No Fear In That

 

The fear of man

      lays a snare,

but whoever trusts in the LORD

                     is safe.

                  Proverbs 29. 25

(One guarantee in this life is that

       fear will always trip us up,

       always take us

              down a dead end road,

       and always deflate our tires.

That is why God says

             over and over in Scripture,

    "Do not fear.

     I am with you."

When we trust God instead,

we live differently

   because we see differently.

Circumstances do not define us,

        nor distract, nor defeat,

but we can navigate with assurance

            whatever unfolds,

    because God has His hand on us.

We grasp the promise of Emmanuel:

                God with us.

Fear threatens and screams,

    but only God can bring us through.

There will be cliffs and potholes,

but we walk with the Almighty.

     He is with us even then.)

O LORD,

We take you up on Your promise

    that You are with us.

And that changes everything.

Help us to not just face circumstances,

        or difficult people,

        or overwhelming odds,

but to respond to those hard things,

     hand in hand with You.

Please help us to respond

   with unexpected grace

and not be ambushed by fear.

This hard situation is

             not the end of the story,

but an integral thread

                      of Your redeeming,

replacing fear with

                  Your glory and honor.