Have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked, for the LORD will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being snared (Proverbs 3:25-26).

How am I supposed to have no fear?  So what if I preserve sound judgment and discernment!  Does anyone really believe that this is going to prevent a tornado from wreaking its havoc on my hometown?  Does anyone really think that I'm going to be able to side-step the pain of death and destruction, just because I'm a Christian?  Am I really going to be able to make it through this life in this world unscathed, if I just have enough faith and righteousness?  No way!  We all know better than that.  Natural disasters don't discern between the righteous and the wicked.  Victims of cancer and heart disease seem to have an equal representation among Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and Atheists...

So how am I supposed to have no fear?  If I can't realistically expect to be spared from sudden disaster, how am I supposed to just be OK with that?  Yes, an underlying foundation of faith and an ability to discern the bigger picture in life is a helpful way of dealing with some of the pain that comes along with living on Planet Earth... But is that really supposed to help me not worry about my kids?  Is this honestly supposed to satisfy us and keep us from fearing pain?  The truth is that I do worry about my kids and how they're going to turn out!  The truth is that I still feel worried and fearful about the rightfully scary stuff around me -- even while I try to build my life on the solid foundations of Jesus' life and teachings...

So how am I supposed to have no fear?  If pain and suffering is practically inevitable -- and not automatically tied to a person's level of wisdom and discernment -- how am I supposed to deal with that?  If Jesus Himself was subjected to unfathomable pain and humiliation, even after the most righteous and sinless life that was ever lived by a human being -- how am I supposed to have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked?  Well, I guess if you really look at it, Proverbs 3:25-26 doesn't offer any guarantees that there won't be any sudden disaster.  Does it?  It just says that I'm supposed to have no fear, even in the face of difficulties and disasters.  Easier said than done... but then again, maybe there really is something in the example of Jesus -- who, for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:2).  He was drawing from a greater cloud of witnesses (see Hebrews chapter 11, and also including verse 1 of chapter 12).  He was living in the tradition of men and women who had been treated horribly and lived through some of darkest, most disastrous times of the world's history -- men and women who had been tortured, imprisoned, jeered, flogged, sawed in two, put to death by stoning and by the sword... So maybe we need to embrace our history and strengthen ourselves for difficulty and disaster...

But how am I supposed to have no fear in that process?  Honestly, I can't figure out any way to work myself up to the point of actual enthusiasm -- or even ambivalence -- in the face of such troubles.  It's troublesome, scary stuff.  But I guess this is what it all comes down to:  The LORD will be my confidence.  I may have to go through a lot of tangly, terrible trials -- but if I remain faithful and follow the LORD, he will keep my foot from being snared by the tangly, terrible things.  I'll have to go through it -- but I won't get stuck in it.  Because Jesus has walked this road before.  God does not force me to endure such difficulties on my own, but He stands by me, even as I walk through the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23:4).  Truthfully, I imagine that I'm going to have some fear in those moments, despite the greatest reassurances of the Bible and my personal sense of faith and spiritual discernment.  I'm going to get momentarily scared.  But with God there beside me, whispering in my ear like a strong and concerned Daddy:  "Shh, shh, shh... Don't be afraid... Don't worry... It's going to be OK," I know that I'll be able to get through it.