An Excellent Offering of Worship

Sophie is fearless.  She’s the one with bruises on her shins and a Band-Aid on her elbow hanging upside down on the monkey bars.  She’s trying to jump from the coffee table to the couch.  Her socks slip and slide on the slick coffee table wood but she laughs.  She’s the one asking daddy to go ahead and use the pliers to pull her tooth out.  She trips when she sprints up the stairs.  When she gets hurt she cries, “Why is it always me?”  So fearless.

Have you ever described someone as being ‘fearless’?  It’s kind of weird isn’t it?  I don’t even think it’s real.  Fearless.  Really?  Sophie has lots of fears.  I have lots of fears too.  We all do.

“Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.

Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you.

I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.^”

Isaiah 41:10

So what do we do with that?  We all feel some sort of fear and yet God says, “Don’t be afraid”.  Are we supposed to be in such a relationship with God that we never feel any kind of a fear?

There are many things that we will feel and experience in this life that are completely normal and acceptable in the eyes of God.  Much of what God calls us to is a proper handling and response to the conditions of a normal human experience.  Fear is normal.  Our family is afraid to go to Africa.  We’re human.  The issue is not whether we have fear but what we do with it.

Through Isaiah God says, “I will strengthen you and help you” implying that a weakness has arisen which requires strengthening and help.  God says, “I will hold you up with my victorious right hand” implying that the knees are weak, perhaps knocking, and a stable strength must abide.

Fear is normal.  We have it.  The fearless Sophie has it.  You have it.  We are not called to be anything more than human.  It is from that good humanity that we highlight His words “for I am your God”.

What will you do with your fears?  Will you try to fix yourself by mustering strength behind some creative battle plan?  Will you allow it to paralyze you?  Will you become consumed by avoidance?

“Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.

Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you.

I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.^”

Isaiah 41:10

Surrendered fear makes an excellent offering of worship.