Some More On Trust

I was in my kitchen doing dishes and as I moved a dish I saw a bowl full of water that a bug had fallen into.  My first thought (of course) was, "why do my kids do this?  How hard is it to rinse a bowl?"  But, that thought aside, I found watching this bug swimming around in that bowl very interesting.  It appeared to be some kind of a beetle type arthropod, was clearly not a water bug and had probably never been in water before and yet it was swimming quite nicely around that bowl of water.

Odd that should happen on the same day that I had read an article about a man in Scotland who had an in-ground pool put in his backyard.  As a "grand opening" he invited his friends and neighbors over for a barbecue.  Everyone was eyeing the inviting crystal blue water and I think some were drooling over it just a little bit but being polite and waiting for everyone to arrive.  Well, before they had the chance to slide themselves under the covers of the cool liquid that had been calling to them a bull suddenly ran right through the fence into the man's backyard and straight into the swimming pool.  Again, I highly doubt this bull had been in water..... at least not that deep before and I am entirely certain he had not had swim lessons and yet during the hours that it took to get the creature from the pool..... the bull began swimming fairly well.  In fact, so well that the owner of the pool said by the time they got him out, "he had perfected his breast-stroke".

You are probably wondering what I am getting to in all of this eh?  I am going to tell you why I find this so interesting.  When humans fall into water and they don't know how to swim.... what happens?  They drown.  Why?  What makes the difference?  Fear makes the difference.  Animals and insects have the natural instinct to preserve themselves but I don't believe they experience the true emotion of fear.  People fall into water and the panic, resulting in flailing arms, thrashing legs and hyperventilating.  The result is quick exhaustion and the increased breathing results in them taking in water very quickly - thus a drowning.

Take away the fear and what are humans capable of?  I did a quick search and came up with 430 instances of the phrase "fear not" in the Bible and 249 of the phrase "do not fear".  I am no Rhodes Scholar, in fact, I lack much formal education but it's fairly easy  for me to recognize the fact that God does not want us to live in fear.  God's design for us is to live in peace and yet, he recognizes and knows well our weakness and addressed it often throughout scripture.  

What would humans be capable of without fear?  I know as sure as I am sitting here typing and breathing that we are capable of far greater things than swimming without a lesson.  

In John 14:12-14 it says, "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.  And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.  You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."  

Well, there is my answer.  Without fear, with true trust in God.... we are capable of anything.  Truly amazing.