Never afraid

This morning, as I read Psalms, it struck me that one of the core problems all of us deal with is fear.  It's a dominant prayer issue for the authors of the book of Psalms. We each, in an honest moment, will confess times of fear.  Fear about our jobs, money, family, our health, and a hundred other things that cause us worry.  But it struck me, as I thought about the passages I read and my own life, there was one  who was never afraid!

Never afraid.  Imagine that.  I've never known someone like that in my life, never seen someone who didn't know fear.  But there was one who was never afraid.  Here's one of the stories about this man,

"That day when evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped.  Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”..."  -Mark 4

This story is fascinating to me.  In the midst of a storm that would worry any man Jesus was asleep!  How could he be asleep? How could he not be worrying with the rest of his men?  Didn't he care what would happen?  That's the question they asked him....."don't you care?"  But that's not the right question.

Jesus responded with the right question in the verses that follow when he asked, "Guys, where's your faith?"  What a thing to ask?  Didn't you see the storm? Didn't you notice we were sinking?  

Who wouldn't be afraid?  That's the first question we have to ask and following that is this- WHY didn't he fear?  What did he know that we don't?  What was different about Jesus?  AND, most important to me...how do I discover that in my own life?

To answer those questions I think about what Jesus taught.  All through his teachings were the answers to these very basic questions.  Core to them all are these fundamentals,

1. We have a BIG God!  He really is all powerful.

2. He cares about us, in fact he says he loves us.

3. Not only is he able to meet our needs but he wants to.

4. He has a plan for our lives and we are safe in his hands.

Jesus KNEW these things, he lived them out.  It starts with a big God, the one who made everything.  The root problem for many of us is we live our lives with a little god....our little god loves us, but he's just not able to do much...he would if he could.

Jesus knew the God who made the Universe and holds it together.  (In fact, he is God!)

If God is big.  If he cares about me. If he is willing and able to help me. And, if he is in charge of my life then why would I ever worry?  Why would I ever be afraid again?  

Those are some questions I'm working on this morning.