it at the time. These rest stops help us to take a moment to refocus and regain our strength to stand strong under the weight of the circumstance. There can even be people at these rest stops that are there to encourage us and pray for us. The choice seems pretty easy of which road to take. But due to the size of the monster that may be in our life, we can become confused and a bit disoriented and end up taking the wrong path.
Proverbs 16:25 says, “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.” See? We aren't alone in our struggle. #thestruggleisreal. Confusion is a part of all of us and apparently has been for a really long time. When we allow fear and doubt to overtake us we tend to take the wrong paths in an attempt to control the circumstances in our lives. There is a way truly regain control of our lives though - by giving up control. Sure it sounds counter to what we think will help us. But this is what the verse is talking about. When we give control of our circumstances to God, we make the choice of taking the right path where we can experience rest, encouragement, comfort and rejuvenation. We force ourselves to be still and turn our focus to Him. (Psalm 46:10) When we do, we are reminded of His power and strength in our lives. We are reminded that He is God and we are not. We are reminded of His command over and over again to “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” – Joshua 1:9. It’s like asking your Heavenly Father to look under our beds and in the closets of our lives to make sure the monsters are gone. We are then able to rest and think more clearly in order to determine what path God wants us to take.
Do not allow the fear of monsters – perceived or real – overwhelm you. Ask God to clear away those monsters in your life and take control. Ask Him for clarity in order to see the path He is guiding you to. Ask Him to give you that strength and courage that only He can to step out onto that path and become that person He created you to be with no fear.
