Fear God, Trust God
Western Christians are well known for their fear of suffering. It has been speculated for decades that this fear has pushed Western Christians to adopt a view of future tribulation that says they don’t have to go through it. This is despite the fact that Jesus spoke over and over of the correlation between living as a true believer and suffering for it.
In Matthew 10 Jesus brings together two areas of belief that make suffering more easily able to be handled.
Firstly in Matthew 10:28 He says ‘Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather be afraid of the One who can destroy soul and body in hell.’ The first key to handling suffering is to have a healthy fear of God.
In Western Christianity the fear of God is hardly taught and probably even less believed. But without this key, we give ourselves over to every other kind of fear (sickness, cancer, loneliness, poverty …). The truth is: the fear of God has more than enough power to free us from every other fear there is.
The second area of belief Jesus mentions that can set us free from fearing suffering is in Matthew 9:29 ‘Are not two sparrows sold for a penny. Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.’ The second key is trusting God with what happens to us.
Nothing takes God by surprise. Trust Him to protect you; trust Him with your life. Whether outwardly life seems easy or difficult, God can be trusted to look after you.
So the two keys are: fearing God and trusting Him with your life.
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