Caves.  They’re dark.  They’re wet.  They’re cold.  They’re a haven for bats and – if Monty Python are to be believed – at least one killer rabbit.

However, caves can also make great hiding places.  David and his followers holed up in a cave.  So did Lot.  Obadiah hid 100 prophets in two caves (fifty per).  The Dead Sea Scrolls were found hidden in caves around Qumran.

Caves make good hiding places.

And there are times a-plenty I have wished I had a cave to flee to.  What did I want to flee?  My anxiety.  My worries.  My troubles.

Chances are pretty good you’ve had times when a remote cave sounded pretty appealing.

However, running from our problems never solved anything.  God sent a prophet to David telling him to get out and face his enemy.  As unpleasant as it may seem, facing our fears, worries and doubts are far better for us than hiding from them.

When we’re feeling anxious or worried, when doubts start to creep in, here are a few reminders from our loving God to help us stand tall and be strong in our faith:

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. – Joshua 1:9 [ESV]

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? ²⁸ And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹ yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹ Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. ³⁴ “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. – Matthew 6:25-34 [ESV]

¹⁶ Who rises up for me against the wicked?
    Who stands up for me against evildoers?
¹⁷ If the Lord had not been my help,
    my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence.
¹⁸ When I thought, “My foot slips,”
    your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up.
¹⁹ When the cares of my heart are many,
    your consolations cheer my soul.
²⁰ Can wicked rulers be allied with you,
    those who frame injustice by statute?
²¹ They band together against the life of the righteous
    and condemn the innocent to death.
²² But the Lord has become my stronghold,
    and my God the rock of my refuge.
²³ He will bring back on them their iniquity
    and wipe them out for their wickedness;
    the Lord our God will wipe them out. – Psalm 94:16-23 [ESV]

So seek the Lord first.  Trust in Jesus.  Step out of your cave in faith and put everything in His capable, loving hands.

(c) 2019 by Chris Courtney.  All rights reserved.

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