Dear Friend,
There is an old German Proverb that states, “Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is.”
There is a lot of fear circulating around us these days; empty shelves reinforce our fears that we better stock up for the worst is yet to come. The news reinforces our fears with constant reports of mounting death tolls. Masks have become a part of our new apparel, and social distancing has become the new norm.
What can we do to escape this paralyzing fear?
An Old Cherokee Tale of Two Wolves provides the answer. “One evening an old Cherokee Indian told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, ‘My son, the battle is between two ‘wolves’ inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.
The other is good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.’
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: ‘Which wolf wins?’
The old Cherokee simply replied, ‘The one you feed.’
If we feed our faith, fear loses. If we feed your fears, faith loses. Faith and fear cannot co-exist. One will always win, and the winner will be determined by whom we feed.
David had the choice when going through the dark night of his soul, and he chose to feed his faith. In a time of great spiritual anguish, he cries out “When I am afraid, I will trust in you.” Ps. 56:3
If, like David, we choose to feed our faith with God’s word, we’ll starve our fears. Open the Word today and spend some time listening to Him and be reminded that “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Philippians 4:7
In closing, I remind you of the words of the great preacher and writer Alexander Maclaren who wrote “Only he who can say, ‘The Lord is the strength of my life,’ can say, ‘Of whom shall I be afraid?’”
Yours in faith and friendship,
Tom
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