Never Fear Help From God When In Need

Fear is always the enemy of faith.

“For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7

One of the things that Jesus said more than anything else in the Bible is, “Don’t be afraid.” It’s easy for us to think that we wouldn’t be afraid when we see Jesus, but there is something so awe- inspiring about the divine that we can’t help but respond in certain ways.

In Mark when we read about the story of the woman who bled for many years we see what our own reactions might be. The woman thought to herself that if she could only get close to Jesus then all her troubles would go away.

How often have we thought that? How often have we told ourselves that our children would behave more if we just went to church more often? Or that our jobs would get better if we just learned to pray more?

We see the divine as something that’s so far out of our reach that we don’t think we will ever get a chance to brush up against it.

That we’ll never come close to knowing the pure spiritual love of God because, well to be quite honest, we just don’t deserve it.

We don’t think we can be happy because we don’t read our Bibles enough.

We don’t think we can find peace because we can’t get up at 5 a.m. and pray for two hours.

We don’t think we can know the will of God because we don’t have enough time to spend listening to the call God has for us in our lives.

We think God’s too good for us.

That’s the same kind of thoughts the woman who bled had.

If only she could get close to Christ then all her problems would disappear. But do you really, really think she believed that? No. She didn’t. After she was healed Jesus asked what had happened and we’re told the women, after realizing that the divine had come close to her she was approached with “fear and trembling.” She was afraid. God had come close to her. Had granted her wishes. Had showed love to the unworthy and kindness to the lost.

God came to her and transformed the way she thought and believed and instead of dancing with joy or singing praises at the top of her lungs we’re told she was afraid.

She was afraid because she didn’t think God would ever make time for such an unworthy person as she was.

You don’t have to be a Mother Teresa to come close to God.

You don’t have to climb a high mountain or swim a vast ocean to feel God working in your life. Don’t set high expectations of yourself. So high that you think God will never love such a lowly person as yourself.

If you think that then you’ll always be living a life of fear. Let us pray. Dear God. We know that you love us as we are. That as we draw close to you, you will change us in new and great ways. And even though we may fear these things, we know that your love will always lead our way. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.

Troy Conrad