During the economic collapse of October 2008, a Stamford, Connecticut, man threatened to blow up a bank. When he lost $500,000 of his $2,000,000 portfolio, he planned to bring a gun into the facility and take the lives of innocent people if necessary. As if a shooting spree would do anything to restore his loss. Fear has never been famous for its logic.

If there were no God, stuff-trusting would be the only appropriate response to an uncertain future. But there is a God. And this God does not want his children to trust money. He responded to the folly of the rich man with a flurry of ā€œDo not worryā€ appeals. ā€œDo not worry about your life. . . . Do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mindā€ (vv. 22, 29).

Don’t follow the path of the wealthy bumpkin who was high on financial cents but impoverished of spiritual sense. Instead, ā€œDo not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdomā€ (v. 32). This is the only occasion when Jesus calls us his ā€œlittle flock.ā€ The discussion of provision prompts such pastoral concern.

I once rode on horseback with a shepherdess through the Black Mountains of Wales. The green valleys were cotton-puffed with heads of sheep. We came upon one member of the flock that had gotten herself into quite a fix. She was stuck on her back in the rut of a dirt road and couldn’t stand up.

When the shepherdess saw her, she dismounted from her horse, looked at me, and chuckled. ā€œThey aren’t the brightest of beasts.ā€ She righted the animal, and off it ran.

We aren’t the brightest of beasts either. Yet we have a shepherd who will get us back on our feet. Like a good shepherd, he will not let us go unclothed or unfed. ā€œI have never seen the godly abandoned or their children begging for breadā€ (Ps. 37:25 NLT). What a welcome reminder! When homes foreclose or pensions evaporate, we need a shepherd. In Christ we have one. And his ā€œgood pleasure [is] to give you the kingdom.ā€

Max Lucado, Fearless: Imagine Your Life without Fear (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2012).


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