Face Fear with Faith

I’m not a huge fan of Halloween. I love the fall season…the pumpkins, the bright oranges, yellows, and reds of the turning leaves, mums in deep maroon and purple asters, lighting pumpkin spice candles, and baking apple crisp. But Halloween with its frights and spooky sights really doesn’t do much for me. In a world that is already pretty scary, why do I want to be frightened by a giant cackling witch at Costco? Or a demon with glowing red eyes at Home Depot? It got me thinking that we try to downplay the diabolical by making it “fun” but in reality, there are some pretty scary things that can cause us to have much fear in this world. Cancer, war, natural disasters, violence…all scary stuff. Sadly, we can resign ourselves to a life ruled by fear, which isn’t a life lived at all, but rather a life forfeited. So many times (I’ve heard 365 times) we are told to not fear in the Bible. One of the more famous verses is in Psalm 23:4, “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” Psalms 23:4

Evil and darkness may have their moment here on earth because the devil is very much hard at work to encourage people to hate not love, kill not let live, and harm not help others. But, our God is stronger and more powerful than any evil on this earth. And He will not let evil prevail. Jesus Christ paid the price and is our victor over death and all our fears. Christ has won eternal life for us when we believe in Him and what He has done for us. What freedom and faithfulness we have that God will never leave us, has overcome the world and is Lord over heaven and earth now and forever. Evil. Will. Not. Win. 

Fear is something we will undoubtedly encounter but it doesn’t need to drive or define us. Know with certainty that the God of the universe is sovereign and has ultimate authority and victory. Fear has no hold and death has no grip. Stare the scary stuff down. We are equipped to face anything with an Almighty God who is faithfully for us and always with us.