The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom should I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom should I be afraid?
Dear Lord Jesus, it is so freeing to know that I can be (must be) completely honest with you. As weak as I know myself to be, you know I’m much weaker. And as beloved as I know myself to be, you know that I’m much more beloved. Truly, you are the stronghold, safe-haven, oasis, and sanctuary of my life. I don’t have to fear anything.
2 When evildoers came against me to devour my flesh, my foes and my enemies stumbled and fell. 3 Though an army deploys against me, my heart is not afraid; though a war breaks out against me, still I am confident.
Jesus, my fears don’t look like David’s—“evil doers coming to devour my flesh,” or armies of Philistines waging war against me. Rather, I fear the things I cannot control: Like health issues—for me and everybody in my family; decisions and choices the people I love have to make; friends falling back into destructive ways of medicating their pain; marriages teetering towards the precipice of collapse.
Jesus, I’m so glad you are God and I am not. Foolishly, I think I can fix things and people. Freely, I come to you right now, acknowledging my fears and affirming that you are Lord over everything—my fears and joys, traumas and delights, the next minute and all eternity.
4 I have asked one thing from the Lord; it is what I desire: to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, gazing on the beauty of the Lord and seeking Him in His temple. Psalm 27:1-4 (NIV)
Jesus, rather than telling you what to do, I’m going to gaze on your beauty and bounty in the gospel—the place I find you the easiest and the fullest. The more often I see you, and the more I see of you, the less I fret and fear. I worship you not to get anything but more of you, Jesus. So very Amen I pray, in your loving and powerful name.
