Jimbo's Jots

Some of the most common phobias are:

• Arachnophobia: an intense fear of spiders and other arachnids
• Ophidiophobia: an intense fear of snakes
• Acrophobia: an intense fear of heights
• Aerophobia: an intense fear of flying
• Cynophobia: an intense fear of dogs
• Astraphobia: an intense fear of thunder and lightning
• Trypanophobia: an intense fear of injections
• Social phobia: an intense fear of social interactions
• Agoraphobia: an intense fear of places that are difficult to escape, sometimes involving a fear of crowded or open spaces
• Mysophobia: an intense fear of germs, dirt, and other contaminants

Do you feel like your life is just one big life of fear? We’re legitimately fearful of many things these days. We listen to daily news, which focuses on the troubles of the world. We look at social media and compare life to life. I even use an assessment with the acronym SCARED – Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders

Now

Yet as I think about all that the world throws at us, it is not really a surprise that we are scared people. And then I’m reminded of one of my favorite stories in the Old Testament.

When you get a chance, read 2 Kings 6. In it, the story goes like this. Elisha, the prophet of Israel, has been letting the king of Israel know where the armies of the Aram were so that Israel could not be attacked. After several attempts, the king of Aram finally finds out that it’s Elisha that is the “spy”. He sends his whole army to Elisha’s house to “get rid of him”. The servant of the prophet comes out and see the Aramean army and is afraid. In fear, he tells Elisha. Elisha prays that God opens the eyes of the servant. When the servant’s eyes are opened, he sees the army of God surrounding the enemy.

In this story, by opening the eyes of the servant, God through Elisha took something that brings fear and turns it into some that is a holy moment. We get scared. But by changing our perspective and our focus, and changing some letters, we take the moments that we get scared to moments that become sacred.

Look at that! Much like God opening the eyes of the servant, our eyes can be opened to seeing God working. In those moments, we no longer are controlled by our fears, but live with the power of God surrounding us.

Be blessed in your sacred moments! Be blessing to others in theirs!