"Anxiety is a result of envisioning the future without me." - Sarah Young, Jesus Calling
I don't know about you, but this quote hits me right between the eyes, and it speaks directly into the story of 1 Samuel 3. Eli was promised in the previous chapter a world without him. In fact, even the future he found in his family would be taken away. This anxiety must have greatly disturbed Eli, and drove him into a place of resignation and apathy. Samuel, on the other hand, represents a non-anxious world. He becomes more well-known, and God blesses Samuel. None of his words fall to the ground, which means that all of Samuel's words are infused with meaning and hope.
I find myself in the shoes of Eli sometimes. A lot, in fact. One of the processes I have been undertaking in the past several months is to ask the painful question: "What am I really afraid of?" If my worst fears come true, what will happen?
Answer: I'm alone. I'm in a world without me; or perhaps better put, a world with only me. That's a scary thought. And the fear of being in a world without me drives some of my actions. I get apathetic when I should be fired up, I resign myself to a lesser way of being because I am afraid that to risk a better way of being will lead to isolation. One of my favorite groups, The Bravery, has a song called "Believe." In that song, these lyrics haunt me:
I am hiding from some beast
But the beast was always here
Watching without eyes
Because the beast is just my fear
That I am just nothing
Now its just what I've become
What am I waiting for
Its already done...
Fear is a self-fulfilling prophecy. If I fear isolation, I will not risk vulnerability and the possibility of being abandoned, which will lead to my isolation. "The beast is just my fear that I am just nothing, now it's just what I've become..." is a perfect description of the power of fear.
But in Jesus Christ, there is a perfect love that drives out fear (1 John 4). In Jesus Christ, there is the promise that we will never be in a world without us (John 14). In Jesus Christ, there is strength for today and hope for tomorrow. So how is that love going to drive out our anxiety and fear?
Good morning!!! Maybe living in a way that God has to show up allows us to be more courageous. One of the amazing, less anxious moments that I'm reminded of in all the Bible is when Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are about to be thrown into the fiery furnace.(Daniel 3) They tell the king in verse 17 & 18, "If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it....But even if He does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods....
ReplyDeleteKnowing God will show up, no matter what, creates in us a courage that definitely goes beyond human understanding. My praise is to Him, Who sustains us through ALL.