It may be dark but God is light ...

Okay, so I'm thick. No, I'm not talking about my girth, though that could certainly apply as well. I think it's an Atlantic Canada expression because I don't think I encountered it before I moved here. Out West we were perhaps a bit more forthright using terms like, "dense, dim witted, etc." The bottom line is, sometimes I'm a little bit slow on the uptake.

For over a month now, God has been giving me gentle reminders - of the same thing. It started, I believe, on August 17th, "But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me." Micah 7:7,8 with the most recent addition to the roster, this morning, being Psalm 27:1 "The LORD is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life - of whom shall I be afraid?"

Now I'm not sure, but I think God may be trying to tell me something here. God is light. God is my light. I have nothing to fear. One would think that after six weeks of being repeatedly told the same message in numerous ways I would eventually catch on. And yet, I battle fear. I know that God is love and perfect love casts out fear. I know that God has not given us a spirit of fear. I know all of that. I know that in Christ I am more than conqueror. What I'm having trouble with, is clearing the hurdle between where I know I am positionally in Christ and what I walk in experientially.

Since this seems to be what God is working on, in my life the past six plus weeks, I can't help but wonder if something else which I've noticed recurring the past little while may have something to do with this. If I'm connecting the dots in the correct order, I think that this second theme may well be the key to clearing that hurdle I'm struggling with. I've noticed the last week or so ... don't know how long it's been going on but I've been noticing the past week ... that God is reminding me to Praise Him, to Worship Him, to Exalt His name. This morning I caught myself singing, "Give thanks to the LORD for He is good, HIS love endures forever." 

Thank the LORD for HIS goodness! Focus on HIM and HIS goodness. I can't see how that can do anything but help. If HE is my light, and HE says HE is, then focusing on HIM has to take my eyes off of the things that put fear in my life. If I'm not looking at them, not thinking about them, not giving them opportunity to take hold of my mind they become toothless tigers pretty quickly.