Day 3: When fear and anger arrive

Reflect

At some point in a season like this, fear usually turns up. It asks questions at night: what if it does not work out, what if I am too late, what if I am not needed anymore? Anger often follows it. You may be angry at an employer, a technology, a system, or yourself.

It helps to know that none of this is unusual, and none of it disqualifies you. The writers of the Psalms were not polite about their feelings. They asked God why, they asked how long, and they said they were afraid. The same writers, sometimes in the same psalm, found their way to trust. The honesty came first, and the trust grew out of it.

One verse says it simply: when I am afraid, I will trust in you. Notice it does not say "if" and it does not say "I will never be afraid." It assumes fear will come, and it chooses where to bring it.

Anger deserves some care. There is an old line in the New Testament that says to be angry and not sin, and not to let the sun go down on it. It does not forbid anger. It asks us not to feed it, and not to act on it at our worst moment. A late-night message or a rash decision rarely carries the words we would choose in daylight.

So let your fear and anger be spoken, but speak them to God, on paper or aloud, before you speak them anywhere that cannot be taken back. You can be completely unfiltered with him. He has heard every version of this before, and he is not offended by it.

Verse

“What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.”

Psalm 56:3 (KJV)

Journal

What am I most afraid of this week? Of that fear, what is one thing I cannot control and one thing I can?

One small action

Write an unsent letter to whatever you are angry at. Say everything. Then delete it or tear it up, and say a short prayer for the situation, even if it is hard.

A 60-second breath prayer

Breathe in: “When I am afraid”

Breathe out: “I will trust in you”

Breathe slowly for about a minute, saying the first line as you breathe in and the second as you breathe out.