Paralyzed by fear

I will put my trust in him (Isaiah 8:17).

A traveler was driving past a farm during harvest season, and was surprised to see the farmer sitting on his porch, casually smoking a pipe instead of working in the field. The traveler approached the farmer and asked, "How’s your cotton coming?" The farmer replied, "Didn’t plant any—‘fraid of the boll weevil." "Well," the stranger went on, "what about your corn?" Again came the response, "Didn’t plant any—‘fraid of the drought." "And your potatoes?" the visitor asked. "Scared of tater bugs" was the reply. Finally the stranger asked, "Well, what did you plant?" "Nothing", replied the farmer, "I just played it safe."

Fear can paralyze us, prevent us from moving forward. People who procrastinate making a big decision are often delaying because of fear—"what if I make the wrong decision, and there’s no way to take it back?" They are like the man of whom it was said: "He made no mistakes, he took no wrong roads, he never fumbled the ball; he never went down ‘neath the weight of a load--he simply did nothing at all."

This is a terribly sad way to live. It is a way of life empty of joy. But Christians need not live like this. We have Jesus’ promise that He will listen to our prayers and lend to us from His wisdom; when we take time to read God’s words in the Bible, meditate on them, and pray for a clear-thinking mind, we can make decisions with trust that the Lord will be guiding us. And even if we do make a bad decision, we know that Jesus died so that our mistakes can be forgiven; when we mess up, we have confidence that Jesus will forgive us and provide another opportunity to do better.

The only way to overcome fear is to have trust—trust that God has the power and the compassion to ensure that things will work out okay for us. Paul wrote, we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him (Romans 8:28). God’s wisdom is not limited like ours—He can always find a way to bring something good out of a bad situation. With Him on our side, we can face each decision with confidence that if Jesus has us by the hand, things will ultimately work out for the best. We can go ahead and live life without being paralyzed by fear.