Do not be afraid, you worm [insert name here], little [insert name again], do not fear, for I myself will help you, declares the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. (Now reread the sentence continuously with your name in it). – Isaiah 41:14. In your walk with God, there will be a time when you’ll have a reason to be afraid, to be scared, terrified, worried…  For me, now, I feel God beckoning me out of my comfort zone, to a new level of boldness, to a new level of faith, and frankly, I am scared. However, God spoke and is still speaking and reminding my heart of that verse. God is God; He is Supreme, all powerful, truth, so of course I can trust His Word. I know this, my head knows it, but sometimes, my heart forgets, I don’t live like it is true.

In some areas of life, we are experienced in trusting God (for me, it is in the area of provision). I have no doubt that God will always provide for my needs, because He always has. We have walked that path so many times before. He has given me the opportunity to experience His faithfulness in that aspect of my life, and I have taken it, sometimes as a result of my decisions or of others’ in my life. Yet, in some areas, we are babes, timid, worried and just plain scared - worms. In those areas, we are unsure, insecure, frightened (that area for me, is in my relationships with people; to stop idolizing them, to stop worrying about what they think about me, to stop building my life (what I say and do) according to a blueprint that would most please them, to be bold about my relationship with God despite who’s listening in). I am still inexperienced in seeing that, relationship-wise, God is enough for me, that I don’t need those connections as much as I need my connection to Him. That I don’t have to hush my voice when talking about God, or refrain from talking about Him in a public place.

Of course, I know that God is higher and bigger than all, He is more powerful. However, my heart does not know or fully trust and understand that yet. In other words, I haven’t allowed it the chance to experience God in that way often enough. I have been too afraid, too “wormy”, so it has not taken the risk, and therefore, simply does not know. How does a heart learn? Experience. A truth we know does not become real to our hearts until we have experienced it, until we have had to trust God in that setting..- live, over and over and over again. Peter did not really know that he could walk on water with Jesus on His side until He stepped out of the boat, his comfort zone. There are so many things that we don’t know that we can accomplish with the Spirit of God who dwells in us. There are areas in your life, where Jesus has said “come”, “come on, do not be afraid, little one, because I am with you.” Just obey, give your heart the chance to know.

Because, it is inherently the nature of a worm to be scared, you might be scared while you obey, but even in that go against your natural inclination and obey, follow the Spirit, your new nature, and step out in faith. For, as long as I stay in my fragile little boat, and refuse to walk on the sea with the One who spoke the seas into existence, I am missing out on the life He planned for me from before the foundations of the Earth. I am missing out on what He has made me for and made for me.  I am missing out on God. He knows I’m scared, hence the title “worm,” but He also knows that His strength, bravery and courage are more than enough. I only have to trust Him and take His hand, accept His help and obey His call to step out of my prison-boat and let my heart experience and therefore know Him in this new way. 

This song by Casting Crowns beautifully encapsulates this blog post...enjoy:

Unlock the Cage

“God is like a lion, He doesn't need you to defend Him, just unlock the cage.” – A poet.

Sometimes, when I think of God using me, I think only of the big things, of global impact, but daily, small acts of obedience not only show God that we love Him, but unlock His power in our worlds. Look at the amazing things that resulted from Daniel’s simple decision to stay true to God when the people around Him were worshiping the king, how about his friends and the fiery furnace? They didn't have to do something especially breath-taking or extravagant for God to move, they only had to stay true to what they believed in those moments. Like many of us; big dreamers, I don’t have a problem going on endless theological arguments, or holding big events for Christ, but what about those little moments when all He asks is my simple trust? Those times when I’m talking about God to a friend and I turn down my voice when someone passes by, or times when a friend comes to me with an issue that God has helped me through before, and I can’t bring myself to tell them how I really got through it. Cos, what if they don’t believe in God? What if they “get offended?” “Is it politically correct?” Those times, those are the times that we have the opportunities to unlock the cage of God’s power to the world around us. Those little moments of obedience are the moments that unlock God’s power in our world, our campus, our neighborhoods and beyond.

Now some of you, if you’re like me, are terrified. I don’t have the right words, I am a shy person, I don’t know how to accomplish this task… well the good thing is that you don’t have to know how, you just have to trust and follow the One who knows. In Joshua 1:9, God said to Joshua, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua was about to take on an unbelievable task for the first time. God promised to be with him, and that was all He needed. God has promised to never leave nor forsake us. When the angel told Mary, a virgin that she would give birth to a son… pause and think about that for a second… how impossible is that? How could she ever go about that? She didn't even have the first natural step checked off yet, and here was her task; that she would do something she had never done in her life, had no experience doing and absolutely zero knowledge how to go about. Well she had the logical question: “[huh?] How can this be?” How will I talk to my friends about what I truly believe, how can I live everyday boldly for Christ? How do I even get started? “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” Luke 1:35.

