It’s late. The house is silent, the world is sleeping. That is, everyone it seems, except me.
Lying here in the enveloping darkness, I am gripped by a sudden and inexplicable terror—a paralyzing, suffocating dread. I can feel my panic, and my pulse rising, as I struggle to catch my breath. My body and my mind are under attack by unseen forces beyond my control.
The terrors of the night—they are so real and so tangible sometimes that I almost feel I could touch them. The manifestations of an anxious and restless mind. Haunting and tormenting my soul. Consuming me with fear.
“Do NOT be afraid,” God commands us in Psalm 91:5. But how? How do we stand up to the darkness?
Thankfully God has the answer. He is the answer.
“But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world” (1 John 4:4).
Whatever terror has its grip on you, we can rest in the knowledge it has already been defeated. It has been overcome by the blood of the lamb and the power of the cross. It has no hold over you, because of who you are in Christ—and because of Who your Father is.
“Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name” (Psalm 91:14).
In the depths of our fear, we must acknowledge the name of the Lord. He alone is our peace, our help, and our deliverance—our light in the darkness—our ultimate victory.
