Fear -- it comes to many...
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Fear -- it comes to many when they listen to the news, when they wait for grades, when
they sit in a hospital waiting area, when they are shopping, driving, and even in church.
Fear is said to be one of the two most damaging emotions in our lives. Guilt is the other
emotion and it goes hand-in-hand with fear. Guilt is the anguish we experience about our
failures of the past. Fear is the anguish we experience about our future. These emotions
can both be conquered. We live in the past and God is not there -- it is already forgiven
and gone. We live in the future and God is not there -- for today has enough trouble of its
own.
What you need when you face the uncertainties in the future, more than anything else, is perspective. You need to be able to see the big picture. To see the beginning, the end, and where you are right now. The problem is that, as a human being, you don't have that. You don't have the perspective, the convenience of being able to know what your life is going to be in the future.
But God does. God's already been to the future, so you can talk with him and ask him and get his perspective on life. Because God knows all the past and all the future.
It's like this: Have you ever been driving on a curvy road, and you get stuck behind a slow car for miles, going fifteen miles an hour? You think you'd like to pass the guy but you can't see around the corner. If you could just see around the curve, then you'd know if it was safe to pass.
I've often thought there should be a highway patrol helicopter there, hovering on the edge of the mountain, that could see all the curves from the larger perspective and could radio down to me and say, "It's okay. There's no traffic coming from the other way for the next half-mile." Then I could feel confident and pass on curves when I couldn't see. That's perspective. God can navigate you through the curves of life.
What you need when you face the uncertainties in the future, more than anything else, is perspective. You need to be able to see the big picture. To see the beginning, the end, and where you are right now. The problem is that, as a human being, you don't have that. You don't have the perspective, the convenience of being able to know what your life is going to be in the future.
But God does. God's already been to the future, so you can talk with him and ask him and get his perspective on life. Because God knows all the past and all the future.
It's like this: Have you ever been driving on a curvy road, and you get stuck behind a slow car for miles, going fifteen miles an hour? You think you'd like to pass the guy but you can't see around the corner. If you could just see around the curve, then you'd know if it was safe to pass.
I've often thought there should be a highway patrol helicopter there, hovering on the edge of the mountain, that could see all the curves from the larger perspective and could radio down to me and say, "It's okay. There's no traffic coming from the other way for the next half-mile." Then I could feel confident and pass on curves when I couldn't see. That's perspective. God can navigate you through the curves of life.
