I sought the Lord, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears.
Psalm 34:4
I don’t like snakes. I’m sure that many people are just like me, but I don’t like them. It has nothing to do with the serpent in the Bible. It has everything to do with their ability to slither around inconspicuously and strike at the most convenient time.
I remember working in my yard several years ago near my shed in the back yard and coming across a coiled copperhead. This snake was the largest copperhead I ever saw. I froze.
I always heard that you were supposed to cut the head off, and then the snake would die. So, I screamed for my son to bring me a hoe from the garage. There I was, staring down the copperhead. He was coiled and his head in just the right place for me to strike him. I was ready; my adrenaline was pumping; the hoe was raised to fall quickly on his head. And with all my strength, I swung the hoe at the head of that copperhead. To my surprise, the hoe bounced off of the snake’s head, and the snake raised against me and was ready to strike back.
Have I told you I don’t like snakes?
At this point, I was a dead man. Greer, my son, ran scared to death around the side of the house because he knew I was about to die, and he didn’t want to be second. So I looked at that snake in the eyes, and the snake quickly shifted and slid under our deck, never to be seen again. I didn’t go looking for it either.
The fear of that snake did two things to me. It froze me, and it distracted me from my other tasks.
When you fear, seek the Lord
You have your own set of fears. I imagine over the next several weeks, we will all deal with the fear of contacting an invisible virus that continues to creep around our community through engaging with other people. You may fear other things in your life. Whatever they are, seek the Lord when you fear. Maybe your financial portfolio is crashing. Perhaps you fear for a friend who has COVID-19. Perhaps it’s something else deep inside your spirit. Whatever it is, Psalm 34:4 tells us to seek the Lord when we fear.
Don’t allow fear to freeze you. Seek the Lord. Cry out to Him. He hears you every time you cry out to him.
When you fear, the Lord hears
When I saw that snake, I cried out to my son, and he heard me and brought me a hoe that I didn’t know how to use. But, he heard me. The Lord is the same way. When we fear, trust that the Lord hears you.
God is not distracted or busy with other things in His life. He cares deeply about you (Matthew 6:30). And because you seek Him, He hears you. It’s often about going to the right place for the right thing. Fear is something that should never freeze us or cause us to be anxious. It should immediately send us to the one who hears us.
When you fear, the Lord delivers
It is an amazing promise and comfort to each one who has a relationship with the Lord. He not only hears us but also delivers us. The Lord delivers us from any fear that attempts to freeze or distract us. What fear is paralyzing you today? Give it to the Lord. Seek Him to deliver you from it. He hears you and delivers you from the debilitating force of fear.
Believers should live in the light of that great promise and not experience fear of those things that we have no control over. We should let our fears be known to God and let him deliver us from them. Will you do that today?