Fear or faith? Which will you choose?

This is January’s ‘thought for the month’.

At the end of each month last year, I wrote a ‘thought for the month’. I asked my mailing list subscribers whether I should keep writing them this year, and those who replied said ‘yes’.

If you want to read the ‘thought for the month’ archives, you’ll find them all here.

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I don’t know about you, but I always enter a new year with a sense of expectation: What will it hold? Where will it take me? How will I navigate what lies ahead?

This January, as you look ahead at 2022, what do you see?

Do you see obstacles, challenges and impossibilities? Or do you see openings, opportunities and possibilities?

Are you filled with fear? Or are you filled with faith?

***

In the Bible, in Numbers 13, there’s a story about two men called Joshua and Caleb.

They were part of a group of twelve men, who God had commissioned to go into the Promised Land, to scout it out. He had promised his people that he would give them this particular piece of land. But the land was occupied, so it was a daunting mission.

Ten of the men returned to Moses, their leader, and reported that the inhabitants of the land were enormous and frightening, and that the cities were fiercely fortified.

All ten of them focused on the obstacles – and were filled with fear.

But Joshua and Caleb were different.

These two men went on exactly the same reconnaissance trip. They saw exactly the same land, exactly the same inhabitants, and exactly the same cities. Yet they came to a completely different conclusion.

They saw the obstacles, but they also saw potential pathways around them. They saw the challenges, but they also identified the opportunities. They saw the impossibilities, but they knew that God could turn them into possibilities.

These two men focused on God – and were filled with faith.

Joshua and Caleb viewed the land through the lens of God’s promise. They believed he would be true to his word. They trusted his track record. They had no reasons to doubt that the land could be conquered. He had, after all, done miracles before, so why would he not do them again?

That’s why they returned to Moses, their leader, and declared, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it” (Numbers 13:30).

***

What promises has God given you? What ‘land’ lies in front of you in 2022?

Do you see obstacles, challenges and impossibilities? Or do you see openings, opportunities and possibilities?

Are you filled with fear? Or are you filled with faith?

Whatever it is that God’s calling you to – whether with your family, friendships, career, ministry, studies, health, finances, or anything else – if you look to him, your perspective will shift.

Will you be like Joshua and Caleb this year? Will you be filled with faith, rather than fear?

As ever, please feel free to share your thoughts and reflections in the comments below.

Image from Public Domain Pictures via Pixabay