“Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” Isaiah 41.10
Earlier this week I was talking with a friend by phone and the topic of “the fear of the unknown” entered the conversation. I have written on the verse above before, but I thought it might be beneficial to some if we look at it through fresh eyes. If you haven’t already done so, I want to encourage you to mark this verse in your Bible so you can find it easily.
Suppose you wake up tomorrow morning and feel the need to call 911 or make an appointment with your doctor because of some new symptom has surfaced in your body. Suppose the doctor says to you as a man, “You’ve had a heart attack – a pretty severe one!”. Or to you as a woman, “I’m sorry to tell you this but the tests show you have uterine cancer”? How surprised was God to hear those statements? God knew all the elements of your life that would come ten years before (or even before you were born). The only one surprised in all of this is you and me.
So how do we handle this “unknown” something thrust upon us? Do not view my statement as simplistic or as a pat answer. It is neither. When surprises come (and they always do), it is time to reaffirm my absolute trust in God that, not only is He in control, but He knows what is best and He knows the outcome. The turning point in my life came at age sixty, when I came to realize the my life is not about me, but it is all about Him. For most of us, the struggle with the unknown is not about our faith at all, bit it is about our emotions. God made us emotional creatures and I am thankful for that.
Look at the words above: (1) Fear not; (2) be not dismayed; (3) I will strengthen thee; (4) I will help thee; and (5) I will uphold thee. He is the only One qualified to say any of those things to us and mean it. Allow yourself to trust and rest in Him. You will NEVER be disappointed. Just My Thoughts …