When I Am Afraid
When I Am Afraid
My family lives on the east coast of Florida, where we are no stranger to hurricanes, nor to the devastation they can cause.
In the wake of hurricane Helene, which brutalized several states, including the west coast of Florida, Floridians are anticipating being hit by another major hurricane less than weeks later... and this one is projected to pass through my hometown.
I’m not generally one to catastrophize, though I am a planner who likes to be prepared for worst-case scenarios. So, we’ve been watching and preparing, as best we can.
My husband, Nathan, putting up our storm shutters in preparation for the hurricane.
It’s not lost on us that projections can be wrong. Hurricane Milton might not so much as kiss our county. Or, it might hit us dead-on, and God forbid, rather than breezing through, it might decided to stay a while. To quote Jesus, “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going” (John 3:8).
This is not to say that the wind does its own thing, outside of anyone’s control. We certainly know that nothing, including the wind, is outside of God’s control (Matthew 8:23-27).
It is simply to say that the wind and the weather — as with so many other things in this fallen world, still groaning for redemption in the shadow of the fall (Romans 8:18-23) — are outside of our control; and being so, viewing our circumstances in light of uncertainties and our powerlessness to change certain outcomes in any way can cause us to feel afraid.
Fear is a natural response to unnatural events, and based on God’s good design for His Creation pre-fall, we know that there’s nothing natural about things like hurricanes, floods, sickness, starvation, danger, or death (Genesis 1-3).
If you’re feeling scared right now because of unknowns and the possibility (or probability) of bad things happening to or around you — it’s okay to feel afraid.
To feel afraid is simply to be a human being living in a fallen world.
But as Christians, when we feel afraid, there is something we can do that takes our fears and turns them into something better…
When David was on the run from his enemy, King Saul, and surely fearing for his life, he penned these words:
When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? - Psalm 56:3-4, CSB
Notice that David didn’t say that he was never afraid of anything, or that feeling afraid was sinful or silly. Rather, he acknowledged that he — the guy who killed a giant with just a sling and a stone (1 Samuel 17) — sometimes was afraid.
But when David felt that way, he didn’t stay that way. Instead, whenever David felt afraid, he would choose to remember what was true about God, and put his trust in what could be known from God’s word (e.g. God’s promises, God’s character) rather than worrying about unknowns (e.g. other people, his government, the future).
In remembering and holding fast to the right things, David would find the faith and the courage he needed to declare, “I will not be afraid!” in the face of fearful circumstances! And when you and I feel afraid, we can choose to do the same exact thing even now.
We can remember that, although we’re facing scary things…
God is compassionate toward us, and always faithful (Lamentations 3:22-23).
No matter where we may find ourselves, God is always with us (Psalm 139:7-12).
God draws especially near to those with broken hearts (Psalms 34:18).
No matter what we do, God will never stop loving us (Romans 8:35-39).
Nothing can happen to us without God knowing about it, and He cares what happens to us (Matthew 10:29-31).
Nothing can happen in our lives apart from God’s purposes (Lamentations 3:37-38; Isaiah 46:9-11).
God works all things (even bad things) for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28).
And in light of these truths (and so many others), even when we feel afraid, we can choose to trust in God. Believing what we know to be true about Him and because of Him, we can face our fears with faith! And just like David, we can declare that we will not be afraid!
By the way, as someone who perpetually struggles with feeling frightened by things outside of my control, I speak from experience when I say that, sometimes, we have to declare our faith in faith before it becomes the truth. Like the father of the demon possessed boy who declared, “Lord, I believe!” and almost simultaneously begged for Jesus to help him to believe (Mark 9:17-25), sometimes you and I have got to speak it over ourselves, all the while pleading with God to help us get where we can’t get to on our own.
But I am convinced that, just like Jesus didn’t rebuke the father of that boy for having weak faith, our Heavenly Father will not turn us away or call us liars. No, He will look upon us with compassion, and meet our deepest needs, because we’re asking for what He wants for us, and we’re coming to the only One who can give us what we really need. And that is what faith is all about.
So when we feel afraid, we can trust in Him. And in faith, we can declare, “I will not be afraid!”
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