S49P3 – The folly of fear: the seemingly endless night

Psa. 34:4

I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.

It had become an impossible living situation.  Being roommates with my best friend seemed like a great idea in the beginning, but we quickly learned that we simply did not live the same way. Minor disagreements turned into great friction, and our friendship ended before our lease.  In the months to follow, I would accept Jesus Christ as my Savior and begin great changes.  All of a sudden, the atmosphere in that apartment was different. It took me some time, but I eventually realized the problem. Before becoming a Christian, it never phased me that my friend and roommate was an atheist.  After getting saved, it became apparent that there was great spiritual warfare going on in that place.  It seemed like an eternity of oppression and troubled me greatly, but that dark living situation lasted only a few months before God delivered me almost instantly.  Today, I can hardly remember it at all.

There are so many facets of our Christian walk that are affected by time. Fear is no different.  One aspect of fear that makes us take foolish and unbelieving steps is our short-sightedness.  When we are in the midst of darkness or trial, it can be easy for us to become overwhelmed and feel like that experience will last forever.  We cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel, and God rarely shows us that point before we arrive.  Even relatively short periods of darkness can seem endless.  The pain that seems like it will not end indeed will end at some point, but fear convinces us otherwise.  Instead of waiting and listening, we may act on our own out of impatience.  We really only need to take stock of our experiences of God’s prior deliverance to see that every fire eventually burns out.  What feels like the trial to last a lifetime will come to a close, and we will forget that feeling of darkness in time.

God’s deliverance is all over scripture.  In some instances, that deliverance seems to come rather quickly.  In other cases, decades pass before relief arrives.  In every story, there may be different reasons why the trial or tribulation goes on as long as it does.  In every case, however, deliverance came.  In every case, the hardship ended.  We see the same pattern in our own lives.  Even if we are struggling to endure something today, we can recall those things which we previously endured and now seem like they occurred an eternity ago.  That should give us confidence in the power of God’s deliverance even if we do not understand its timing.  We may not see the tunnel’s end, but we know that there is light there.  Father, thank You that You will deliver us from every trial and every hardship, and teach us not to be fearful in the midst of darkness.