Day #27
Larry Trotter
Words of Love
4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me;
He delivered me from all my fears.
Psalm 34:4 NIV
2 He
said to them, “When you pray, say:
“‘Father, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.
3 Give
us each day our daily bread.
4 Forgive
us our sins, for we also forgive
everyone who sins against us.
And lead us not into temptation.”
Luke 11:2-4 NIV
Overcoming the Barrier
As we continue to
look at fear and how it can become barrier to our life with God I think it
might be helpful to address not only the situations in which we experience
fear, but a strategy for dealing with life-robbing anxiety. Jesus makes an
excellent case study. Jesus grew up in a large family and likely was often
around groups of people. His three or so years of ministry occurred in the
context of increasingly larger groups of people. There were, first, two
disciples, then, another, and finally a core group of 12. This doesn’t account
for the scores if not hundreds who followed him seeking healing and hope. And
yet, with the crowds pressing, he always found some alone time for prayer. This
was not an escape from the crowds; it
was an escape to his Father. It would
be reckless to speculate that Jesus didn’t experience fear. We have addressed
at least one situation where we know the fear over his looming death pushed him
to the point of briefly considering an alternative to the plan that led to the
cross. However, something led him past the point of allowing his fear to reset
his agenda and choose a new path. So, while we can’t say that he didn’t deal
with fear, we can say that fear didn’t stand between him and the purpose for
which he came. How did Jesus rise above the fear that had to occasionally
accompany standing against established authorities and stay on point as the
pressure mounted?
We know that
Jesus was a student of the Scriptures, what we know as the Old Testament. Luke
reports in Chapter 2 that when Jesus was 12 he was so passionate about studying
the Scriptures that he lost track of his family and was left behind in the
Temple. Those who heard him speak were amazed at his understanding. I included
the verse from Psalm 34 because it could have easily been a passage with which
Jesus was very familiar. Clearly, the idea of seeking the presence of God as a
way of dealing with fear became a way of life for Jesus. The spiritual retreats
noted in Luke were not one-off events. It was his custom to get away for prayer
and meditation. He was such a believer in prayer that he gave a model prayer
(seen above) to his disciples, including you and me, to help us be intentional
in our time with the Father. I believe that it was this lifelong dedication to
prayer that gave him, as a human as well as God, the spiritual resources
necessary to face the very human fears associated with his mission. Because it
was his custom to abide with the Father through prayer, he was keenly aware of
his Father’s presence with him regardless of the situation. As a parent I tried
to communicate consistently with our girls about anything and everything, no
matter how significant or insignificant the issues and situations might have seemed.
That way, if something big came up, we were already in the habit of sharing
life with each other and it made talking about difficult things easier. By all
means, we should pray when life goes south, even if we haven’t been on our
knees in a while. God doesn’t keep score as if there were a minimum number of
prayers per month to gain access. That said, when we pray regularly we develop
a heightened awareness of God’s presence. Then, when push does come to shove,
we are confident in His sovereign presence in the moment and will never feel
alone with our fears.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, I am so grateful that you
hear every prayer I mumble, cry, shout, or sing. Hear my prayer in this moment
as I commit to spending more time with you and less with my fears. In Jesus’
name, amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment