"Serve him without fear all our days."

Over and over in Scripture these words are given. FEAR NOT! But we do!!! An awful lot of our responses to life are fearful. Lots of decisions in life are out of fear.
People marry because of a fear of being alone. We invest money in things out of a fear of not having enough so we want to make more. We are fearful about our children, our jobs, our housing.... our health. So many things. And we work hard to make life safe for us and those we love.

We can also fear displeasing God - viewing him as a 'schoolmaster' out to find fault - a 'policeman' looking for our transgressions. We don't understand the release of grace for all our sin and the place of safety in Jesus we have. And the tender love of the Father toward us.

This inherent fear that pervades a good many lives is a result of the Fall - the time when we lost touch with the perfect Father who will care for us in minute detail if we would but let him. Jesus talked a lot about how we are loved and cared for by our Heavenly Father. 'Fix your eyes on him and his way of life - and leave the detail up to him - he will see you right.'

But we want to be responsible and wise and mature about life. So we have to carry all the decisions and make the hard choices.... surely?  Yes, and no. We are called to be responsible stewards of all the good things the Lord has entrusted to us. But we will always need a Father who cares for us with deep affection and great wisdom. Because on our own we can never actually always get it right. Life regularly dumps things on us that are way, way beyond our sorting out. I think Father lets that happen to show us how much we need him, just for everyday life, let alone eternal things.

I am pondering and exploring how deep rooted this 'acting out of fear' is in my life. Some occasions and reactions to people lately have given me good clues. I am bringing these into the light for cleansing... for me to forgive others... for the Father to fill that space with his assurances.

In the prophecy that Zechariah spoke over his newborn son John he said these lovely words, Luke 1:74 "He has come... to rescue us from the hand of our enemies (fear is our enemy) and to enable us to serve him without fear... all our days."
YES Lord!