This is truly an on time word. If this doesn’t minister to anyone else, that’s ok. Sometimes in life, you go through things and in the going through, you ask God to help you. How many times, though, you petition for God to help you but in the asking, you fear the worst, or doubt that it will happen for you? You know deep inside you trust God to supply all of your needs. But sometimes in the natural, you see that you have more bills than money, or you are days away from eviction, or being reported to the credit bureau for back payments of medical bills. The list can go on and on. So you think to yourself, “How I’m I going to get through this?” This has happened to me more than once. Amen? See some people don’t want to admit their weaknesses. I do and will say them in a heartbeat. Because it’s in the sharing of your weaknesses that God will honor and make those weaknesses, strengths that he can and will use for his glory! Thank you Lord. So anyway, in the process of feeling this way, as years have gone by, God has finally brought me to a place of accepting my weaknesses and giving me more of a peace and increasing faith and trust in God that truly moves mountains. Changes has definitely taken place in my life in a very short amount of time. I am grateful to God for that! So below you will find a devotional from a favorite website of mine that I’m sure you will enjoy.
When you feel that your back is up against the wall, and you feel there’s no hope of ever getting to a place of more than enough, know that when you are in God’s hands, and on His side, you always have more than enough, because if you just ask God what you need, believing, he will do or give it to you! Live Without Fear!
Lily
Life Without Fear
“Yet you have forgotten the LORD, your Creator,
the one who stretched out the sky like a canopy
and laid the foundations of the earth.
Will you remain in constant dread of human oppressors?
Will you continue to fear the anger of your enemies?
Where is their fury and anger now?
It is gone!”
Israel was a small nation, one that had been an easy target for larger empires seeking expansion. The Persians overthrew the northern kingdom in the eighth century BC. The Babylonians invaded the southern kingdom and decimated Jerusalem in the sixth century. Egyptian power continued to threaten Israel’s well-being. No wonder she “remained in constant dread of human oppressors.”
Yet the antidote to fear was on Israel’s doorstep, if she would but open the door. However big and powerful her human enemies might have been, God is bigger and more powerful. He is the Creator, “the one who stretched out the sky like a canopy and laid the foundations of the earth.” Confidence in the face of human threats was available to Israel . . . if she would not forget the Lord. Oh, I suppose that, in principle, Israel remembered the God who had so often saved her. But when it came to daily living, when it came to how Israel felt in real time, she forgot the Lord.
And so do we, much of the time. When we read stories of economic collapse, when our loved ones struggle with seemingly insurmountable burdens, when we hear stories of terror plots, and when we face our own mortality, we can forget the Lord. We forget his faithfulness, his majesty, his power, his mercy. We forget that God is always with us and that nothing can separate us from his love.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION: When do you forget the Lord? And when you do, what happens? What helps you to remember God in times of distress?
PRAYER: O Lord, how many times have I forgotten you? A hundred? A thousand? Ten thousand? I shudder to think of the number. It’s not that I stop believing in you or that my theology disappears. But, practically, and especially in my emotions, I forget your presence in my life. Your faithfulness disappears from my consciousness for a while. And I feel afraid . . . afraid of where my life is heading, afraid of how my children will turn out, afraid of missing your blessing . . . you name it. (Indeed, Lord, you can name it!)
Forgive me, Lord, for living as if you weren’t there. Forgive me for the times when I forget you. Help me to live each moment of each day with the sense of your presence. May I claim your promises and stake my life upon them. Even as you never forget me, dear Lord, may I never forget you. Amen.
Mark D. Roberts, as Senior Director and Scholar-in-Residence for Laity Lodge, is an advisor and frequent contributor to TheHighCalling.org. A Presbyterian pastor, Mark earned his Ph.D. in New Testament from Harvard University. He has written six books, including No Holds Barred: Wrestling with God in Prayer (WaterBrook, 2005).
