A couple of years ago, my wife and I learned that our son was allergic to nuts. I had given him some candy with nuts in it and he started complaining about his tongue itching. I knew immediately that he was having an allergic reaction and we gave him some medicine. But then he started complaining about being unable to breathe. As we quickly prepared to take him to the hospital, he looked at me with tears streaming down his face and genuine fear in his eyes and asked, “Am I going to die?” I will never forget his look or his words.
Am I going to die? It’s a question you don’t expect a five-year-old to ask. But he did. And who did he ask? His father—his daddy.
Why did he ask me? I feel that my son asked me because, in his mind, his daddy could fix anything—his daddy would fix this. My son had faith that I would help him, and there is a profound lesson in that.
My kids come to me with all sorts of questions and to have me fix stuff. When children are young, their dad is their first superhero. Their dad “can do anything.” In fact, their dad “can beat up your dad,” right? It’s almost like, to them, their dad is somewhat like God.
Do we have that faith in our Father?
No Fear Too Great
My son was scared, and for good reason. How often are we scared? How often do we have such fear, yet not know how to handle it? How often, when we are afraid, do we have the faith to go to our Father and cast our fears upon Him? My son’s fear was of dying, and not all of our fears are that extreme, but even when our fear is slight, we should be going to God.
Remember what 1 Peter 5:6–7 says: “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”
God cares for us as a father cares for his children. I wanted so badly to alleviate my son’s fear. I took him in my arms and tried to comfort him. God wants to do that for us as well, and we should be willing to go to Him for help. We should ask Him for the courage to stand up to whatever we may face and have the faith that our Father will take care of it in the best way.
There are so many times in our lives when we are afraid—maybe we fear getting sick, maybe we fear losing a job, maybe we even fear losing a loved one. What are we doing in these times? Are we struggling to deal with our fear? Are we going to God on our knees? Are we asking our Father in heaven for help and courage? Are we crying out, Abba, Father, help me face this problem I’m having, take this fear from me, and comfort me in Your arms? If we aren’t doing this, why not?
No Prayer Too Small
We need to have the faith to ask our Father to take away our fear. If we go to Him with our fear, He will comfort us in His arms. In the March-April 2020 Tomorrow’s World magazine article “Seven Steps to Happiness,” Mr. Wallace Smith reminds us to spend time in prayer, writing, “God tells us to let our thanksgiving and our requests ‘be made known to God.’ One of our greatest sources of happiness and encouragement is the knowledge that our Savior loves us and can be trusted with every one of our concerns!”
We will all face trials in which we stumble and feel that we are too afraid to continue, but we always have a choice: admit defeat and leave the race, or get up and finish. God wants to help us finish our race, and we must have the faith to ask Him to do so. We must be humble enough to admit that we’re scared, we’re weak, and we need His help.
There are times when we’re afraid or hurt, times when the race looks impossible to finish. When those times come, we must cry out and have the faith to look to our Father in heaven to come out of the stands, put His comforting arms around us, and help us finish our race.