Why Are We Afraid?

The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:5b-7 [KJV]

We are afraid when things change or are changing, when we see things that we don't understand, when we encounter something new, or any number of situations that come to mind or memory in our life.  However, we can be assured that the Lord is always with us and we don't have to live in fear.  We can turn everything over to Him.  How does this work?  Well, let's take the prescription in the verses above.

First, - remember that the Lord is with us always, even until the end of time, the age or the earth.  - Now we don't have to be concerned about facing anything alone.

Second - Don't worry about anything but with prayer and thanksgiving, tell God all about it - Don't keep your worries or concerns or hopes or fears to ourselves, but tell God like He was not there, but remember that He remembers all the details and He knows the solution.

Third -  God's peace will reach us - Once we tell God and believe that He will handle the things appropriately, not just follow our plan, He will comfort us with a peace that we can't explain to others when they look at our situation.

Fourth - He will keep our hearts strong. - We know that once the peace comes, other will tell us that we should not be so calm and peaceful because they can't see the outcome.  But we know that Christ is on the tasks and will handle everything appropriately.  

These four steps were not easy to write or will be as easy to follow, because they are asking us to give up on forcing our plan onto God and letting Him do what is truly best.  Not what is just best for us as we see it, but what will work out best for all involved.  God can do it if we let Him.  Why are we afraid?  Because we think that God's plan is different than ours.  Truth is, His Plan is different and better than ours and we need to trust and believe that He really has EVERYTHING under control.

Be Encouraged,

Martin