WHERE OUR FEARS LIVE

WHERE OUR FEARS LIVE

READ:

1 Kings 17:17-24

Whenever I am afraid, I will

trust in You.  –Psalm 56:3

Twelve years into our marriage, my wife and I were discouraged by the emotional roller-coaster of hopes raised and dashed in attempting to have children.  A friend tried to “explain” God’s thinking.  “Maybe God knows you’d be a bad father,” he said.  He knew that my mother had struggled with a terrible temper.

Then, Christmas 1988, we learned we were expecting our first child!  But now I had this nagging fear of failure.

The following August, Kathryn joined our family.  As nurses and doctors tended to my wife, Kathryn cried on the warming tray.  I offered my hand to comfort her, and her tiny fingers wrapped around my finger.  In that instant, the Holy Spirit swept through me, assuring me of what I had only recently doubted-that I would show love to this little one!

The widow of Zarephath also had doubts.  Her son had been struck with a lethal illness.  In her despair she cried out, “Have you come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to kill my son?” (1 Kings 17:18).  But God had other plans! 

We serve a God who is mightier than the struggles we inherit and who is full of the desire to forgive, love, and heal the brokenness that rises up between us and Him.  God is present in the places where our fears live.  –Randy Kilgore

Father, make Yourself known to us in our weakest

moments and in our greatest fears.  Teach us to

receive Your love in a way that enables us to show

it to others, especially those closest to us.

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Love swims against the current of life’s false fears.

INSIGHT

Today’s text demonstrates persistence in prayer.  Elijah was a prophet who performed many miracles at the word of the Lord.  This story relates how a young boy was restored to life through Elijah’s pleading prayers.  God honored Elijah’s persistence and performed a miracle.  The text says that the Lord listened to him after he had prayed three times (v.22).

Have a blessed day.

God Our Creator’s Love Always

Unity & Peace