Many people are afraid right now. Maybe you’re one of them.

It’s not something we like to admit. So there it hides, deep within; but there it remains.

Afraid of lockdowns, loneliness, sickness or sadness.
Afraid of political turmoil, tomorrow, job security or uncertainty.

But did you know that fear flourishes where God is not known?

I’m not saying you don’t know God. If you are “in Christ” I’m sure you do. But the more you learn about him, and the more you discover what his character is like and the kinds of things he does, the more confident you become about his wisdom, care, and almightiness over all things.

In ‘Knowing God,’ J.I. Packer explains: “The world becomes a strange, mad, painful place, and life in it a disappointing and unpleasant business, for those who do not know about God. Disregard the study of God, and you sentence yourself to stumble and blunder through life blindfold, as it were, with no sense of direction and no understanding of what surrounds you. This way you can waste your life and lose your soul.”

Consider these verses:

“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our KNOWLEDGE of him who called us by his own glory and goodness” (2 Peter 1:3).

“I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of KNOWING Christ Jesus my Lord…” (Philippians 3:8).

“Now this is eternal life: that they KNOW you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3).

“The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing” (Psalm 23:1)

Read his word. Seek his ways. Know him more.

Just as you come to know a beloved friend more and more as the years go on, and just as you learn to trust them more and more in the process, so it is with God.

Faith flourishes where God is known; fear flourishes where he is not.

By Matthew Ruttan

–*J.I. Packer, Knowing God (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1973), 15.
–Bible quotes are from the NIV.