"Safely Led"

"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear because fear hath torment" (I John 4:18).

Difficulty in overcoming fears, be they minor insecurities or overwhelming dread, can always be traced back to inadequate knowledge of the "perfect love" of God. Torment dissolves when we grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and when the heart of God's devotion is revealed to us, in us, and through us.

After sin, Adam and Eve fearfully hid in the trees from the One who loved them (Genesis 3:10). Unbelief and disobedience distorted the perceptions of our original forefathers, and the darkness passed down to all their offspring. Rather than complete confidence in our Heavenly Father's promised care and working of all things together for our good, we are strongly tempted to perceive that we must control our own existence. We have no real capacity for doing so, however, and the delusion of independence enshrouds us with a pervading sense of danger and doom until we trust in the Lord Jesus. He alone can enable a life of "faith, which worketh by love," and thus an existence in which the affectionate and dedicated heart of God more and more fills us with assurance rather than trepidation (Galatians 5:6).

If we have believed in the Lord Jesus, let us be sure of the devotion of Divine love: God takes care of His own. "He led them on safely so that they feared not" (Psalm 78:53). "Safely" does not mean the absence of danger, but rather the promise of God that He will carry us through any and everything He determines or allows in our lives. Temptations to fear, in whatever form, raise the question within, "What if?" "What if this happens, or that? Or what if this or that doesn't happen?" For the believer, the answer is always "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). The Lord Jesus will always be everything we need for every contingency of our lives. His perfect love is the great reality of our existence, and the torment of insecurities, trepidations, and outright fear dissolves upon remembrance of God's devotion to our well being...

"Safety is of the Lord."

(Proverbs 21:31)

"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."

(II Timothy 1:7)