“Fear and doubt are the cruelest things that can beset us.” (Fox)
My parents experienced many painful and harsh situations on their farm (present-day Country Dairy). Yet how they learned to confront and elude fear and doubt with trust and belief is a testimony to what God can do in the lives of those who are obedient to Him — those intent on doing His will:
1. Combating Fear through Tithing - “And all the tithe of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s; it is holy unto Him." (Leviticus 27:30)
It was through obeying the scriptural mandate to tithe that Henry and Ellen learned trust, to the point that the greater their need for life’s necessities (and in a family with seven children, there were many!), the greater was their need to tithe – to give back to God a portion of their earnings.
Every month, after Henry received his share of the farm’s profits from his father, Andrew, he and Ellen put one-tenth of the money into a tithing jar that sat prominently on a shelf of the hutch in the dining room. (Echo, Nov. 28)
Eking out a living on a small farm was difficult at best. One could understand if, after a disappointing month (a windstorm ruining the cherry crop or a sick cow forcing the day’s output to be dumped), my parents decided to “pass” on tithing or parted with the monies grudgingly. However, here lies the mystery of their spiritual growth: to tithe grudgingly or from a sense of duty is to give from a sense of fear. To tithe gladly with the absolute assurance that everything comes from God and that He will supply our needs is to give from a sense of trust. God sees the heart. It is the motivation for giving, not the giving itself, that pleases Him. The tithing jar was concrete proof of their trust - it symbolized the dispelling of fear.
2. Combating Doubt through Giving Thanks – “But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed about by the wind.” (James 1:6)
The key to Henry and Ellen’s faith was this: they believed in order to understand, rather than having to understand in order to believe.
If they had needed to understand the challenges they faced - losing a cherry crop, dumping spoiled milk, seeds washed away by a downpour, losing a beloved daughter, becoming estranged from a son damaged by war — in order to believe, their faith would never have taken root.
Their faith was not dependent on their circumstances; it helped them deal with their circumstances.
Here is another mystery of spiritual life: “Give thanks to God regardless of your feelings, and He will give you Joy regardless of your circumstances”("Jesus Calling," Young). Such faith calls for blind obedience to His command to “give thanks for everything.”
To unbelievers or agnostics, needing to understand before they can believe, giving thanks in the face of adversity seems irrational, impossible, a denial of the reality that life entails suffering. However, my parents proved that lives filled with praise and thanksgiving are invariably blessed, even though the difficulties they face remain.
As their focus shifted from “earning and deserving to believing and receiving,” giving thanks and praising God for His goodness opened the way for His riches to flow - not physical riches necessarily, but spiritual riches with eternal value and reward.
Thankfulness caused the “scales” to fall from their eyes, allowing them to see more and more of God’s heavenly riches.
Furthermore, prayers of thanksgiving provided a solid foundation for their daily conversations with their Lord – conversations which must have warmed His heart and prompted these words:
“My dear ones, continue to bring Me the sacrifice of gratitude and see how much I bless you.”*
Fear and doubt, begone!
