What are you doing with your fears? We all have them. We each have moments in our lives when we get scared, we start to sweat, we shake just a little bit. Why? Because fear is normal and natural. It’s the bodies response to the unknown, the uncertain.
Life is full of uncertainties. Therefore, life is full of things to fear. We don’t deal with our fears by removing every uncertainty from our lives. And we don’t deal with our fears by training ourselves not to be scared of uncertainties. If we actually lived our lives with no fear, we’d be in trouble. We would constantly be taking unnecessary risks. And that would lead to a lot of trouble.
But when fear becomes the default, overriding reaction of our lives, we’re in trouble anyway. It’s not about having no fear, it’s about not letting fear control you.
So how do we go from fearful to peaceful? How do we make it so that fears no longer creep up our back, wrap around our neck and cause us to choke? It’s all about living in the midst of uncertainties with a certain amount of certainty.
Jonathan Fields tackles this in his book Uncertainty. Catchy title. One of the things he suggests is building “Certainty Anchors” into your life. Now, in his book he recommends quite a few things as certainty anchors, including some Easter practices that I don’t agree with. But there are some other things that I do like, that are actually biblical. Like meditation and prayer.
Fields says that we need to build into our lives actions that are certain. It may be a specific schedule you keep. Or it can be a certain phrase that you repeat. When fear starts to creep in, you go to that anchor and find a steady response. You find your center, in other words.
Now, here’s where it gets real biblical for me. He says that some of those anchors can be spending time in focused meditation or prayer. He suggests setting aside time daily to do this. You’re thinking what I’m thinking, right? That sounds a lot like what we in Christian circles call devotions.
This may surprise you, but the Bible talks a lot about meditation. “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night” (Joshua 1:8). That means, pick a passage from the Bible, read it, then think about what it means to your life. Simple!
The Psalms are full of instruction on meditation:
Psalm 77:12
I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds.
Psalm 119:27
Cause me to understand the way of your precepts,
that I may meditate on your wonderful deeds.
Psalm 143:5
I remember the days of long ago;
I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done.
Psalm 48:9
Within your temple, O God, we meditate on your unfailing love.
That last Psalm is very important. We meditate on God’s word, his deeds, his actions in our past, his blessings in the world. But above all, we meditate on his unfailing love.
Perfect love. It casts out all fear. When you get afraid, think about his love. Meditate on it. In fact, before you get afraid think about it. Spend some time each day thinking about how much he loves you. That will put in your mind his words, his deeds, and his actions that are defined by his love. And when a fear creeps up on you – and it will! – just go to that place in your mind where you’ve trained yourself on his love. Embrace it and let God erase your fear.
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