On this side of history, the Holy Spirit already lives in us, is already empowering us, we just need to trust Him. Simply trust. Even in the midst of fear and uncertainty, trust that whatever the consequences may be, God is big and strong enough to handle it, just like Daniel trusted. A relationship with God is personal, but it is not private. Be vulnerable to the Spirit, obey, and trust God to handle the rest. Not only does this draw the lost to the love and embrace of their maker, it grows your faith, makes it real to you, so that you don’t have to constantly convince yourself over and over again that God is real. It aids the transition of that head knowledge to your heart. We pray for revivals on our campuses, maybe God is waiting on us.

        God has created a desperate hunger in all of us, a neediness for love that only Him can satisfy, we seek many things to try to satisfy it; for some, it is success, wealth, sex, drugs…  For me, gaining the approval of as many people as possible. My thoughts consumed by what people might be thinking about me. I would've won the award for the “nicest” girl around. Oh and of course, because I’m a Christian; I am just trying to “show the love of God.” Well why did I only “show” that “love” to people who are beautiful or handsome enough, smart, talented enough, people who might have something to offer me? See, I was trying to satisfy that neediness - the one that God put there to draw me to Himself - with lesser gods; idolized people’s good opinion. Since being nice is a well-liked social skill, it is hard to identify the obsession as sin. However, no matter how hard I tried to fit in with some groups, it never worked out, so I had to keep looking. In closing those other doors, God gave me the opportunity to find his unending and satisfying love. 

      In my thirst, I was reaching out for a cup of salty water that would momentarily satisfy only to leave me thirstier. Had I gotten it, with every drink, I would have been wrapping one more round of iron chains around myself. What God did for me was move that cup of salty water away from my reach. There was no reason why I wouldn’t have fit in perfectly with those groups of friends. Sometimes I even said “That friend would draw me closer to God.” I had all sorts of rationales, but God is not fooled, and just as it seemed like I was about to grasp it…oops, moved again, sorry. See God was offering me the fresh, living water of His unconditional and unending love, the only that could ever truly satisfy me, that could set me free. He was saving me a lot, so I thank God for those unanswered prayers, I thank God for all those relationships that never worked out no matter how hard I tried. I thank God for those disappointments. That those cute boys I had huge crushes on didn’t even seem to notice that I existed. That I never got into that college I wanted so badly. I thank God that He didn’t allow anything keep His throne in my heart, that His love persisted and insisted that I stay free, not enslaved. I thank God that He would love me that much. God I thank you, I thank you, I thank you for all those unmet desires. 

       I thank you that despite my ignorant yearning for muddy, salty water, You insisted that I have the pure, refreshing and satisfying cup that never runs dry.

People are amazing! But of course, they were made in God’s image. People are just a shadow of an even more amazing God, and instead of chasing the shadow, we are called to seek the real deal. Our hearts are drawn to amazing and wonderful things because we were made to be drawn to God. The wonder in people is supposed to point us to their Maker. If people are projects, God is the one who came up with the idea. All those things that impress us in people were put there to cause us to say “How great is our God.”

However, I often pour all that awe and worship into the wrong cup. I direct it to the person, instead of the Maker of the person, and that enslaves me. Paul describes it as exchanging the truth about God for a lie, and worshiping and serving created things rather than the Creator (Romans 1:25).  How does that look? For me, I think “oh my life would be so much better if this person were in it.” I feel special when they are nice to me and not special when they are not. I would even become jealous of them, feel inferior to them, want to be them. I become hyper-aware of the way I act around them, so that they see a flawless image of me, then maybe they will approve of me. In simple terms, we idolize people, and God is not cool with that, He won’t share His glory with anyone.

Like us, other people were made to bring glory and attention to God. The very things that were supposed to draw us into God’s presence, into freedom, enslave us to people when we look at it the wrong way, which is easy to do in this world we live in. We see people from God’s point of view by renewing our minds with the Word of God; speaking the truths of the Bible to the lies that sneak into our minds about people and by the help of the Holy Spirit. When we see people from God’s point of view, we are free, our worship of God is enhanced and we can love people the way God intended. We can truly love, not a half-hearted love of intimidation, fear or pity. We can fully love and have real relationships, because we are not valuing them because of anything else except the fact that God loves them.

We can love without thinking that they are a necessity in our lives, because only God is. God takes back His throne in our hearts and minds, and we are free from the fear of man. “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love, of power and of a sound mind. Idolizing people or putting anything above God in our heart instills fear in us, weakens our love, drains our power and attacks our sound mind (Romans 1:21-27). We can live and enjoy the life God has made us to live. God, who is the source of all that we are impressed by, is already in love with us and we can't impress Him. Nothing can change that. That sets us free.