When I was a kid, I thought faith was an ability to convince oneself to believe despite lack of evidence, love was when you got feeling ... amorous for someone, so to speak, and that when God told us to be happy, or not to fear, we were meant to apply the screws to our thought processes such that we would force ourselves away from whatever emotion might naturally arise, to put on a show of serenity and courage. Such commandments as "let not your heart be troubled" were therefore not consolation, but another decree to wrench ourselves away from whatever depth of gloom in which we might be trapped, and cram in whatever happy thoughts we could muster.
I was just reading Psalms 91, and realized I've had it wrong, and that the Lord has mercifully been teaching me a more-correct attitude without my knowing it. When we refuse to fear, it's not because we simply have taken such control over our minds as to force ourselves to believe the unbelievable in defiance of all logic; it's because we've actually seen that God can get us through whatever shadow of death we happen to be in. We've seen him get us and others out of similar scrapes before, and thus we know he won't fail us this time. We can see the mass hysteria around us as the illogical mob group-think it is, and we decline to participate. We simply don't fear, not because we've overcome logic, but in fact because we know God will overcome.
It really is that simple, and that easy. If you've seen God heal diseases all around you, it's perfectly reasonable to think he'll do it again. If you've seen him provide funds at the last minute, time and time again, you quit worrying when your wallet gets thin. It's not a defiance of logic -- rather it's the most logical thing in the world. Let the Lord show you why he can be trusted. Let him reason with you, as he has offered, and you'll see that his reasoning overcomes the world.
It really is that simple, and that easy. If you've seen God heal diseases all around you, it's perfectly reasonable to think he'll do it again. If you've seen him provide funds at the last minute, time and time again, you quit worrying when your wallet gets thin. It's not a defiance of logic -- rather it's the most logical thing in the world. Let the Lord show you why he can be trusted. Let him reason with you, as he has offered, and you'll see that his reasoning overcomes the world.