Real Hope: Fear NotMfano

Overwhelmed By Wonder

We can become very proficient in constructing worst-case scenarios, and the result may well be paralysis of fear. All our worst fears overwhelm us and our imaginations run riot.

The antidote to this is not to tell ourselves bad things will not happen. They may happen for all we know. Though we need to remind ourselves that our despairing scenarios are usually exaggerations. The conquest of fear does not arise out of dismissing the possibilities of danger. Denial is not an effective life strategy.

We best conquer fear by reminding ourselves that God is with us. It is the presence of God rather than the absence of threat that is the key. We have to concede we don’t know what’s in our future. We have no control over much of it. So we do best to take refuge in the fact that God will never leave us or forsake us.

We surrender to fear when we pay too much attention to the threat and too little attention to the strong faithfulness of God. We exaggerate the circumstances and minimize our God.

We cannot avoid wondering about our future. But we can avoid letting fear overtake us by bringing God into such wondering. After all, whatever future we face we can be sure God will be in it. We can reimagine the future by imagining God in the center of it.

written by DAVID REAY