My youngest used to be terrified of ladybugs. The running-away-screaming kind of terrified. Of ladybugs. No matter what reassurances we offered, she remained committed to that phobia. She wouldn’t go down the slide if there’s a ladybug. Once, she refused to leave the house because a ladybug was crawling across the threshold. Not bees. Not spiders. Ladybugs.
In Mark 4, he gives his account of Jesus calming a storm on the sea of Galilee. He speaks to the storm with authority, with ownership, the way you might tell your dog to hush. In the calm that followed, Jesus asked His disciples two pointed questions:
Why are you afraid? Not, what are you afraid of, but why? This is a whole different issue.
Do you still have no faith? After all that you’ve seen Him do …?
In some ways, the disciples’ fear made as much sense as Rachel’s fear of ladybugs. Jesus knew the storm had no power to harm them, and wouldn’t interfere with their mission. It was just something they had to go through. In His grace and compassion, though, He calmed the storm.
Really, all our fears are ladybug fears. The things in this life have no power to do us eternal harm. They can’t interfere with our mission unless we let them. They’re just something we have to go through.
Verse 41 says the disciples “feared exceedingly” after the miracle. That fear of the storm had been replaced with a new kind of fear, a reverent, God-honoring recognition of His deity and authority.
I want that kind of fear. Not the ladybug kind.
This is a really insightful post. It gives us reason to really think about what we really fear. It's a 'What's the worst thing that can happen?' kind of deal. Thank you for giving me something to think about! It makes a lot of sense. If God is with us, what can man really do to us? There's really nothing they can do to us that God doesn't know about and God doesn't control.
Thanks for the post!!