Faith Over Fear

“While he thus spake, there came a cloud, and overshadowed them: and they feared as they entered into the cloud.” (Lu 9:34 AV)

 

Trying to find out who the ‘them’ is that entered the cloud is very interesting.  There is a split decision as to it being just Jesus, Moses, and Elias; or all six.  I am no Greek grammar expert and I can see both sides as valid even though only one is.  The main point of those who think it was only the three honored guests is the three disciples heard the voice of God out of the cloud and not in the cloud.  But that is a very minor distinction.  Hearing the voice out of the cloud while being in the cloud is not impossible.  Imagine being in a fog in the middle of a large body of water.  You hear the fog horn out of the fog while being in the fog.  All this surmising, however, loses the point.  The three feared, yet they didn’t flee.  Whether in the cloud or outside observing the cloud makes no difference.  If they entered the cloud, it is significantly more important because, despite their fear, they entered into an obscured environment with little to no bearing, trusting the LORD to see them through it.  This kind of reminds me of the children of Israel as they crossed Jordan.  All they had to go on was the footprints of the priests that went before them.  That is what faith requires.  It requires acting without having all the answers and it requires overcoming fear in the process.

One of the ‘joys’ of driving in the winter in the Snow Belt (Erie, PA to Oswego, NY) is driving in whiteouts.  This is when the snow is falling so heavy that your headlights reflect off the snow right back at you and you cannot see any further than a few feet.  As you travel into the snow, the snow gives the appearance you are driving much faster than you are. With the road covered, all you can do is trust the tracks in front of you and keep in the same lane.  I have driven in whiteouts so bad that I had to drive by parking lights only.  Fog lights are a great help; if you have them.  They are smaller yellow-hued lights that seem to pierce through the fog and snow much better than the white lights of headlamps.  To say this experience is a bit harrowing is putting it mildly.  Especially when you are driving through the mountains with little to no shoulder.  Disorientation is a real problem.  Things get a bit skewed.  You think you should be coming up to your exit or turnoff and you are miles away.  When you think you have been driving for hours, you have actually been driving for minutes.  The world gets very small. 

I have noticed something about the people God uses.  They are just like us.  They deal with fear.  In the case above, it is the fear of the unknown.  I think we can all attest to that.  We enter every day not knowing exactly what the day may bring forth.  We do not know what next week or next month might bring.  The cloud is ever before us.  But entering is not a choice we can make.  Life goes on and we must trudge through the unknown.  There is nothing that will stop the sun from rising tomorrow.  Next week will come.  Next year is on the calendar.  The unknown is part of life.  The three disciples went into the cloud even though they feared.  Moses approached the burning bush even though he feared.  Joshua went up the mount with Moses to receive the law of God even though he trembled.  The men and women whom God uses are not absent of fear.  They allow faith to overcome fear.  Staying safe is not the way to live a life for God.  Trusting God amid fear, is.