The downward spiral of doubt

Say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, He will come with vengeance; with divine retribution He will come to save you.” Isaiah 35:4I’m the type of girl who needs a reminder every once in awhile in order to stay on track. Anybody out there with me? Sometimes I forget. Sometimes I start to lose my way. Sometimes I’m anxious. Sometimes I’m afraid. And sometimes, it’s the shouts of the faithful that steer me back on course.One of the things I love most about the Lord is that He knows we are weak. He knows we are forgetful and that more often than we’d like to admit, we lose our way. That is why we have His Word – a constant source of truth that will forever shed light on the darkness and deceit of the doubts we face and the fear we embrace.God knew that His people would struggle with anxiety and fear. That is why He gave us verses like Isaiah 35:4 – a call to remember WHO God is and WHAT He can do. WHO is He? He is a promise maker and a promise keeper. When He says He’ll come, He will indeed come. WHAT can He do? He will save. He will rescue. He will deliver.It’s when we forget the WHO and the WHAT that we find ourselves sliding down the slippery slope of doubt. When we forget WHO we trust and WHAT He is capable of doing in our lives, fear becomes our new normal. This is exactly why it is so crucial that we are daily absorbing God’s Word for ourselves, feasting on its truth, and filling our minds with its wisdom. Days spent without it serves us nothing more than confusion, uncertainty, doubt, and fear. Imagine how healthy your marriage would be if you only spent time with your spouse twice a year. So many claim that they want to be closer to God and to possess stronger faith, yet they reserve no more for Him than church attendance on Christmas and Easter.If there’s one thing for you to grasp and walk away with today it’s this:Doubt forgets. Faith remembers.When we choose to remember WHO God is and WHAT He has done and can do, fear melts away as trust increases. It’s a matter of focus. It’s an issue of perspective. What are you looking at today? Instead of rehearsing your circumstance, make a choice right now to rehearse God’s character. Expect Him to come, because He said He would. Anticipate His rescue, because He said He would save you. “Be strong, do not fear.”