One January evening, when I was around 13 years old, my younger brother Isaac and I went to the barn to do our chores. It was dark, and we weren’t exactly thrilled at the thought of being outside alone. But, for several minutes, all went well. Then — I heard strange crashing noises. All of the barn doors were locked except one. On both sides of that one unlocked door were lots of metal garden tools, buckets, and other outdoor equipment. Since I was already a little nervous, my imagination ran wild. To my mind, the noises sounded like a large animal — or maybe even a person — was hastily trying to come out of its hiding place in the tools by that door. I whispered to Isaac, “What is that noise?” The noise stopped. “I’m sure it is nothing,” he replied. I wasn’t convinced, but I said, “Okay!” and kept working.
Shortly thereafter, the metal clattering noises began again. My voice shook a little as I said, “Don’t you hear that? It sounds as if something or SOMEONE is in the barn, right next to our only escape from the barn.” Isaac still didn’t sense any danger, but loudly asked, “WHO IS IN HERE?!!!” The noise stopped. Now we were both scared and stood completely still in the middle of the barn.
Let’s pause here a second and think about a couple of things. First of all, my fear was entirely based on my imagination. I did not KNOW that there was something scary there. Second, fear is contagious. Now my brother and I were both afraid. “The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe” (Proverbs 29:2525The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe. (Proverbs 29:25)).
After a short time, we slowly went toward the door to investigate. The crashing began again. We froze. I stood there thinking, “If we run to the door, whoever it is will jump out and catch us, and if we stay here, he will get out of his hiding place and corner us.” Just then, my protective and brave brother shouted: “WHO IS IN HERE??!!!!” Suddenly, a massive, dark figure loomed in the doorway! Isaac and I gasped.
Then the person dressed in black, whom we supposed to be an attacker, calmly asked, “Isaac, why were you yelling at your sister?” It was our dad, dressed in his heavy black coat and overalls! He had been throwing junk metal onto a scrap pile just outside the barn. After we hysterically explained and Dad apologized, we had a good laugh.
Thinking about this story later, I realized that I was foolish to get so fearful about something when I obviously didn’t have a real reason to be afraid. How often I (and perhaps you, too) have big fears based on some little detail, and the thing we fear does not even happen! The Lord doesn’t ever want us to be afraid. He says, “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness” (Isaiah 41:1010Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. (Isaiah 41:10)). This is a wonderful promise! Our God is more powerful than anything that we might think could hurt us. He says in this verse that He will help us, even if we actually do go through things that are hard. He will give us the strength to bear them, so that we never need to fear. “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee” (Isaiah 26:33Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. (Isaiah 26:3)).
Messages of God’s Love 4/4/2021