The coronavirus pandemic has brought many fears to the forefront of our minds. “What if …?” What if I don’t have enough …? What if I lose everything? What if I get sick? Will my family and I be okay? Even apart from the worldwide pandemic, fear challenges our faith. We fear the worst. We fear violence. We fear death. During the Easter season, we are exploring the fears that sideline and paralyze us. But more importantly, we are exploring the promises of God that combat our fears. We draw strength from the assurance of God that He will always be with us, no matter what challenges we face.

Today we’ll explore the fear of losing everything. In our church devotions this week, we read on Tuesday, April 21 that “the fear we have in our lives revolves around adding up the problems as they come in and subtracting the blessings as they leave. We keep mental track of this, and it invariably creates fear.” In our Old Testament lesson, Jeremiah points out that the Lord does allow hardship in our lives, but reassures us that His faithful love will never fail us and in fact, the Lord is inviting us to come to Him with our fears and struggles. “The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him” (Lam. 3:25). In our New Testament lesson, St. Paul encourages us to always “fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Cor. 4:18). We can be reassured, that no matter what challenges come our way, our worst fears can be removed by remembering that the almighty God of both heaven and earth is always on the throne.