Nothing to Fear . . . right.

The sermon I heard at church last Sunday was a good one. An important one. It was one of those sermons where the word just met me where I was and fed my soul. And the person who shared the word had a great testimony to go along with it. You can listen to it here if you're interested.

The passage was Isaiah 8-9, specifically:

^8:11 For thus the Lord spoke to me with mighty power and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying,
¹² “You are not to say, ‘It is a conspiracy!’
In regard to all that this people call a conspiracy,
And you are not to fear what they fear or be in dread of it.
¹³ “It is the Lord of hosts whom you should regard as holy.
And He shall be your fear,
And He shall be your dread.¹⁴ “Then He shall become a sanctuary;

I fear a lot of stuff. I fear that something will happened to me or Chris or our baby. I feel really anxious about things like bike, car, or pedestrian accidents. I hear stories of these things happening a lot. And they frighten me. Often times these fears stop me from moving forward. They hinder me from living.

Last week, there was an accident at a local park that rekindled a lot of my fears, or at least brought them to the surface. A woman and her 11-month old child along with their dog were hanging out at the park and were hit by a city parks vehicle. It was horrible. The woman ended up dying at the hospital; the baby uninjured (PTL!). I had assumed that it was another case of a pedestrian vs. car accident, but that wasn't the case. The woman was actually sunbathing in the grass, away from the road! The city vehicle was driving in the grassy area and ran her over . . . and kept driving. The police found the truck and driver not far from the park.

How does one take precautions against stuff like this? Are we supposed to fear sunbathing in the park? Live in fear of freak accidents? Fear the seemingly impossible?

I don't want to live that way. I really don't. And the word that was shared on Sunday says I don't have to! It says that I shouldn't fear the things of this world. No, I am to fear the Lord and regard Him as holy. Then He will be my sanctuary (or peace).

The sermon covered so much more than this, but this is the part that I took home with me and needed to dwell on. How do I acknowledge the sovereignty of God on a daily basis and fear Him only? How can I keep these earthly fears from taking over my mind and heart . . . and life? I don't really have any answers to this, but I think part of it (or maybe most of it) has to do with being in God's word, knowing Him, and TRUSTING Him with all of me.

I hope I can grow in this area of living without fear or anxiety. It seems unlikely as I enter parenthood. But I need to.

The sermon I heard at church last Sunday was a good one. An important one. It was one of those sermons where the word just met me where I was and fed my soul. And the person who shared the word had a great testimony to go along with it. You can listen to it here if you're interested.

The passage was Isaiah 8-9, specifically:

^8:11 For thus the Lord spoke to me with mighty power and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying,
¹² “You are not to say, ‘It is a conspiracy!’
In regard to all that this people call a conspiracy,
And you are not to fear what they fear or be in dread of it.
¹³ “It is the Lord of hosts whom you should regard as holy.
And He shall be your fear,
And He shall be your dread.¹⁴ “Then He shall become a sanctuary;

I fear a lot of stuff. I fear that something will happened to me or Chris or our baby. I feel really anxious about things like bike, car, or pedestrian accidents. I hear stories of these things happening a lot. And they frighten me. Often times these fears stop me from moving forward. They hinder me from living.

Last week, there was an accident at a local park that rekindled a lot of my fears, or at least brought them to the surface. A woman and her 11-month old child along with their dog were hanging out at the park and were hit by a city parks vehicle. It was horrible. The woman ended up dying at the hospital; the baby uninjured (PTL!). I had assumed that it was another case of a pedestrian vs. car accident, but that wasn't the case. The woman was actually sunbathing in the grass, away from the road! The city vehicle was driving in the grassy area and ran her over . . . and kept driving. The police found the truck and driver not far from the park.

How does one take precautions against stuff like this? Are we supposed to fear sunbathing in the park? Live in fear of freak accidents? Fear the seemingly impossible?

I don't want to live that way. I really don't. And the word that was shared on Sunday says I don't have to! It says that I shouldn't fear the things of this world. No, I am to fear the Lord and regard Him as holy. Then He will be my sanctuary (or peace).

The sermon covered so much more than this, but this is the part that I took home with me and needed to dwell on. How do I acknowledge the sovereignty of God on a daily basis and fear Him only? How can I keep these earthly fears from taking over my mind and heart . . . and life? I don't really have any answers to this, but I think part of it (or maybe most of it) has to do with being in God's word, knowing Him, and TRUSTING Him with all of me.

I hope I can grow in this area of living without fear or anxiety. It seems unlikely as I enter parenthood. But I need to.