Friday, August 3, 2012

What Are You Afraid Of?

I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. -- Psalm 34:4

Racing heart. Trembling hands. Frozen body. Panicked soul. Fear can unleash any number of emotions and physical reactions. Sometimes fear makes us immobile. Other times it motivates us to change and grow.

The other day I heard the dogs barking loudly. One glance out the window revealed them standing beside a large water bucket, lunging toward it every so often as they continued to bark. In my world, that is not a good thing. Just a couple of months ago they’d cornered a snake in the exact same spot.

Unfortunately, there was no one around to handle it but me. Did I mention that I am absolutely terrified of snakes? Still, I quickly got the dogs in the house so they would be safe. Then I pressed the button to open the garage door. I grabbed a hoe and headed around the house toward the back gate.

I peered nervously over the fence and toward the rear door and the water bucket sitting right beside it. I didn’t see anything. I considered just keeping the dogs in the house with me until reinforcements arrived home. There are some people who can deal with snakes without fear. Oh, did I mention that most of our snakes are moccasins?

I decided the fear of the snake getting in the garage was greater than the fear of the snake, so I eased into the backyard. Carrying the hoe like it was the strongest of weapons I eased closer to the bucket. A metal ladle lay in the water. Still, I saw nothing that moved.

With my heart pounding and my hands shaking so badly I could barely hold the hoe, I forced myself to use it to turn the bucket over. Water spilled everywhere but, again, there was no sign of movement. I used the hoe to pull the bucket back further. Nothing.

I gathered my courage and eased forward. Nothing. I took a deep, trembling breath, opened the door and released the dogs from the house. They went quickly to sniff around where the bucket had sat. They quickly lost interest. Probably just a lizard. Nothing dangerous. Nothing still hiding that would attract their razor-sharp noses.

Isn’t that how fear is sometimes? We spend so much time and energy anticipating what might be, that we lose an opportunity to discover something wonderful. We let our fear stop us from following the footsteps that Jesus has laid out for us. We cost ourselves tremendous blessing because we can’t get past the fear of what could go wrong.

It all comes back to God’s promises. We are so wrapped up in our fear, that we can’t see the Savior standing right beside us. We are so focused on the bad, that we don’t remember that we never, ever walk alone. Hand your fear to Jesus and step forward boldly, trusting that He will deliver you from whatever is holding you back.