Fear Is a Toothless Bear

Pause:

Before you start reading this devotional, take a moment to stop what you’re doing, slow down and focus on Jesus.

Pray and ask him to open your eyes to see as you read the Scriptures, and to open your ears to hear as you wait on the leading of the Spirit.

Read:

Psalms 27:1: “The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life of whom shall I be afraid?”

Psalms 90:14: “Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.”

Going Deeper:

Recently my husband and I had the absolute delight of spending a week camping in the Mammoth Lakes area in the stunning Eastern Sierras in California. I grew up camping. School trips, family holidays, adventures with friends. It was a big part of my life. I love the open fire, the stars on full display, the simplicity of it all, even going days without showering is my jam. There is however one aspect of camping that renders me a small child every time. I’ve come to a point that I am willing to confess it. Friends, I am scared of the dark. In the long sleepless nights in my tent, frozen in fear, I am scared of the dark.

This recent trip was no exception to such experience. You see, I did not grow up in a country with bears (unless you count the adorable and utterly cute Koala Bear) and as such, I am naturally terrified of a large rogue agent coming and mauling me to death. One night this trip, I only slept about 2 hours after one of our camping neighbours excitedly informed us that there had been a black bear in our campsite that afternoon sniffing around. Good Lord. This is the end.

Every noise, every russel in the tent (often just my husband), every twig snapping in the distance was a bear biding its time, sussing us out.

I’ve never been more afraid than nights sleeping in a tent. Perhaps in a way you can relate, but maybe what you’re scared of is different (or hopeful someone out there feels the same!). Maybe instead of bears, your parilised in fear by something else. Financial strain, losing your job, losing your health, the loss of a loved one, a global pandemic, driving on the freeway. How is it that you deal with these fears when they arise? I would love to say that in the dark of night waiting for a bear to attack, that my prayers to Jesus ended the fear right there. That was not the case. Sometimes the fears continue even as we raise our prayers to our Father. And that’s okay because something greater than our fears is coming. You see even when Jesus hung on the cross, with the horrors of ALL sins on his shoulders, He prayed and did not get reprieve. He begged his Father for the cup, the weight, the terror of all sins to be taken away. And It wasn’t.

Now my fear of bears is obviously nothing in comparison to the entirety of all mankind’s sins. But there is something beautiful that happens. It happened to Jesus and I experce it at the end of my fears.

“Fortunately, the sun has a wonderfully glorious habit of rising every morning” (Jean Craighead George, My Side of the Mountain).

As the sun rises on a new day, so Jesus rose again on the third. The fears in the dark nearly always melt away with the sun rise and Jesus is ALWAYS victorious over everything and anything the enemy has got. What a glorious thing.

On our second last day of camping we saw two bears on two separate occasions during the day by our campsite. You know what. They were not as big, not as scary, not as horrifying as my fears told me. Yes they still needed to be respected as wild animals but my perception changed and that night I had the best tent sleep I’ve ever had. In my mind, the teeth had been taken from my fear of the bears.

What fears are you facing today? Amidst the fear, trust. Trust in our Father who promises to never leave or forsake us. Rest accrued dear friend, the dawn is coming.

Pray:

Respond to God in prayer by speaking to Him about what stood out to you from this passage this morning.

Listen:

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you this morning?

Apply:

What are you going to do in response to what God is saying to you from the text and by the Spirit?