Devotionals by Dr. M. Craig Barnes

Happy are those who fear the Lord. --Psalm 112:1

There is no shortage of reasons to be afraid in this life. Some people fear their past. Maybe they are haunted by past mistakes and now worry that those mistakes have put a lien on their dreams. The reason we fear our past is because we have no power to change it.

Others are afraid of the unpredictable future. They cannot be certain that what they desperately want to happen will happen, nor can they be certain that what they dread will not happen. We have always feared the things we cannot control, and the future is as hard to control as the past.

Even if we just focus on the present we have plenty of opportunities to fear. We can fear the loss of our health, money, jobs, reputations, dreams, cherished loved ones, and the list goes on and on. Eventually we will lose all these things. The fear is that we may lose them today. So not even the present is in our control.

The only way out of all this anxiety is to fear God. We don't fear God because we worry he will hurt us, but because he loves us so incredibly much. Sacred love is also uncontrollable. You can't be certain how God will demonstrate his love, and thatÕs frightening. But if you don't fear God you'll fear everything else in life. If you do fear God you wonÕt fear anything else because nothing in the past, present, or future, is beyond the power of the God who loves you.

-- Craig Barnes