HOW BIG AND HOW LOVING IS YOUR GOD?
Why should the child of God fear anything? What is so great or terrible that it should trouble the believer’s heart with anxiety? Let us join with the apostle Paul who asks the rhetorical question, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31). Surely this question can only be answered with a resounding, “No one can stand against God’s purpose for me!”
The size of that which causes us fear or anxiety is directly proportional to the size of our faith. Or as it has been stated by others, “Your God is too small.” Which is to say, that your view of God is too small. Step back and look up, so that you can take in a larger view. What you are facing may be too big for you, but nothing is too big for God! When David faced Goliath, he took little notice of his nine foot frame, but instead had his eye on El Shaddai, the Lord Almighty, as he charged into battle.
Of course, the source of our fear may not be that our God is too small, but that our God is too severe. In other words, he is big enough, but not loving enough. We doubt that God is really “for” us. We feel unworthy of God’s help, which is really about feeling unworthy of His love. Yet our God is not only all-powerful. He is all-loving. For “God is love” (1 John 4:8).
If we have placed our faith in Christ Jesus, then we are children of God, and as God’s children we may surely say with the psalmist, “The Lord is for me, so I will have no fear!” For if God did not spare His own Son for us, how can we doubt that He is “for” us?
PRAYER: Dear Father, help us to grow in our knowledge of You. The more we focus on Your face and on that of Your Son, the less we are worried or fearful about the things of this world. O how we want to know You better and better. In Jesus’ name, amen.