A Fly Went By...

When I was a kid, there was a book that my Dad and I read frequently together, A Fly Went By, by Mike McClintock. I don't know if you recognize this title, but I can recite a lot of it simply from memory of the times Dad read the book to me and then I read it to my children. "I sat by the lake and looked at the sky, and as I looked, a fly went by. A fly went by, he said 'Oh Dear!' I saw him shake; he shook with fear! And when I saw that fly go past, I asked him why he went so fast. I asked him why he shook with fear. I asked him why he said, 'Oh Dear!' He said, 'I MUST GET OUT OF HERE!'"

The fly tells the young boy that a frog is after him. Soon, following the fly, a frog comes along and the story continues. "The fly went past! The frog came FAST! I asked the frog, I asked him 'Why? Why do you want to get that fly?" The frog said, "Me? I want no fly, but I must hop and this is why..."

The story goes on as the frog is terrified of something chasing him (a cat), and the cat is running in fear of the dog...and so on. One of my favorite pages in the book says: "The fly flew away in fear of the frog, who ran from the cat, who ran from the dog. The dog and the pig and cows, they all ran, and then came the fox who ran from the man." 

One by one, all of these animals are running from the animal behind them and in the end it is shown that the man is running from an awful sound he heard. He ran in fear, building up the "what-ifs" in his mind, creating a monster that was chasing him.  But it ended up being a sweet little lamb with a tin can stuck on it's leg, just trying to get the man's attention. That somehow started a chain reaction of fear that could only be stopped by truth and knowledge of that truth. At this point, the young boy works to get the man to help and then to get all the animals to come to a halt once they realized their fears were unfounded and that they are safe in the presence of the little lamb.

If you'd like to see the entire book read, here it is by Sunshine Stories. 

 It is a wonderful and fun little rhyming book that brings back fond memories for me from my childhood, but God used it to remind me of a much deeper lesson.

 I had not thought of this book for years until just recently. I have had several conversations lately about fears of the future and anxieties as an adult. Fear is a legitimate reaction for us as humans. If it were not, God would not have included so many scriptures addressing our fear reactions and how we should deal with anxiety. The words, "Fear not..." or "do not be afriad..." are some of the most repeated phrases in the Bible. God has given us reminder after reminder to "fear not..." as believers because we are His and under His protection. Verses that focus on dealing with anxious thoughts and anxieties, are also throughout the Scriptures. 

 1 Peter 5:6-7 "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time, He may exalt you. Cast all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you."

 Philippians 4:6-7 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 

 Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you, " Be strong and corageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." 

Psalm 55:22 Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you. He will never permit the righteous to be moved. 

 John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 

Fear and anxiety are very real. In our world, we have so many reasons to deal with fear and anxiety. But as believers, God has given us access to His peace and His comfort, His control, and His plans. All too often, we let a twinge of fear or anxiety hit us and then we "what-if" it to the point that it grows much bigger than reality. When we allow ourselves to start creating "the fear monster" in our minds, we give Satan the ability to weaponize our own fears against us. Further, when we metaphorically run from that fear (spiritually or emotionally) we give Satan tools to weild against us that only hold weight based on our own "what if" scenarios, and that target our hearts and our minds. 

The truth is that Christ holds us close; God protects us with His righteous right hand.

 2 Thessalonians 3:3 But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.

 Isaiah 41:10 Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. 

I am not saying that fear and anxiety will not impact you as a believer. I am saying we have to practice leaning into God and His word in those times when we are fearful.The more we do it, the easier it will become. Is it easy? Absolutely not. There is not a single thing of the "flesh" that is easy to give to God, fear and anxiety included.

I noticed in 1 Peter 5:6-7, the scripture starts with the command to "Humble yourselves." Why do you think that is how the scripture on casting your cares to Jesus begins? I think Peter is saying that we cannot hold tight to our fears and anxiety without holding tight to ourselves; that focusing on those fears and anxiety might actually be a self-absorbed act. 

Whew, that is difficult to digest, at least for me. I do not want to be self-absorbed, but sometimes, I play the "what-if" scenarios to the point that I am dealing with anxiety to a level that impacts my mind, my peace, my health and how I interact with those around me. I cannot think of a time when I have been in this downward spiral of fear that I was basing my reactions and actions on God's truth and Scriptures. I become hyper-focused on how things are impacting me or how they might(if x-y-z happens) affect me or my family or even how I imagine them impacting me or my family..

 Just typing that last sentence is humbling - such a heavy focus on "me" and "my." 

How do I get out of that viscous cycle? 1 Peter 5:6 holds the key; I must humble myself. 

I have to switch the focus from me to He. I have to give Him the control that I am desperately trying to cling to, in moments that were never in my control to begin with. I have to cast my cares to Him and pray with all supplication and thanksgiving. More than anything else, I have to trust. I have to trust that He is never going to leave me. I have to trust that He has already gone before me. I have to trust that He cares for me. I have to trust that He protects me and holds me up. I have to trust that He is good and He loves me enough to work all things for my good.

Sometimes, I do a good job of this; most times I fall flat. But this is the beautiful thing about our Savior, He never asked us to be perfect, for He is perfect in our place. He does ask us to trust His sovereignty and to know His Word. Those are two things we can work to do; learn and know the Word...write it on our hearts...and practice using that knowledge to remind us who God really is, even in the difficult times. 

The alternative creates chaos in our lives, give us the downward spiral of anxiety and fear, and gives the evil one weapons to use against us through our own thoughts and feelings. If we give our thoughts over to the fear and anxiety, we become like the long line of animals running from the one behind them, when it was just a tame little sheep needing attention. Don't mishear me, sometimes, the fear has been created from something very scary and very big in our lives; it is not always a tame little lamb. Those times are even harder to remember to humble ourselves and give every ounce of our being over to trusting Him. The key is that if we do this on a regular basis in all of the "little lamb moments", then the bigger, scarier times that this world throws our way, will be easier to give the control over to Him as well; even when we don't understand. Fear and anxiety can be very justified and understable, but allowing it to control our lives to the point that we forget His sovereignty and His promises and His love - that is what we must work to avoid. It requires a heart "muscle memory" of sorts, where you have practiced it and worked on it over and over and over, so that when the fear is blinding, you are able to rely on that muscle memory of how to lean into His presence and His perfect peace that we do not understand.

 I know it may seem like a stretch that a sweet, rhyming children's book reminded me about how God wants me to respond to fear and anxiety in my life, so this next connection may be super far-fetched to you. But for me there are a couple of other reminders this belowed children's book gave me. 

I know that sometimes I will lose the battle of allowing fear to take over, but in the end, I only need to look for the LAMB and remember that I AM SAFE in HIS PRESENCE! Now that is a reminder worth sharing! Regardless of what others are doing or running from, I can always LOOK TO THE LAMB for peace. 

 The end of the book has the same line as the beginning: "I sat by the lake and looked at the sky." This line and the illustration of peace and stillness reminds me a little of Psalm 23, one of the most used scriptures about fear and God's protective hand and one that sums up my thoughts so beautifully: 

"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He restores my soul. He guide's me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake.Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no eavil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You annoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." Psalm 23 (NIV) 

May you sit by the lake and look at the sky (metaphorically or physically) and always remember to look for the LAMB in the midst of chaos around you.

In Him, 

Stephanie