There is a lot of fear in our world. The air is thick with it. Even when on a tourist outing fear is evident. Perhaps it’s because we can’t see the smiles behind the masks. There is fear of what people think of us. We fear saying the wrong thing and being rejected for it. We fear Covid. We fear_______fill in the blank.

I wonder if there’s fear because people don’t know God–or believe in Him.

I have some fears. I fear my husband will die before me. I fear one of my children or grandchildren will die before me. I don’t fear death, but I do fear how it might happen.

When I feel these fears, because I believe in God, I go to His book to be reassured. Here are a few gems:

So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10

I will fear no evil,
for you are with me; Psalm 23:4b

The Lord is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear? Psalm 27:1

You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day, Psalm 91:5

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7a

Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. I John 4:18

Are you afraid because you fear life after death? We are assured if we believe in Jesus, we can have eternal life with Him. It’s really quite simple. First you must recognize you are a sinner. Sin is wanting our own way. Breaking one of the Ten Commandments–and we all have done at least one of them. Because of sin, we need forgiveness from the God who made us. Once you ask for that forgiveness, He enters your life. You can say a prayer like this:

Father,

I don’t understand all that’s involved in this. I’m putting my life into your hands. I believe that you did send your son, Jesus, to die for my sins. Forgive me of those sins.From now on, I will trust you to guide me through each day of my life.

Thank you Father for hearing my prayer. Thank you for beginning a relationship with me. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.

C.S. Lewis, a wise man, wrote this in 1948. He was writing about the atomic bomb, but we can easily insert “Covid” instead of bomb:

It is perfectly ridiculous to go about whimpering and drawing long faces because the scientists have added one more chance of painful and premature death to a world which already bristled with such chances and in which death itself was not a chance at all, but a certainty.
This is the first point to be made: and the first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb (or Covid), let that bomb(Covid) when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs (or Covid).
They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds. (C.S. Lewis “On Living in an Atomic Age”, 1948).

We visited Mt St. Helens yesterday and viewed the peak diminished by the eruption in 1980. Amazing to see.

Mt. St. Helens 2020

 

Last week, on the freeway, I captured another majestic peak.

Mt.Rainier

We are commanded to worship the Creator, not His Creation. Yet, His creation is a reminder of our amazing God and these photos are a reminder of that.

What’s your fear? I suggest you write them down. Give them to the Maker of Mountains and wildflowers.

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