Sunday Devotional: Sarah's Children

And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.”—1 Peter 3:6

If you spend any amount of time with a group of women, it won’t be long before you probably will hear “I am so freaking out about this” from one of their mouths. “Freaking out” has become the modern day equivalent to the nervous break down of twenty years ago, and it floods our churches, our homes, our work places, and our very souls.

When Peter, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, tells us that we are like Sarah if we do not fear anything that is frightening, he is not saying that the Christian life is free from fear. He is implying that there are very frightening things out there, but you need not fear those things. How we react in frightening times speaks volumes about our belief in the Gospel. Our response to fear is either telling the world that God always keeps His promises, or that God cannot be trusted.

Panic attacks, freaking out, and nervous break downs are not characteristics of a godly woman. In fact, they are characteristics of a woman who has nothing to hope in but herself. Learning to trust in the promises of God often times requires us to go through agonizing suffering and great uncertainty because God knows exactly what we need to conform us into the image of Jesus—even if it means great fear for a season.

If “freaking out” is not becoming of a godly woman, how do we remedy anxiety? Know God through His Word. If we do not know God’s promises, we cannot trust them in the first place. Read, study, and love the whole Bible—Genesis to Revelation. It is there that we will see the power of God in keeping covenant with His people, and it is there where we will find our source of strength. So much of our anxieties can find their calming rest in the precious Words of our God—go to Him, He will not forsake you.

For some of us, frightening circumstances may seem very foreign right now, to others it may seem more real than we would prefer. Regardless of the present, there will come a day when it will not seem so easy, and the reality of the frightening will be very near. Hope in God, dear Christian. Sarah faced great uncertainty: infertility, moving to an unknown land, and a husband who put her in dangerous predicaments. Yet God, in His mercy, molded her into a woman who hoped in God (1 Peter 3:6, Hebrews 11:11).

God cares far more about our reactions than our situations. He lovingly squeezes us until we can joyfully say that Jesus Christ is all, no matter the cost. May our reactions to all things frightening be proclaiming to the lost world around us that God always wins.