Longing For His Appearing

I once heard it said that when God asks a question, He isn’t asking for His benefit, but for ours.  So when Jesus asks the question, “Why are you afraid?” (Matt. 8:26), He’s asking so that I’ll take a good look at my own heart and examine the reasons why I struggle with fear.

In Matthew 4, when the disciples are caught in a storm with Jesus fast asleep, they question him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”  In Max Lucado’s book Fearless, which I just recently read & reviewed, he notes that “They do no ask about Jesus’ strength…knowledge…or his know-how…But rather, they raise doubts about Jesus’ character: ‘Do you not care…’  Fear does this.  Fear corrodes our confidence in God’s goodness.” (pg. 9, emphasis mine) 

So when Jesus asks me the question, “Why are you afraid?”, one answer is that I don’t always believe that He is good or trust that He actually cares about whatever situation is striking fear in my heart.  I forget that the reason He even asks me why I’m afraid is because He truly, sincerely and deeply cares about my fears and wants to help me overcome them!  He is not distant and separated from my situation, but He is actually right there in the storm with me and is intimately involved in what is going on.  Yet fear causes me to question His goodness and His trustworthiness.  I fear that in my imagined tragic scenarios of pain and woe that He won’t be there for me and He won’t do anything to save me from perishing.  Worse yet, whenever something negative happens, or even when I imagine one of my fears coming true, I often think that it’s because God needs to punish me for something bad I’ve done.

These fears are completely misplaced and obviously sown by the enemy, but it is still difficult to combat the lies after agreeing with them for so long.  Fear is such a battle of the mind and thoughts and as much as I wish I could have victory over fear instantly, I think it will be a process of renewing my mind with the truth about who Jesus is and His character.  Even though I know that He can be trusted and He’s not out to punish me and His leadership is perfect and He is a good Shepherd, I still need those truths to impact my heart in a greater way so that the fear that has made it’s home there can be dislodged.  I need a greater revelation of His love, care, compassion and tenderness towards me, for “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love” (1 John 4:18). 

I want to be made perfect in love.

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