Stay Near to Him and Be Not Afraid

I have these "freeze frame" moments from time to time when I say something to my children. It feels as if I am in a movie, the reel stops, and God points out to me, "Did you hear that, Andrea? Remember, that's for you, too."

My baby who is six years old (and who is quick to correct me and tell me that she is NOT the baby but the little sister) and I were leaving a local department store. We hustled to the car, trying to not get too wet from the drizzle. As I went to the driver side of the car, she stopped short and went over to the passenger side. I fumbled with the keys to try and get the car open, but the door would not unlock. I called out for her thinking that she was probably getting nervous on the other side of the car.

"Mom!" she shrieked, as she ran around the back of the car, to my side. "I was scared! Why didn't you open the car door?"

I explained to her that the key fob was not working and then I reassured her, in my "freeze frame" moment, "Honey, if you would stay right near me, then you wouldn't need to be afraid."

My daughter wasn't really being terribly rebellious by going over to the other side of the car, although it wasn't the safest choice. I just think she wasn't paying attention.

I can relate to that. Sometimes, I'm just not paying attention. I wander from a conscious awareness of God's protection and love for me and then something comes up, and because I forget, I fear. I then cry out in a panic, "Where are You? What happened? Why didn't You do what I thought You were going to do?"

God talks a lot about our not being afraid in the Bible. I think it is because He knows that we tend to be, whether we like to admit it or not. We can keep on a pretty tough face, but beneath our "Rocky Balboa" exterior is a tendency to slip in to fear.

We fear all sorts of things, inside and out, little things and enormous things. We do all sorts of things to deal with our fears, some of them destructive. We don't really like to fear; we would much rather experience peace, but we forget or we don't know how to. God offers perfect peace, and His name is Jesus. He is our True Love that casts out all fear. He is the solution to the problem.

Psalm 118:6 says, "The Lord is on my side, I am not afraid!" We can confidently claim this to be true, when we are His. However, sometimes we tend to wander, forget and then we fear. Dear reader, if -- when -- you are afraid, feeling like "Where are you? What happened?" call out to Him and allow Him to comfort you and give you strength for that which He has called you to today. If we stay near Him, we need not be afraid.