Fear Is a Liar

The lion is roaring. I hear him. I don't see him. He's getting closer. Goosebumps upon goosebumps. My heart races, the air is hot and thick. I am gasping for breath, not sure which direction to take, which path to run down. Should I flee? Won't he simply run faster? The tree is close. The river is farther. No one tells me what to do. My thoughts betray me. I'm at a loss as to how to survive or even what to do next. What is right, what is wrong? I am way out of my depth here. I'm not equipped for this. I want to lay down and die. I want to run and hide. The lion is too great. I am undone. I cannot see tomorrow, much less the end of today. 

I remember the words of my God. That He is my strong tower, my shield, my defender. That He is for me, not against me. He burns the chariots with fire. The earth heaves and melts. Nations rage, kingdoms totter. But I'm just a poor girl in a field. Who am I, who could have that kind of God defend her? I squirm in desperation, jaws set in anxious anticipation. I stand before the beast with nothing -- exposed, terrified, ruined. Fear overwhelms all logic as I am reduced to putty in his hands. He has won. He has only to sink his wicked teeth in my neck and I will prove all the things that he has so maliciously said. He spits, mocks my God, unfurls his mane to consume me.

"Be still and know that I am God." The words come in a whisper. Not in the wind. Or the earthquake or the fire. Be still. Know that I am God. I lay down my pitiful weapons and slip behind Him. I am demolished. His shield and His grace are the only hope I have. 

I see the lion exposed. He is a toothless liar, full of noise and dung. He wishes to drive me with his roars into the pits and dangers that loom behind me. But my Defender is courageous, where I am not. My Champion is good, where I am not. He has bought and paid for my freedom and goes before me where angels fear to tread. If it sounds grandiose, it's because it is. 

God help us to look beyond the obvious, to what is actually real.