Fear - Pt. 4

 

They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to know, for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.” But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him. (Mark 9:29-32 ESV).

 

Tucked away in the middle of Mark’s account of Jesus’ teaching concerning His death and resurrection is a wonderful insight that is very helpful as we learn how to face our fears with faith. It is found in the last verse of our reading today: “But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask Him” (v. 9). Maybe you have heard the saying “There’s no such thing as a dumb question.” We have all had times when we wanted to ask something but didn’t have the courage to ask. Perhaps you have experienced this fear. We often feel this way in our relationships. We ask questions to see if it is safe to ask what we really want to ask. I call these “secondary questions.” The problem with this practice is that you will never conquer your fears with such lack of knowledge.

 

This is where Jesus’ disciples were. Jesus had now told his disciples twice that he would die and be raised again from the dead. Can you imagine the questions they must have had about that? But they were afraid to ask. Maybe they were afraid because they thought they should understand this already. Or maybe they were afraid because they didn’t want Jesus to ask them any follow-up questions. Or maybe they were afraid to ask because they weren’t sure they wanted to know the answers.

 

We all have questions that we want to ask God but are afraid to ask. Yet we don’t need to be afraid to ask God anything. In fact, he wants us to bring our questions, doubts, and fears to him. Jesus taught this principle very clearly:

 

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! (Matthew 7:7-11 ESV).

 

What questions are you afraid to ask? Take some time to bring those to God today.