I am not scared because…

My four-year-old daughter enters her bedroom as she pushes a giant creaking door open. She looks around into the darkness in all her innocence and begins to whisper as she sees the frightening shadows of her toys and furniture. Her whisper gets louder and louder with every subtle step. My wife starts to make out the words coming from the lips of my brave little girl. “I am not scared because God is with me where ever I go.”

With a child like faith her words are declaring her dependence on the God of the universe. It’s humbling, simply amazing, a God moment to say the least.

We can learn so much from Children. No wonder Jesus illustrates this point in the Gospels as he speaks to a gathering of people including his disciples and Pharisees, “I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it” (Mark 10:15). I am sure most of us understand the point Jesus is making but living it, now that’s challenging.

As adults, total dependency… I mean TOTAL dependency on our Creator can be a wavering task. Becoming vulnerable can be extremely difficult since it requires total surrender of self. It means letting go and letting God. That means I need to loosen up my grip and give up my control of things. It means putting my faith in God and dying to self.

Ouch! I’m not sure I can do that in the midst of turbulent times, a weak economy plagued with high unemployment, a corrupt government and a culture closer to hell than heaven. See there I go again depending on my two senses.

God is faithful.

“I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” (Matt 6:25-27)

I need to, WE need to push that giant creaking door open, look into the darkness; be strong and courageous; not terrified or discouraged; for the LORD our God will be with us wherever we go.

What words of wisdom! Did I say she was four?

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9)