Swinging at Air

“Why are you afraid?” Matthew 8:26

When I was a little girl, I was always intimidated by a Pinata and usually shrunk back allowing others to take a swing at birthday parties. But on a few occasions a well-intended mother of a friend would insist that I take a turn. It always seemed a bit scary to me as a child to be blindfolded, and dependent upon another person to guide my steps to the unknown. If the blindfold wasn’t enough, I was to take a big stick and begin wildly swinging at air in the small hope I would land a devastating blow causing an explosion of candy. On the far chance that I was successful, by the time I removed the blindfold the other children were on the floor clamoring for the candy.

Sometimes I feel like that little girl blindfolded and swinging at air when there is a threat up ahead…If I make contact with the unknown what in the world will the fall-out be? What about you? Are you swinging at something fearful that has not even come to pass? We are all blindfolded when it comes to our future so what will our response be? Will we swing the stick of fear at whatever is dangling before us? Will the explosion be chaos instead of ‘candy?’ Focusing on fear will always diminish our hope for victory over the unknown. ‘Fear is the consummate robber…Faith is not as easy to come by as fear, but it is colossally easier to live with.’ The Quest, Beth Moore, p. 34.

God did not give us a spirit to fear things; fear comes from the flesh. God gave His Spirit because of His love for us to convince us we are held. His Spirit provides us with power, courage to walk through our fears, and vision to guide us. He gives us self-discipline to take our thoughts captive and replace them with full belief that we are okay and everything will be okay. Whatever threatens us we must swing at it with our eyes wide open, using the Word of God as our staff. His yield is beautiful and bountiful if we really believe that God is good and He is in total control.