In the last two devotions, we have looked at Prayer, Belief, Focus, and now Hope! All are crucial to overcoming fear and anxiety.We all need hope in the future, hope that things will be better. Man is a miserable creature without hope, but that is how so many people live in our world. A Christian should never have to live without hope. However, even Christians look for hope in the wrong place. We have been convinced that God takes care of some problems, but we need the world’s ways to handle others. We try them,feel no better, and keep searching in the wrong direction until we feel hope-less. Listen to this illustration.
When the phone rang, the young, 16-year old boy answered. It was his aunt. Her car had a flat tire, and she couldn’t change it herself. She needed his help.The young boy hopped into his small, American car and headed her way. When he arrived, he was eager and ready to change her tire, but she didn’t have a lug wrench for her German-made car. No problem. The young boy grabbed the lug wrench out of his American car, not realizing that the US-made lug wrench used inches and the German-made wrench used millimeters. That’s okay, he thought. It still fits.
He placed the wrench on the first lug nut. Felt snug. So, with all his strength, he twisted the lug wrench. He felt it moving, but it slipped a few times. That’s okay, he was strong. He continued to push the wrench round and round, not realizing he was stripping the lug nuts. Not sure what was happening, he tried the next lug nut. Same thing. Then, the next one and the next one. When he was done, all but one of the lug nuts were ground down to a finely polished surface. Nothing would grab them now. He thought he was fixing the problem, but now the problem was worse.
I tell this story to illustrate a profound truth in dealing with fear in our world of today. There are lots of “tools” out there today that promise hope that our fears will go away. That if we use their tools we will be fixed. Unfortunately, most of the worlds ways of solving problems that involve the mind and the emotions, can create more problems than it solves. They cause us to be dependent on something other than God. So then, what is the right tool for hope without fear? Humanity has two key problems:
We are born into this world disconnected from the Source of true life. Because of our ancestors sin, we are born with sin. “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Romans 3.23
Because of that, we have connected with ourselves as our own source.Think about it, when struggling with crippling fear, anxiety, depression, and panic attacks, do you find yourself with these thoughts:
If I just had enough courage, I could beat this thing.
If I could find the right book, DVD, or doctor, then I can get free.
If I could just find the right medication, then I would have peace.
If I just prayed the right prayer, then God would answer.
If I just had more willpower, I can overcome this.
If I fight hard enough, I can win this battle.
The problem with these kinds of thoughts is that we think we are the source of our freedom and hope, but we’re not! Look at the beginning of each of those phrases. The first two words are “if I’. We can’t fix ourselves. It’s like trying to arm wrestle with yourself–even if you win, you lose. It’s like the little Chinese finger toy I talked about in our second session. We bind ourselves up with our own strength and it makes us ineffective.
Have you heard this phrase: “God helps those who help themselves?” Guess what? It’s not in the Bible. It’s not scriptural. It should say, “God helps those who cannot help themselves.” Or, let me say it this way:
Romans 5:6 “for when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.”
Proverbs 3:5-7 “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.”
Luke 17:33 “Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.”
The harder you work at fixing your own problems, the harder you turn that wrongly-sized lug wrench, doing more damage than good. I encourage you today to stop using the wrong tool. Put it down. Give it to God. “Cast your cares upon the Lord, for he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). Connect with your True Source of freedom and hope. Let him whisper his love over you, because he wants you free from your fears and anxiety more than you do.
Start working with the right tool. Know his word. Memorize scripture that will comfort you and speak hope and truth to your situation. When my children were young, many times Ron would have to work out of town. Many times, even out of the country. I hated staying by myself at night, but we always lived away from family. Unless I wanted to impose on someone else, and I didn’t, it was my task to be the protector and stabilizer at home. I would stay up until I couldn’t keep my eyes open. Sometimes that was almost all night. For years this is the way I would function when Ron was not home. Even as a child I hated the dark. I also hated milk! However, we lived on a farm and milk was the drink. Each night Mom would pour all of us a big cold glass of milk. I would sit with my milk, until Mom finally finished cleaning up the kitchen and was ready to turn the light out. It was a rule at our home that if it was on your plate or in your glass you could not leave the table until it was gone. As she would approach the light switch I would gulp, the now warm milk, down. Simply because I was more afraid of the dark than I was of drinking the milk! That’s how afraid I was of being in the dark alone. One day I had enough. I was determined to not allow my fear to control me. I got my Bible and started looking for passages, where I could find hope and strength. I came across Psalm 91 and now I have a life’s verse and a life’s passage.
Psalm 91:1-16 “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely, he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. (I can climb up under his wings, his arm of protection, just like an eagle spreads her wings to protect her young, I can abide, not just run in time of trouble, but abide, live, stay up under his arm next to his heart) Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet. Now God is telling me what he will do for me. Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.”
I do not have to fret, worry or be afraid. Things may happen that I don’t understand, and they will. But I have a God, my father, who knows all, and is in control of all. Nothing escapes him. He loves me with an everlasting love, Jeremiah 31:3. He wants what is best for me, Romans 8:28
In Genesis 50:20 Joseph tells his brothers after all he had been through, that what they did to him, they meant for evil, but God meant it for good. God turned their sinful deed into a blessing. He can and will do the same thing for us, if we will slide up under his wings and truly trust him. When Satan tries to convince you otherwise rebuke him in Jesus name, tell him to get behind you, just like Jesus did when he was tempted. Then, quote scripture. Just like Jesus did!
Pray to God and tell him, “I’ve been working so hard for so long with the wrong tool. I give up. I’m tired of doing more damage than good. I lay down my tools, my efforts, even my strength, and I put all of my trust in you, for you alone are my true Source”
With God as my God, my strength, my help, my sustainer, my comfortor, I can pray and talk to him with complete openness. He knows all about me and still loves me. I can focus on him, and have joy and peace in any situation. I can have hope that nothing slips through his hand and gets to me, for he is in control. I am his and he is mine. Psalm 91:2 “I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God in whom I trust.”
Where is your hope?
What passage are you going to claim as your sword to fight fear?
