Morning Devotional

May 14, 2005
"Without Fear" (Part 2)
    by Don Emmitte

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Praise the LORD! Happy are those who fear the LORD. Yes, happy are those who delight in doing what he commands. Their children will be successful everywhere; an entire generation of godly people will be blessed. They themselves will be wealthy, and their good deeds will never be forgotten. When darkness overtakes the godly, light will come bursting in. They are generous, compassionate, and righteous. All goes well for those who are generous, who lend freely and conduct their business fairly. Such people will not be overcome by evil circumstances. Those who are righteous will be long remembered. They do not fear bad news; they confidently trust the LORD to care for them. They are confident and fearless and can face their foes triumphantly. (Psalm 112:1-8 NLT).

Only a fool would assert that we could live without the things that make us fearful. I like what Mark Twain wrote: “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear.” In trying to rid our lives of fear there is something that we need to realize. The things that make us fearful may not go away, just because we learn not to be afraid of them. Notice the Psalmist doesn’t say his enemies are gone, he says that he can face them with confidence.

When you become a Christian, and even as you grow as a Christian, problems in life don’t automatically leave you. The Christian life is many times full of suffering. We, as do our non-Christian friends, live in a fallen world. This world is broken and isn’t going to be fixed until Jesus returns. Many times we think that if we pray enough and trust enough that God will perform one great miracle and erase all our pain. I know many Christians and I’ve yet too meet one of them without any concerns.

The truth is that we are going to have to learn how to approach disappointments in life in order to live at peace. We have to learn how to “have no fear” in the midst of troubled times. Trials shouldn’t catch us off guard; we should expect them, but we should also be prepared to battle them with our strength found in Christ. To attempt a fight alone will only end in more fear.

Just a little quote for you to ponder on today: “Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway.” ¹  Do you need to saddle up?

1.       John Wayne