There is a strange thing about fear. It often tells us that safety comes from keeping hold of more.
More money. More possessions. More control. More room in the diary. More certainty about tomorrow.
Sometimes it even tells us to keep hold of old hurts because remembering them might stop us being hurt again.
But eventually, what we keep for safety can begin to weigh us down.
That is part of what makes the story of manna in Exodus 16 so striking.
God gave his people enough food for each day. Yet some tried to keep part of it overnight. By morning, it had spoiled.
Their problem was not sensible planning. Later, God specifically told them to gather extra before the Sabbath.
The deeper issue was trust.
Fear looked at tomorrow and imagined emptiness. So they tried to turn today’s gift into tomorrow’s guarantee.
I recognise that instinct.
Perhaps you do too.
We can do it with far more than food. A crowded cupboard. An overloaded diary. Money we cannot bring ourselves to use for something good. A responsibility we cannot delegate. A grievance we keep polishing because letting it go feels too vulnerable.
Yet Jesus offers another kind of security.
An open hand is not an empty life.
Our deepest safety is not found in gripping every good thing tightly. It is found in knowing that we belong to Christ. We are known. We are loved. We are held.
So perhaps today’s act of faith does not need to be dramatic.
Open one clenched finger.
Give something useful away. Free an hour. Share something you have. Place an old hurt before Jesus.
Then pray:
“Jesus, loosen fear’s grip on me. My life is safe with you.”
Watch today’s 5-minute devotional: