S33P3 – The fruit of trust in God: peace
Psa. 91:5-6
You will not be afraid of the terror of night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noon.
As a child, I was pretty afraid of the dark. Whether it was the shadow of a lamp against the wall or the sound of the heat coming out of the vent, anything that made a sound or caught my eye in the dark frightened me to death. There was no stillness to comfort me. The issue was that I expected the dark to be a dangerous place. It made my imagination run wild even when what I thought might happen was completely unrealistic. Of course there were no monsters living under my bed, but it seemed pretty possible in the dark. Take away the light, and the unknown becomes frightening, and the frightening becomes real. However, the terrorizing nature of the dark is not something from which only children suffer. Darkness is a tool of the enemy to frighten adults as well. It is the peace of God that removes the terror from the night.
Trusting in God gives us what we cannot give ourselves. One of those things is peace. If we look at our lives and examine how the peace of God has helped us, we see that it is multifaceted. This scripture speaks of God’s peace as it helps us conquer fear. While some of our fears are unrealistic and unfounded, others are very real. The dangers that can exist in the dark places are no illusion. This world itself is very dark, and we see that there are perils that lie in wait. Even in the day there are traps set before us. What God wants us to know is that there is no reason to fear either the known or the unknown. Whether what we fear is merely a fictitious nightmare or a very real possibility, it is not for us to fear. It is for us to have peace. He wants us to be able to close our eyes and rest without worrying about what might come upon us. That is one thing what God’s peace does. It allows us to rest when others are frantic with worry and fear.
If I decided to make a list of all of the terrible, horrible things that could happen during my life on this Earth, I would never stop. That list would have no end. But what good would it do me to wait in expectation for misfortune or illness to befall me? It would do no good. I could lose a dozen nights’ sleep thinking about the dangers outside my front door, and that would be fruitless. What is fruitful is spending my time trusting in God to carry me through the things He promises to carry me through. The fruit that is produced through that is peace, and it surpasses all understanding. It will cause you to stand fearless before the very present dangers out there. And in the face of all of that, you will have rest. Father, thank You for making a way for us to be without fear, and thank You for conquering all that could make us fearful.