How to win over fear

Trust Triumphs Over Fear

Luke was playing on our bedroom floor, sitting in a cardboard box full of his toys with a blanket over his head. As his mother left the room and I headed for the door Luke asked, “Where are you going?”  

‘Momma went downstairs to get something to eat and I’m going downstairs to work,” I replied. 

“But I’m scared,” Luke responded.

“Scared of what?” I asked.  “There’s nothing to be afraid of.  Momma and I are downstairs. No one is going to hurt you.” 

“I’m scared to be up here by myself.”  

Then I, foolishly thinking I could be rational about a five year old’s fears asked, “If you’re up here by yourself, then who are you afraid of?”

“I’m scared,” he answered emphatically. 

We all three ended up downstairs. 

Fear can be crippling.  No one likes to be afraid. I wish I were never afraid.  But sometimes, just like Luke, there are times when fear swallows my soul and shrouds me in darkness. 

As a loving father, my desire was to comfort Luke’s fear with the assurance that he could trust me and no harm would come to him. While he may have understood that with his mind, his heart just couldn’t get on the same page. He was afraid and unsure that he could trust me.

I’ve been there.  My heavenly Father, comes to me and says, “Adam, don’t be afraid.” But I haven’t always and don’t always trust Him.   

I should.  He knows my name. He knows how many hairs call my head home.  He knows my fears.  He has demonstrated time and again that He is in control and will take care of me.  I simply need to trust Him more. 

As David reflected on his Oscar-worthy performance before Achish the King of Gath (1 Samuel 21:10-15), he recalled the fear he felt.  He later wrote about that experience in one of his psalms and said, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.  In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.  What can flesh do to me?”  (Psalm 56:3-4).  

Notice in the first sentence that fear came first and then trust.  That’s good, but the second sentence is better because trust comes first and then fear never appears.   

Trust triumphs over fear.  The more I trust the God of my praise, the less I fear.  Truth be told, fear is finished when I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. 

Adam Davis

Brenda’s Bigger Burger, Fayetteville, Arkansas

Brenda’s Bigger Burger

“You carry them away like a flood; they are like a sleep. In the morning they are like grass which grows up: in the morning it flourishes and grows up; in the evening it is cut down and withers.” Psalm 90:5-6

Brenda’s Bigger Burger was a landmark in Fayetteville, Arkansas for several generations. I used to tell people they could find our church just five blocks south of Brenda’s Bigger Burger on S. Hill Ave. Now Brenda’s establishment has been reduced to a small pile of concrete and other building debris. After it closed, the building remained intact for a while. A local homeless man had taken up residence under one of the eaves. Thankfully that man now has a home, but Brenda’s is gone. No more burgers, no more fries, no more milk shakes and no more Brenda’s. 

I learned from a friend who knew the family who ran Brenda’s that they were tired of the daily toil. For the last 20 years Brenda’s was only opened from about 11:00 a.m. to around 2:00 or 3:00 p.m. They only served the lunch crowd. And the lunch crowd either ate at a couple of concrete tables or else they took it with them because there was no indoor serving area. You ordered at the window, picked it up and headed home, to the park, back to work or wherever you could find a good place to dine. Brenda’s made a good, old fashioned greasy burger. 

I’m not sure how long Brenda’s thrived in Fayetteville. However long it was, it probably seems just like a sleep, as the psalmist describes life in Psalm 90:5-6. Just like the grass grows up and then is cut down and withers, so Brenda’s shuffled on and off the scene. That pile of concrete just five blocks up the street from my home congregation is a metaphor, a symbol, a simile. It reminds us just how frail and short life is. 

Brenda’s Bigger Burger fulfilled its mission though. They served countless hungry people who thronged to their window over the years. I’m sure there was laughter and fun and some satisfying eating. I’m sure there was labor and sorrow, too. But that mission has now been passed on to some other establishments in town. Brenda’s has been cut off and has flown away. 

The metaphor of the grass in this psalm is repeated in other passages as well. Jesus used this illustration in the sermon on the mount: “Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 26:30). Jesus reminds us that God’s care and concern over the grass, which is so often clothed in splendor, should be a source of comfort and strength to us lest our faith should falter. God cares for the grass and he cares for the birds and he cares for us. 

The Apostle Peter reminds us that the grass stands in sharp contrast to God’s word: “All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever. Now this is the word by which the gospel was preached to you” (1 Peter 1:24-25).

-Scott Gage

Fayetteville, Arkansas

I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me

If Only...
 

• If only my boss wouldn't be so rude and domineering, I would try harder and be more cooperative at work. "Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable." (1 Peter 2:18)
• If only my husband weren't so lazy and self-centered, and would treat me like I deserve, I would go back and live with him. "… wives, be submissive to your husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior." (1 Peter 3:1-2)
• If only people would quit taking advantage of me, I would maintain a better disposition. "To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead." (1 Peter 3:8-9)
• If only the brethren were friendlier and that preacher not so dry, I would go to church more often. "… let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another …" (Hebrews 10:24-25)
• If only I had more income and fewer bills, I would give a lot more. "… in the churches of Macedonia … in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality." (2 Corinthians 8:1-2)
• If only my family would be more supportive, I would become a Christian. "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me …" (Matthew 10:37)

Do you notice that what God expects of us, He expects regardless of our particular circumstances? Instead of excusing ourselves due to adverse conditions, let us commit ourselves to our Creator and Benefactor.
If only we would be like Jesus, who said, "… I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me" (John 5:30). He not only said it, He lived it — even to the point of death.

-by Frank Himmel