So many people are discussing the Chinese Spy Balloons that recently flew over the United States. Many speak in fearful undertones or about the terrors of possible future wars, and wonder why the government did not shoot them down sooner. Others see them as no big deal since China has spied on us for years with satellites that can see amazing details from space. In all the conversations I have heard I have never heard about God’s role in it all. Have we become so fearful or complacent that we have forgotten that there is still a God in heaven and He is STILL in control?
The Living Bible (paraphrase) says, in Psalm 56:3, “But when I am afraid, I will put my confidence in you. Yes, I will trust the promises of God. And since I am trusting him, what can mere man do to me?”
We have a God mightier than any man, country, or army for that matter. Indeed, what can man (or spy balloons, for that matter) do to me?
1 Samuel 17:42-51 (MSG) shares the familiar story of David and Goliath. Did David show fear when he heard the Giant’s taunts? No, in fact he wondered why King Saul’s armies were afraid with God on their side. After Goliath even taunted him, telling him that he would feed him to the buzzards and wild animals, David ran at the giant shouting, “You come at me with sword and spear and battle-ax. I come at you in the name of God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel’s troops, whom you curse and mock. This very day God is handing you over to me. I’m about to kill you, cut off your head, and serve up your body and the bodies of your Philistine buddies to the crows and coyotes,” and David did just that. Was David operating in fear or faith? When we worry about what China can or will do to us, are we operating in fear or faith?
Charles Capps once said, “Fear-filled words will defeat you, but faith-filled words will put you over!” and Napoleon Hill said, “Faith and Fear make poor bedfellows. Where one is found, the other cannot exist,” but I like how Bob Proctor put it, “Faith and fear both demand you believe in something you cannot see. You choose.”
Of course, God puts it best; “Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.” — Proverbs 29:25 (NJKV)
