It came unexpectedly. Oh, it was familiar yet unwelcome. Wrapped up in my favorite luxurious gray throw blanket, I sat frozen—even blinking seemed impossible. Yet my mind was a flurry of ‘what ifs’ and scenarios haunting my reality. My husband’s voice brought me back to the present.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine…maybe a little sleepy.”
I lied.
“I’m headed to my meeting—why don’t you get into bed early tonight,” and just like that he kissed my forehead and scurried out the door.
I was alone.
Almost.
It was fear and me.
My familiar yet unwelcome visitor.
I’m sure most of you have had a moment or two like I did that evening. Fear has been an unwanted visitor in most of our homes this week.
We’ve sat playing out unrealized scenes in our minds over and over.
“What if I lose my job?”
“What if I get sick?”
“What if my business can’t survive this?”
“What if my kids hate me by the end of this?”
“What if I don’t graduate?”
“What if my loved ones get sick?”
“What if I can’t handle it all?”
I normally find a lot of solace in writing when fear comes knocking. I like to be on the frontlines encouraging and empowering others to fight fear when crisis strikes. But over the past week, I’ve flirted with closing the laptop and putting my pen down. It seems as though everyone has a response. I felt like a small echo to big voices—mine didn’t seem needed. Wouldn’t I just be more noise? But most of all, fear was such a familiar friend what authority did I have to speak to it?
I don’t write to you today as an expert but from a shared struggle.
A couple of mornings ago, I read a verse as if it were the first time my eyes laid on it. I just love it when that happens…don’t you?
“He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure.” (Isaiah 33:6).
Fear is a key to treasure? I’d never heard of fear unlocking anything. I had to dig deeper.
To find security through the fear of the Lord is to have the key to great spiritual treasure. In other words, when we fear God alone, we find wisdom and spiritual treasure.
This is confirmed in Proverbs 9:10, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom….”
I wish we could be in a cute cafe sipping coffee so I could look you in the eyes and ask you, “What do you fear?”
Man?
A virus?
An outcome?
A ‘what if’?
“When we assume that the world is the ultimate threat, we give it unwarranted power, for in truth, the world’s threats are temporary. When we expect God to balance the stress of the world, we reduce him to the world’s equal.” William D. Eisenhower
When God takes His rightful place on the throne of our lives, our fears of this world begin to diminish.
God is above all.
When fear tries to take up residency as an unwelcome visitor this week, I’m going to…
- Open his Word and remind myself of who he is.
- Bring my made-up scenarios and what-ifs and lay them at his feet. God wants us to bring our fears to him. He doesn’t want us to pretend we aren’t feeling the way we are. He desires to meet us in our fears and calm us with his presence.
- Shout his name LOUDER. Yep, sometimes I have to crank the worship tunes and sing LOUD to remind myself who is above it all.
Instead of letting fear make itself at home, I’m going to allow His presence to take up residence.
His presence is where we find the treasure of peace, comfort, and intimacy.
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on erikaopperman.com.
Featured Image by WLS_MLBN
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