Do not say...

You got fears? I got fears. I shrink back from things all the time. What's up with that? I serve a God far bigger than anything I'll ever face, and yet I keep getting scared of the challenges God sets before me.

Jeremiah did too. God said to him, "I have appointed you a prophet to the nation (Jeremiah 1:5). Big job. So understandably, Jeremiah responds with, "Alas, Lord God! I don't know how to speak, because I'm a youth" (Jer. 1:6). But God doesn't back down and His response to Jeremiah is firm: "Do not say, 'I am a youth'" (Jer. 1:7). In other words, "Your objection is all about you. Do not object based on who you are, but remember who appointed you." Because the next thing God said was, "Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you" (Jer. 1:8).

So what has God asked of me that's left me nervous and objecting? And what's my objection typically focused on? "Alas, Lord God! I'm too insecure. I'm not clever enough. I'm too socially clumsy. (etc.)" Every objection is all about me, and oblivious to who God is. And God's response to me is the same as His response to Jeremiah: "Do not say, 'I'm too insecure' or 'I'm not clever enough.'" If Almighty God promises to be with me, then what is there to fear? Do I trust Him to provide for my security (which is in Christ)? Do I trust Him to give me His wisdom when I ask for it (which He promises to do)? Do I trust Him to help me when I choose to follow Him (which He'll do because He's always with me)?

The choice is clear: I can worry about who I am -- because I've forgotten who I am in Christ -- or trust God for who He is -- because I've remembered what He did for me at the cross. "For He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things!" (Romans 8:32)

© 2010 by Ken Peters