“The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, “The Lord is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.” (Ps 92:12-15, NIV)
There is something about the future that for many people can bring a sense of anxiety and I think that’s the case because the future is somewhat mysterious. Now I must admit that when I was younger, I carried a lot of fear because I could never really be sure of what was really going to happen next. And that’s what I think it all comes down to right? What causes us to fear; it all comes down to not being able to control where we are going and what “hand we will be dealt next”.
Now I don’t know what you’re like with flying, but for me it has been such an incredibly hard experience that I have had to get over through the years because to put it simply, I don’t like someone else being in complete control. However imagine if the pilot said, okay I totally get where you’re coming from Michael, control seems to be the problem here so why don’t you fly the plane and get us off the ground and land us at the other end. Now immediately that might seem like a solution, me being in total control. But this is the thing, just because I have a problem with control it doesn’t mean that if I was given access to the cockpit that it would be the best thing for anybody, in fact you could bet I’d crash the plane.
Now without doubt we have to learn to trust other people with our lives to get on by. If that’s to a pilot to get us from A to B, if thats to a surgeon who needs to operate, if that’s to a surf lifesaver who needs to get us back to shore safely, then it is wise to put your trust into the hands of these people because they know what they are doing. We might not like it at first, but to make it to the other end, trusting the right person is the best course of action and when we practice this faith enough times the fear that we first had seems to dissipate because we see that if we were in control then things would be disastrous.
So the question is, why do we still experience fear in the present about what comes next? Well it’s as I already said, it takes practice to put faith in another. But who controls our future? Well the bible reveals it’s certainly not us (Isa 44:7), or some worldly power (Ps 2:1-6) but God the creator of all things and it is He who has all people under His sovereignty (Gen 50:20), with every living creature under His control (Job 12:10), who rules over nations (Ps 22:28) and has already written the future (Prov 16:9, Isa 14:24). That’s quite a resume right? And that is the One in whom we are called to trust. But listen to this; God is also good (Ps 103:8), compassionate (Ps 86:15) and loves those who are His (1 Jn 4:8,16)…That’s who has us and our future brothers and sisters and it is He who has promised us that we will flourish in His presence one day (Ps 92:12-15).
So next time that fear starts to creep in, we have access to the One who is in total control, more than a pilot or a doctor etc…Because of Jesus we have access to the King of kings and Author of life. And the more we practice this faith, the easier it gets to see that it is a great thing that He is in control, which in turn casts out our fears and anxieties.