Why do we fear what we can’t see? Darkness scares most of us, often we walk around in the day with no fear but yet go to the same places at night and fear.
I recently drove through the mountains which can be scary at times. Going through the mountains during the day was no big issue because I was able to see where I was going, what was around me, and I was fully aware of my surroundings. Even though I was at peace in this time. Once the sun set and my vision was limited the fear roared inside me, I was scared. Many thoughts rolled through my head, what if I crash, what if I drive off the side. In that moment began to pray and trust God to lead us safely down the mountain, as I started putting more of my faith in God and remember that he is in control I was less scared and began to fear the darkness less. I went from thinking of all the bad things that could happen to the mindset that we (God and I) could do it.
When darkness comes into our lives and we move toward those “what if” moments it is really a show of faith. We are taking life in our own hands and what we are really saying is what if God isn't watching over me, what if God will not protect and provide for me. We fear what we can’t see because we live in a world where we want a sense of control, we may forget even for a split second or in a moment of weakness that God is in control! Often times we use prayer as a last stitch, Hail Mary effort. However if we go into these situations praying and trusting God the outcome will be the same but we will fear less.
“For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of Gods glory displayed in the face of Christ.
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
2 Corinthians 4:6, 17-18 NIV
2 Corinthians is telling us to trust fully in God. Fix our eyes on what is unseen, not what is seen because what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal. In those moments of darkness, fear, despair, uneasiness fix our eyes on God. Trust fully that God will lead us from the darkness we are in.
“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light.”
Ephesians 5:8-13
““No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness. See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you.””
Luke 11:33-36 NIV
Food for thought:
We think darkness is so much scarier than light. What do we tend to do when we come up out of a basement?
Shut off the light and run as fast as we can. Is it because the basement poses a threat? No, because we were just there and when the lights were on everything was perfectly fine. The darkness tricks us into thinking that there is now a potential threat. The same is true throughout life. The enemy wants to keep us in the darkness because no matter how much we build up our defenses, our fear ultimately breaks down those defenses and suddenly we have opened ourselves up to be attacked. The devil loves us being in the dark because it is much easier for him to attack and it also makes it possible for him to attack from any angle, and by the time we realize he is attacking it’s too late to defend our position. He can sneak up on us in the darkness. He can sneak up, create havoc or create problems where there are none, and retreat before we even realize or react
We can’t let the darkness scare us, we should not fear what we cannot see. We are the light of the world and have to light up the darkness around us. We must be strong in our faith that God is always by our side. Go forth and fear not!
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