No Need for Fear

Fear is something most of us have known and continue to know in our life.  My first remembrance of fear came when I was seven or eight years old.  The night became a time that held too many things I thought I saw and too many noises which had no explanation.  My Uncle Alvin who slept in the twin bed next to mine would be the first one I woke up when the fear became too great to continue hiding under the covers.  He would tell me, "Get up and go see what is making the noise and I will wait here until you get back."  I did and he did.  I remember his words often when I find myself facing some moment when fear is ready to take hold.    

I also remember what I have learned over the years about the power of faith in God.  The 23rd Psalm has those word which say, "Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me...."It is not a Word which tells us what God is going to do to destroy the source of the fear, nor is it a Word which seeks to explain it away, but simply a Word that reminds us that as long as He is present there is nothing to fear.  And what we know is that He is always present.     

Long years ago when I was just a boy my mother would take us to see the family at the old home place on Sunday afternoon and then before going home we would go by the cemetery to visit Daddy's grave.  It was usually dark and my sister and I were afraid of cemeteries at night.  She would tell us,  "There is nothing to be afraid of here."  She was right.  The Word of God is right.  As long as God is present with us, there is nothing to fear.  It matters not that the darkness may be as deep as the Valley of the Shadow of Death, there is still nothing to fear for He is with us there to bring us through it to the glory of eternal life.