Facing Our Fears

Max Lucado recently shared a frightening moment in his life in which, like so many of us, he developed the beginning of a physical problem he just didn’t want to face. He related that ten years ago he noticed what looked and felt like a tremor in his thumb which started quivering mysteriously. He revealed that his father died from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, aka, Lou Gehrig’s Disease which is a progressive degeneration of nerve cells that control motor movement and ends in death) and he assumed the worse. Did he inherit the same horribly slow death as his father?

Max said his golf game suffered because of the tremor and, “If I raised my left hand to make a point in a sermon, all I could see was a twitchy thumb.” He remembered one of the last messages he received from his father was, “I have no fear of death or eternity.” He thought to himself why he didn’t have that same faith. After all, he was a minister who preached to others that the Lord is with you. Yet, he was too afraid of going to the doctor for fear that he would be told that he would die. It was just too scary. However, enough was enough and he summoned all the courage he could muster an went to the doctor who checked him out thoroughly, from his walk and his reflexes to his balance. When the doctor finished the examination, Max was almost overcome while waiting for the doctor to, “deliver the death sentence.” Finally, the doctor said, “No need to worry. You’re okay. The tremor in your thumb is nothing to worry about. I promise.”

Last winter I developed a bad cold and had trouble breathing. I went to Urgent Care and the doctor wrote out a prescription for medicine. She noticed that I was behaving rather strange and I told her my father had died of lung cancer. She said, “Do you want a chest x-ray?” I didn’t know what to say at first and almost said no but stopped myself and said, “Yes. But if it is bad - don’t tell me.” She had the nurse escort me back to the x-ray department and then back to the waiting room. When I was told that the X-ray was clear. I said, “Really. Promise? Not just saying that?” She nodded yes.

Only a doctor would be able to convince me I was not going to die like my father. So it is with the promises of God. Unlike Max’s thumb and my coughing, the promises of God are undeniable and unbroken. What I learned from my experience is that with the promises of God, we must face our fears in life. Whatever those fears may be. We all know those who have waited too long to face their fear and it was too late for them. God wants us to be at peace and come to him with our fears and He will give us the comfort that only God can give us. To God be all the glory. Amen and amen.