Do Not Be Afraid. I Am With You. Always.

Many among us have at least once, maybe a few times, faced periods in life when sorrow, loneliness, anger, and pain held us captive in paralyzing fear and helplessness, when even insignificant things seemed most unbearable, when the troubles of one day seemed overwhelming. At the time, a most sensible option, a most reasonable choice was to abandon all hope, to throw our hands up in surrender, to admit there is nothing more we can do to affect the outcome of events beyond our control. It may have been an illness, this period of helplessness, whose slow progress was significantly worrisome, causing a gradual loss of self-esteem, self-confidence, and faith in God, to say nothing of its physical toll. I have met people who have sometimes viewed their challenges as punishment from God. In a world of pain and suffering, even that line of thinking might seem reasonable. Sometimes the experience of pain began as a poor choice made in total ignorance of possible consequences, a foolish bet to impress people whose opinion didn’t matter, a vicious remark spoken in anger, a cruel joke played for likes and laughs. Perhaps the sorrow was an unwanted pregnancy, an addiction to alcohol or drugs, an inherited pattern of destructive behavior, physical or emotional violence, dishonesty, theft, gambling, promiscuity. It could have begun as a thoughtless remark or a rude gesture that escalated into a misunderstanding, then a loss of trust, then the death of a friendship. It could have started out as a careless swipe of passive aggression, forcing choices and actions undone or repaired only with great difficulty. The trouble may have been a falling out of love, brought on by repeated episodes of petty jealousy, impatience, and self-importance.

Get out now before it’s too late—is an easy out. It will never be worth the aggravation. It only makes sense to jump ship now before it’s too late. The signs of impending doom are all around us. Our regrets only seem to compound anyway when nothing more can be done to change the outcome. Save yourself, you can’t rely on someone else to do it for you. In that most terrifying moment of sorrow, loneliness, anger, and pain, we may wonder where God has gone. It is exactly at this moment that we would love for God to step into the picture, and yet God seems far removed from our pain. And in that moment of helplessness, if we are open to hear it, God is whispering into our heart, “Do not be afraid. I am with you.”

When Joseph found out that his soon-to-be wife was with child, it hurt him deeply. Unkind thoughts raced through his head. This cannot be the same young woman if there was any truth to her words. Or had he been deceived into believing he knew who she truly was? Too many contradictions. Yet his love for her was genuine. He could not allow a public exposure of her alleged indiscretion. A quick and painless solution would be necessary. He would break off their engagement. He would release her from her promise. It was the right thing to do. And in that moment of anguish and helplessness, God whispered into Joseph’s heart, “Do not be afraid. I am with you.”

God is not unmindful of our sorrows, not unaware of our loneliness, not untroubled by our anger, not untouched by our pain. All through Israel’s history, God has always been whispering, “Do not be afraid. I am with you.” When Abraham and Sarah left home and family to settle in a distant foreign land God assured them, “I am with you.” When God called out to Moses in the desert to return to Pharaoh and liberate a people, God assured him, “I am with you.” When David the shepherd boy faced the giant Goliath to defend the name of the one true God, God assured him, “I am with you.” When Jeremiah was fearful he was too young and inexperienced to convincingly proclaim God’s word to a stubborn people, God assured him, “I am with you.” When the angel announced to Mary of Nazareth that the Messiah would be her son, while unable to fully grasp the details, God assured her, “I am with you.”

I can imagine God walked alongside the women and men of faith in the early days of the church to remind them not to lose confidence as they faced the darkness. As Peter and the other apostles stood before the Sanhedrin, threatened with violence unless they stop teaching about Jesus, they remained unfazed despite persecution and death, and God stood with them and whispered, “I am with you.” Early Christians, young and old, prominent and ordinary citizens, were arrested and thrown into prison, fed to wild beasts, burned at the stake, and crucified for the entertainment of unbelievers, yet God stood with them and whispered, “I am with you.” Missionaries proclaimed the good news in distant lands, lived among native cultures, taught them the ways of faith, advocated for them before ruthless and greedy colonial powers, and endured suffering and martyrdom, yet God stood with them and whispered, “I am with you. Stephen, Lucy, Sebastian, Cecilia, Lawrence, and Agatha calmly faced their executioners, Francis of Assisi embraced radical poverty, Maria Goretti resisted her attacker and forgave him, Maximilian Kolbe offered himself in place of a condemned man, and God stood with them and whispered, “I am with you.” God stood with Ignatius of Loyola, Therese of Lisieux, Damien de Veuster and Marianne Cope of Molokai, Josephine Bakhita, Isaac Jogues, Rose of Lima, Charles Lwanga, Teresa of Calcutta, Lorenzo Ruiz, Elizabeth Ann Seton, Carlo Acutis, and so many through the ages and whispered, “I am with you.”

As heirs to the legacy of these giants of the faith, we have the privilege to know God’s presence in our lives, especially when the journey grows long and troubled, when the light fades, and the looming darkness makes us fearful, when friends leave us and lies fuel anger and hate. When we desire to do the right thing as Joseph did, but feel trapped into giving up, God wants to assure us, “Do not be afraid. I am with you.”

Emmanuel, God is with us. It is not a new idea really, as though God had never before stood by us. Rather, God has been with us from the beginning, calling us into being, breathing life into us, sustaining us in existence, nourishing us with wisdom and courage, receiving us into eternal life. Yet somehow it is also very new, that God would want to know firsthand our sorrow, our loneliness, our anger, and our pain. If it is any consolation, God truly knows what it’s like to live in our skin. And when God asks us for a little patience and a little sacrifice, God is not asking the impossible because he has stood with us and lived in our skin. God does not ask us what he has not first endured. So we should not lose hope in the face of pain and sorrow. Our strength is in the One who knows our anguish and frustration. “Do not be afraid. I am with you. Always.”