Everything is Going to be Okay

             If I asked you to help write a recipe for uncertainty, fear, or depression, what would it look like? Maybe, lock everyone up at home with their families? Spread a potentially life-threatening illness around the globe? Fill the news with contentious politics and acts of violence?

            Life today looks a lot like the results of that recipe. It’s no wonder so many of us are struggling with panic, frustration, and sorrow.

            It’s completely ok to be fearful. It’s what we do with that fear or what we do in the midst of that fear that matters.

            Do we watch incessant episodes of Gilmore Girls while eating Cheetos and cookie dough? (Asking for a friend.) Do we hide and waste the time we’ve been given? Or do we decide to rise?

            And, if we decide to rise, how do we do that? How do we rise above the chaos and the hand sanitizer and the nightly news? I know I can’t do it alone. I need something bigger than myself, something greater to pull me out of my worry and doubt. I need the Lord.

            So did a guy in the Bible named David. You’ve heard of him. He’s the guy who killed a lion and a bear while tending his flock of sheep. He stood up to the Philistine giant, Goliath. And he was a successful young captain in Israel’s army. Israel was constantly at war in those days, so David knew what it was to be scared and saddle up anyway, to loosely quote John Wayne. David would eventually rise to be King of the nation of Israel.

            David didn’t deny the presence of fear in his life, yet he knew what to do with it. He boldly trusted God despite his distress and dismay.

            In Psalm 56 verses 3 and 4 David said, “Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You. In God (I will praise His word), in God I have put my trust; I will not fear, what can flesh do to me?” While you and I both know that “flesh” can do a lot of painful things, what David was saying here is the good God gives is much greater than anything another person might do to him.

            In this Psalm, David finds himself captured by some of his enemies and he is very alone. He fled from Saul who was king, who was his boss, his commander in chief, and went to Gath which is where Goliath was from. Goliath’s people hadn’t forgotten what David had done. David, much younger and much smaller, had humiliated the Philistines by destroying their champion with just a slingshot and a rock. The Philistines were still mad about that.

            What seemed to bother David the most about this situation wasn’t just being imprisoned, or solitary, or in danger, David was bothered most by the pressure, the unrelenting seriousness of his situation. In Psalm 56 verses 1 and 2 David says, “Be merciful to me, my God, for my enemies are in hot pursuit; all day long they press their attack. My adversaries pursue me all day long; in their pride many are attacking me.” Then, in verse 5 he says, “All day long they twist my words; all their schemes are for my ruin. (emphasis mine)”

            The incessant-ness of his situation was getting to David. Isn’t that what bothers us the most too? When you dread bedtime because your five-year-old is going to put up a fight. When you just want to be able to visit with your friends or work or go to the grocery store without a mask and hand sanitizer in your pocket. When you just can’t get away from the political arguments.

            But David knew God was with him. God loved him. God heard him and was sympathetic to David’s problem. In Psalm 56 verses 8-9 say, “You number my wanderings; put my tears in Your bottle; are they not in Your book? When I cry to You, then my enemies will turn back; this I know, because God is for me.”

            So, what do we do with this? How can I apply this to my life today? How can I daily live out my trust in God? Here are just a few things I’m trying to do.

1.                          One of my resolutions for 2021 is to listen to the Gospels on my Bible app. I can do it while I’m in the car, cooking dinner or folding clothes. I love how the stories that are so familiar come alive when read one after the other.

2.                          Pray. When I pray, I’m trying not to recite my problems repeatedly. I share what’s on my heart, of course, then I thank God for the many blessings He’s placed in my life.

3.                        Journal. I try to journal most weekdays. I set my timer for 15 minutes, open my journal and write. It’s not always pretty or Godly or even legible. But it helps me get the thoughts out of my brain and on to paper. Amy Grant, the singer, calls it a brain dump.

            While you’re making use of one of these practices or something completely different, remember that you’re not alone. You’re never alone. Some of you are literally NEVER alone. You long for a day when you don’t have anyone clinging to your leg or pressed up against the door while you’re in the bathroom.

            God isn’t like that. He’s the company you want to have, the breath of fresh air that clears your lungs and your brain and revives you for the time ahead.

            One night when my twins were about three years old, I tucked them in to bed and heard the dreaded words, “Mom, don’t leave. I’m scared.” I tucked Allen in tighter and told him he didn’t have anything to worry about. Dad and I were right down the hall and besides, Jesus was right there in the room with him. He had no reason to be afraid.

            I told the boys to blow out the light, flipped the switch and closed the door most of the way. Then, I went about my nightly routine – wash the dishes, wash my face, pick out clothes for tomorrow. While walking past the boys’ bedroom, I paused outside the door to see if Allen had calmed down. He was completely quiet. Davis however was chanting over and over, “I’m Jesus! I’m Jesus!” He was the only other person in there and if I told Allen that Jesus was right in the room with him then…

            After laughing for a few minutes, I entered their room to start over. It went something like this, “Okay, Jesus is in here with y’all, but your brother is not him…”

 

“Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.”

-John Wayne