As I ran through city streets early this morning my mind
drifted, wandering down the streets of self-reflection, and Iasked myself yet
again:
What is the antidote
for fear, for control?
For most of my life, whenever I felt fear, I self-scolded: “You
aren’t God! Quit trying to control!” Yet simply admitting “I’m not God,” didn’t
squelch fear. And I realized: even Satan admits “God is God, and I am not!”
For years I fought fear the only way I knew how: I memorized
“do not worry” and “be anxious for nothing.” I prayed and did Bible studies and
asked for accountability.
But with my head full of Bible, I still lived the Fearful
life.
And then I realized: I’m going about this all wrong! I can’t
just fight against something, I
must fight for something! How
do I fight for the Fearless
life?
And I read: “You make known to me
the path of life; you will fill me with
joy in your presence, with eternal
pleasures at your right hand (Psalm 16:11) . . . . Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give
you the desires of your heart (Psalm 37: 4).”
And I pondered:
Jesus and his disciples . . . came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10).And I understood: the antidote to Fear is delighting in God.
And I asked myself: How do I delight in God? How do I, like Mary, savor God’s presence above all things?
And I realized: My heart is so sinful that I could pursue delighting in God merely to feel fearless or merely to receive the “desires of my heart.” How do I make savoring God the END, not merely the MEANS to get what I want, to feel good about myself?
I know now:
When I stop fighting fear by “doing things for God”—teaching SS, serving the elderly, witnessing to my neighbor, feeding the sick, memorizing scripture —and fight fear with the “one thing that is needed”—delighting in Christ—I live the fearless life.
Service for God is good, but Service is not GOD.
I cannot live the Fearless life if I don’t fight for delight in the only thing that can satisfy—God.
So, how do I delight in God?
I delight in God through seeing and savoring his presence in the mundane moments of scrubbing bathtubs and folding laundry, through two miscarriages, through losing my mother and father, through the pain of spiritual abuse, through the pages of scripture, through prayer, through ___________. When my heart focuses on seeing and savoring God—I find him everywhere!
In God’s presence I experience: joy (Isaiah 9:3, Acts 2:28), refreshment
(Acts 3:19) rest (Psalm 46:10,
Exodus 33:14), help (Psalm 42: 5) and pleasure (Psalm 16:11).
Problem is—I don’t seek God’s presence. When I’m needing refreshment, rest,
help or pleasure, my first inclination is to call a friend, busy myself with
work, do a Bible study, witness to my neighbor . . . Sadly, in doing all these good things I
miss the most important thing of all--being
with God. When I, like Martha, allow distractions—even good distractions—replace seeing and
savoring Christ, I do not have joy, I cannot live the Fearless life.
So, I ask you to join me in this
life-long journey to delight in Christ alone, to know and experience true and
lasting joy, and in doing so, to live the Fearless life.
(You may be interested in the first two posts in this series: Spirit of Fear and Battling Fear )
