Faith, not fear

Have you ever been faced with a decision and you didn’t know what to do?  You weigh the options and outcomes and pray. It is a very difficult time to pass through.  Wouldn’t you love to have a bird’s eye view of life during those times?  A view that you could benefit from so you could know whether or not to take that job, make that purchase, go to that college or get that second opinion.

Today we are going to look at a man who was faced with making a decision and let’s see if we can take something away from it and apply it to our lives.  Take advantage of examples in the Bible.  That is why they are there.

Genesis 12:1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:

Abram is a man who had grown up hearing about the tower of Babel, the great flood and the God who had caused it all to happen.  Now as a successful grown man with a full life and family, this God comes and speaks to him personally.  And not only does God talk to him, but God tells him to leave everything he has ever known.  He must leave friends, family and the familiar because God wants to take him somewhere else.

You and I have the luxury of being able to read ahead into Abram/Abraham’s life and we know the “why” of what God was doing.  Abram at the time, however, did not.  But he took advantage of using something called faith.  He blindly put his faith in God.  It was a decision he made to follow God.  Look at what verse 4 says:

Genesis 12:4 So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.

I am glad that Abram used the faith he had.  I wonder what it was like at his tent that night after the Lord spoke to him.  Can you imagine what the conversation was like between the family?  His nephew, Lot, must have been in on it because he goes with Abram.  Decisions come down to use of faith or use of emotions.  Fear can cause us to make the wrong decision.  Let me share with you a personal story of a time when I was fearful.

When we were living in the Amazon and my children were small, my husband went on a trip up river preaching in nearby villages. I stayed at home caring for our family and church for the week.   A young teenage mother that we had been holding a Bible study with came to a service and I had noticed her son was not acting right.  His head seemed abnormally large and his eyes listed to the side when he would cry.  His cry was also very unusual.  The family did not seem to notice anything was wrong, but I was very concerned as she sat on the wooden bench each Sunday service on our back porch.  The heat was unbearable but she always had that baby wrapped up in blankets so it would not catch anything. 

I visited with them during the week my husband was away and they had become worried about the baby, so we took him to the clinic.  The doctor saw the encephalitis and wanted the baby to remain in the hospital.  He knew there was not much to be done and that the baby had multiple health problems that could not be addressed in a small jungle town like ours but he was doing the best he could. The young mother was convinced that the baby needed to go to the city to a larger hospital and seek treatment there.  So the family turned to me. They asked me to accompany her to the hospital down river.  This is when I did not know what to do.  It was my own moment of decision.  You try telling a whole family you won't help them as they stare at you, it is not easy!

Here I was trying to juggle my own life and children, as well as take care of our church, and I wanted to be able to ask my husband, but it was impossible to reach him.  All these years later, I can look back and know what was happening and it is easy to judge myself from the future, but at that time, I was truly scared.  I remember the rain was pouring as I drove down to the boat dock and got on the river boat with the young mom and baby.  I was uneasy and didn't want to make the 24 hour trip, but didn't know how to let these people down. My children and I crowded together in the dark as the boat waited out the storm and I remember I felt so alone and frustrated at that moment.  My clothes were soaked, my children were wet and confused, the people on the boat were scared of the thunderstorm and the baby continued to howl in an eerie way.  In those moments I wanted to NOT be me.  I wanted to be anyone, anywhere else in the world and not have to deal with my life.  But because of everything I had been taught, and because of everything I knew about God, I stopped and I prayed, out loud in English.  I begged God to show me what to do.  And He did.  As soon as I opened my eyes, the young mom looked at me and said she didn’t want to go to the city.  She wanted to get off the boat and stay.

The storm on the river had delayed the boat from leaving and the owner was quite angry with me when I told him we were getting off.  He didn’t want to lose the 6 fares and he tried to physically force us to stay on the boat, but God was with me and I exuded the courage needed to hold my ground.  He cussed and screamed in my face, but in the end had a young worker throw our bags on the bank of the river and leave us there in the rain.  I got the baby and my children and the bags carried one by one up the steep embankment before driving back to the house.

By the next morning, the baby was dead.  We would have never made it to the city.  God had spared us a horrific nightmare.

There is so much more that happened, but what I want to emphasize today is the fact we can take advantage of faith and prayer when we don’t know what to do. 

- Abram is an example to follow in the Bible. God promised He was taking Him to a place that He WOULD show him. God keeps His Word.

- We can look back in our own lives and follow our OWN examples of when God answered our cries. Think on a time when He answered you.

Are you faced with a decision right now?  Is the future completely hidden and dark?  Does it seem as though fear and turmoil are the only things governing your life right now?  Then stop.  Stop worrying and take advantage of faith.  Faith in the same God that called Abram out of his comfort and led him towards a promise.  Have Faith in God that He does know what He is doing.  Ask Him to guide you and then obey Him.  Keep on that path of obedience and you will NOT go wrong.  Faith, not fear.

Until next time, Lord willing,

Sheri