Righteous

by Rocky Fleming 

Day One

Scripture:  “For the righteous will never be moved; he will be remembered forever.  He is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord.”  (Psalms 112:6-7 ESV)

As a father of teenagers who were first learning to drive, I feared most those hours they were on the road before arriving home at night.  I would lay in a fitful attempt to sleep until I heard the door open, signifying that they had arrived safely.  I would often sneak to their bedside while they slept and pray for their protection, for even when they were home I was on guard for them. There was a time that I was really in bondage to my fears for them, until I entrusted them to my King, and finally found a resting trust that would sustain me. Is the fear gone?  Not so easy.  

I still have great concern for my children and grandchildren when they travel as adults with their own children, and also my wife.  As before, I have to entrust my fears to the Lord to find any form of rest.  Even so, it is a fight with holding on or releasing.  There will always be a reason to hold on.  For instance, our granddaughter had a car wreck at one time and escaped with a fractured back, which has healed.  It could have easily been much worse.  When I heard about the wreck that had just happened, my fears came rushing at me telling me that I was justified to be afraid for her.  But that justification is bait for a trap called “Worry.” 

The truth is I think it is true that we all fear the sudden news that comes to us on a late night call, or from the doctor who tells us that something serious has been found on a routine check-up?  We live with it, don’t we?  The question is, “How do we live with it, without it taking from us the vitality and joy of life?”  I think it can be done, but it will not be by being less involved or less concerned, and caring less.  Rather it is by being so concerned that we entrust those objects of our fears to the Lord for His safekeeping.  This is where we open our hand and hold loosely our greatest fears, and allow the Lord to take us to a resting trust with that person, or illness, or financial calamity.  It is not to abandon by neglect the person or problem, but rather to abandon the fear we have of it.  

It is to embrace God’s assurance that He hears our prayers, and He will invite us to do our part when and if the time comes.  However our part is not worrying as if it helps.  Anxiety does not prove our love for someone.  It proves our lack of trust in God who will take them if we will entrust them to Him. I grew up with a loving mother who felt her station in life was to worry about her loved-ones.  I sometimes felt she took on too great of a burden with things she could not defend or protect.  Maybe I was wrong?  She did a lot of praying for those people she worried over, and I was a big worry to her, no doubt.  Maybe her concern and her prayers prevented a lot of bad things that could have happened to us?  This is where we need to go with our fears.  We need to use the “radar” that God has given us with those alerts to pray and entrust them more to the Lord.  This week I want us to explore how we do this.