Let Your Faith Overcome Your Fears

Word-Of-The-Day: ‘The Lord is my light and my salvation—so why should I be afraid?  The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble?’ (Psalm 27:1)

I don’t care for potato salad.  Yes, that’s correct; I’m not a fan of it at all. My mother used to make it in such a way that made it far too sour for my taste, to the point of revulsion (I think she had mayo and some sort of vinegar dressing in it, and maybe some eggplant). 

One day, during a church function, the ‘menu’ for the meal was pulled pork sandwiches and potato salad.  Now, although I was having flashbacks of Mom’s potato salad, after I finished the delicious pork sandwich I went ahead and sampled the potato salad, expecting the disgusting cold-potato-with-sour-tasting-gunk taste, and was surprised to find it somewhat bland, and was able to eat it.  I had not had potato salad in over 50 years, as I never wanted to taste potato salad ever again, but this was potato salad I could tolerate.  Had I not tasted it, my preconceived notion would have stuck.  Likely, I will be cautious with any future endeavors with potato salad, but I’ll be trying it again (and not wait another 50 years to do so).

In much the same way as me with potato salad, we often are afraid to do things in our lives out of preconceived notions.  Some of it is from upbringing or social pressure, others are from experiences in our past that set our expectations.  This can be good for self-preservation; a fall from a tree, for example, gives us a healthy respect for heights and to take precautions when climbing ladders.  Other times, this fear can stop us from reaching our full potential.  Not doing well in high school may stop someone from higher education, being made fun of while speaking in front of others prevents someone from speaking out in front of a group of people. 

David wrote this Psalm, likely as an adult when in the service of Saul, or soon after.  However, he applied the principle of Psalm 27 to his life even prior to his showdown with Goliath.  The entirety of Psalm 27 is not having fear, or at least not allowing fear to overtake that what needs to be done.  This very first verse encapsulates why fear should not be feared to the point of inaction, as the Lord God will protect you from eternal harm, and typically from mortal harm, when you do what the Lord requires.  We often don’t do things out of fear, when there is little to fear about those things. 

There are certainly enough things to rightfully fear; the black widow or brown recluse spider, the rattlesnake, an alligator, or a door-to-door salesman.  However, if we succumb to fear we will not be able to move forward.  So we bug-spray the spiders, shovel away the snake, or tell the salesman to move along.  Fear should allow proper precautions to protect oneself, but it should not be something that stops us cold in our tracks.  We need to lean upon our Lord and not be afraid to speak the truth in today’s society – no, men can’t get pregnant, children don’t need ‘gender transitioning’, and criminal behavior should be dealt with sufficient deterrence to prevent such activity. 

Most importantly, we should not fear in speaking about Jesus to others who need to hear the Gospel of the Lord, to ensure they have the information necessary to make an informed decision about whether to follow Jesus.  We should not fear in praying in public, such as praying to bless our meal, and asking our servers if they would like prayer as well.  Most graciously light up and accept prayers, some do not – very few get offended.  The Lord is with you, and He will provide you strength when strength is needed, words when you don’t know what to say, and courage when fear arises and needs to be overcome. 

As Franklin D. Roosevelt said back at the beginning of World War II, ‘The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.’  The Axis powers of Germany, Japan, and Italy were formidable foes, but with God in control the Allied forces overcame the Axis’ strengths and the fear the Axis powers projected, and won the war.  The same can be said about our perceptions of things that cause fear, they may seem formidable but God is infinitely more powerful – and never forget if He hadn’t made them, they wouldn’t exist!  God plus us, or you, is always a majority of the strength in any situation, and can overcome all things – even the fear of eating potato salad!