When Our Fears Seem Louder Than God’s Promises

Recently, my son had a bad dream.  It was a really bad dream, the kind that he talked about the next day and that had him scared to go to sleep the next night.  I knelt by his bed with him as he recounted the details.  There was a witch, a creepy forest, scary kids, and ghosts that reached inside of people and stole their souls. Seriously, this was the kind of nightmare that would have scared me too.

I gave it my best shot to comfort and calm his nerves.  He wasn’t crying, he just was not all that interested in going to sleep. He was scared.  I’m scared sometimes too, so I shared with him my practice when I’m scared.  I read to him from God’s word, we read Psalm 23, Psalm 24, and then 1 John 5.  As I was putting his Bible away, he reached and grabbed it from me, “I’m going to read that again,” he said.  “Daddy, I heard what you said, and I believe it with my head, but my body needs to believe it too.  I’m going to read it to myself so that my body can believe it and not be scared.”

There it is, wisdom from a seven year old. We need more than mental assent, we need to believe God’s word at the very core of our beings.  Sometimes it is difficult to fully believe in and trust the promises of God.  Often, the fears of this world seem louder and more vivid than the promises of the next.  As we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, death sometimes seems like much more than a shadow.  Often, in the dark, we do not see the light from our good shepherd, and we struggle to believe in the protection that comes from his rod and staff.

In those hard times when we do not feel like those who have overcome the world, we need to go back to 1 John and be reminded again (sometimes over and over again).  When this world seems wild and out of control, we need to run back to Psalm 24 and be reminded, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.”  When the darkness closes in and the nightmares threaten to rob us of our soul we need to run to Psalm 91 and read, “You are my defender and protector.” The name of the Lord is a strong tower, we can run into and be safe.

The world can be a scary place, and sometimes it is difficult for me to fully believe and trust God’s promises.  I need to take advice from Wyatt.  When my head hears, but my heart hasn’t, I need to read it again “so that my body will believe it too.”

photo credit: Michael Heilemann via photopin cc