Lately, I've been consumed by the sin of fear. I am jumping off a cliff, lots of little details remain poking out unfinished, and although I know I am following what God wants me to do, I find myself unable to trust him to take care of me.
Fear, a sin? Yes!! Fear is the opposite of faith. Many seem to think that the opposite of faith is intellectual doubt, but that is not biblical. Fear, not trusting, is the opposite of doubt.
Yesterday in church, the message was on Jesus and Peter walking on water. It is such a great story. I never get tired of it. Mostly because it is so easy to visualize, has so much "scope for the imagination", and I am JUST LIKE Peter. I'm in the boat, tired, scared to death, and see something that claims to be Jesus. I do something impetuous, jump out of the boat, have about a second of faith, then start to drown in fear.
But Peter does the right thing when he drowns in fear. He calls out, Lord, save me! And Jesus fulfills the scripture that says "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" by saving Peter!
I'm jumping out of the boat. And lately, I've been drowning in the sin of fear. Lord, save me!! At least I'm giving this a try, for the rest of the disciples were so consumed by fear they didn't even jump. Jonah made other people throw him off the boat!
I don't know why I am gripped by fear. God has never ever proved himself unfaithful to me. He has always provided. But my sinful nature pops up and makes me fear.
But this captivity to fear is one of the things Jesus came to give us freedom from. So I am claiming Jesus' freedom from fear, his peace that he promises if I trust, confessing my sin, all the time, so that I will not drown. Jesus is faithful, and he promises to care for me.
