A child stands looking down a dark hallway – his lip quivering, his foot lifted hesitantly towards the blackness. The floor boards suddenly creak under his tiny feet and his heart begins to race wildly. Every sound is amplified a hundred times. The harmless squeak of the loose wood manifests itself as a golf ball sized lump in his little throat. Fear grips and immobilizes this little boy.
Fear plays no favorites. It gives no quarters. Fear has brought and continues to bring grief into life’s everyday situations. Its companions of worry, anxiety and doubt have ruined the lives of countless people. Despite this, the overwhelming counsel of the psychologists has been “learn to live with your fears”. Thankfully, the Bible declares otherwise.
Contrary to the advice of psychologists, the counsel of scripture is that he who seeks the Lord will be delivered from all his fears.
Psalm 34:4
“I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.”
This verse doesn’t say that God will assist you to adapt to your fears. It says, “delivered”. Webster’s defines this as “being rescued”. Roget’s chimes in with “set free, liberate, save, emancipate”. Happily the word that God chose carries no synonyms of “adapting, conforming, adjusting” or “harmonizing”. It says, “delivered” and that’s exactly what it means.
God delivers, plain and simple. Our job is to seek Him. So, how does a person seek the Lord? Unfortunately for the New Agers, staring at trees, contemplating one’s naval or engaging in meditative yoga isn’t the answer. Abstaining from red meat and white sugar doesn’t qualify either.
With God, it is much simpler than that. You seek God by way of His Word. It is the Bible that declares the very nature of God. It is not a journey into self but a journey to your shelf. To grab your Bible, that is! In order to know God and what His will for your life is, He made it very easy. He provided the text on the subject. The Bible is not some esoteric treasure map or a book full of secret codes. God is not lost – His instructions to man are clearly revealed in His Word.
Believing the truths of God’s Word has delivered men and women from fear since those truths were first made known. By believing, Daniel faced a den full of lions; by believing, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego walked out of a burning, fiery furnace unharmed; by believing, David faced an overwhelming adversary named Goliath; by believing, countless men, women and children have stood in the face of overwhelming adversity.
Just how many people today live in fear? Fear of sickness, disease, death, loneliness, poverty, judgement, etc. keeps people in bondage. The world needs to turn to a God who is ready to deliver His people from their fears. God’s message throughout the ages has always been a simple, “Fear not!” Psalms 34:4 declares that if you seek Him, He WILL hear and deliver you. Now that’s music to anyone’s fears.
A child stands looking down a dark hallway – his lip mouthing verses from the Bible, his foot planted solidly in the truths of God’s Word. The floor boards suddenly creak under his tiny feet and his heart races … to the scriptures. With confidence and trust he guides his steps down a hallway that’s been flooded by the light of God’s Word.