When I was very young we lived in a small cabin out on the family homestead somes miles beyond the small village of Forest Grove here in the Cariboo. No electricity or such back then. I think the earliest memories I have are from about the age of four. Some of those involve waking up in the night afraid, either from strange noises, a bad dream or just worrying about a monster or something under my bed.
Fortunately I grew up in a secure environment with good parents, and I remember sometimes working up the nerve to jump out of my bed, which was in another room, and running scared as fast as I could and jumping into bed with Mom and Dad. What a refuge! Whew! There I felt safe and secure right away, and could just snuggle in and sleep safe and sound. I’m sure lots of folks can identify with something similar.
I would be “anxious for nothing.” But why? It must have been because whatever frightened me did not seem to frighten Mom or Dad one little bit. Whatever felt threatening to me, certainly did not threaten them.
When the Scriptures tell us to “cast all your anxieties upon Him, for He cares for you”, God is reminding us to run to Him, and not only to prayerfully give them to Him, but to leave them with Him. To remember that whatever threatens or scares us does not threaten or scare Him! To remember that not only is He immeasurably bigger than our circumstances, but He is also bigger than the feelings and emotions of worry or fear we may experience in the midst of those circumstances. Because He promises us that He is sovereignly working out his good purposes in our lives through everything, and we are safe and secure in His hands, and nothing and no one can ever separate us or snatch us out of His hands. Or thwart His purposes. Ever.
I need more of this to permeate me. Because this surely is one of those essential child-like attributes that Jesus must have had in mind in Matt 18:3. My feelings of security and peace in my parents’ bed as a kid came from somehow knowing that any “monsters” couldn’t really get to me without having to go through them first! And if anything could actually get past them?…well, then it couldn’t possibly be anything worth being afraid of! No wonder the LORD is called our refuge, our fortress…no wonder He tells us so many times throughout the scriptures to “fear not.”
Blessings, Bruce
