Trusting God More Than You Trust Your Fear

In challenges and trials, I’ve found that difficult decisions can become clearer if I trust God more than I trust my fear.

I was worried. I was fearful. I was confused.

At the same time, I was offering up some of my most heartfelt prayers to God.

Ask and you will receive

We are supposed to ask God for help. We’re told that throughout the Bible. For example, “And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight” (1 John 3:22).

Once we ask, we are supposed to have faith that God hears us. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

Serious illness

In July of that year, my dad was diagnosed with cancer. After some weeks in the hospital and efforts at treatment, it became clear that his body was not responding. After consultation with the medical staff, the decision was made to bring him home for hospice care.

Several weeks passed, and Mom and Dad had settled into some sort of a routine at home. He was resting comfortably, but showing clear signs of decline. The situation was filled with uncertainty. How long would his physical life last?

God’s commanded assembly

The long summer days were waning, and the feel of fall was in the air. With the change in seasons, our thoughts were turning to the Feast of Tabernacles. It was clear that Dad would be unable to go. What would we do? I could not imagine going to the Feast and leaving my dad at home. Would Mom stay with him? Would I stay home as well?

People have to stay home from the Feast every year due to serious health problems. We send them cards, flowers and sometimes we call them from the Feast. For me, this was different though; it was my own family member. I couldn’t bear the thought of going and leaving Dad at home!

How would God answer?

I began to offer up my prayer to God that He would provide a way that we would not have to leave Dad home during the Feast. Would God miraculously give him the strength to go with us? Would He allow his physical life to end prior to the Feast? I didn’t know, and I didn’t dare try to guess what the solution was going to be, but I tried to put it in God’s hands.

This was a confusing and difficult time emotionally. Was I having the faith in God that I should have? I was afraid to face attending the Feast while leaving my dad at home. Maybe I didn’t have enough faith?

About a week before the Feast, it was clear that we would have reliable care for my dad during the Feast, and my mom and I decided we should go and attend God’s Feast. So, I made the hotel reservations, and we got ready to go. Would anything still change before our date of departure, or did God really think we had to go through with this?

We did leave for the Feast as planned, with my dad in reliable care. It was not what I had wanted, and it was a challenging thing to go through with. I had decided that there were two possible solutions, but it seems God had a different solution in mind. God provided a third way that allowed us to go and keep the Feast He commanded us to keep.

A new lesson in faith

It was not until many months after this experience that I learned another perspective on faith. This was a concept that has been often emphasized by our pastor: “Faith is trusting God more than you trust your fear.” While we all have a lot to learn in the way of faith, this has been a comfort to me, realizing that I chose to trust God and keep His command to attend the Feast, despite my fears and concerns.

Most of us have daily situations where we can practice this advice. I find it helps to think about it often:

Faith is trusting God more than you trust your fear.

For more about believing and pleasing God through faith, see the section on “Faith” on the LifeHopeandTruth.com website.

Barbara Lee attends the Twin Cities, Minnesota, congregation of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association, and works as an IT business analyst in the financial services industry. She is a musician and an exercise enthusiast in her free time.