Have you ever felt like running away to some faraway uncharted place? You know, a place, where nobody will know your name, a place far from your troubles.

I remember one time when I was coming back from vacationing in Florida. Tornados were touching down everywhere.

While driving in my car listening to the radio, it became apparent that I was driving just ahead of the tornados. I would hear of tornadoes touching down in places that I had just left.

That is the way many people like to deal with problems. They like to run from them. They would like to be a little out in front so they will never have to deal with them.

Recently, while I was in Columbus, the most ominous cloud formations I had ever seen formed.

I kept driving, keeping my eyes on them. Again, I was just ahead of them, and I got out of that city just before a severe storm hit.

We don’t like storms, do we? Why don’t we like storms? Why don’t we like problems?

Isn’t it because of the feelings that problems produce in us? Feelings like insecurity, fear, despair, depression, anxiety, and worry.

We say that we don’t like the storms; however, it is the feelings produced from storms that drive us crazy. That is why running doesn’t do any good.

The feelings run just as fast as we do. It is our feelings that need to be managed, and the Bible gives us ways to manage them.

First, we can leave our problems with God. Bad feelings emerge when we fail to leave our problems in God’s hands. Psalms 55:22 says, “Cast thy burden upon the Lord and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.”

Second, God sends His angels to help us. In Psalms 16:17 the psalmist writes, “He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was against me, for there were many with me.”

He tells us who the many were in verse 17, “The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of Angels.” When storms come into our lives think of legions of angels surrounding it. Would we be afraid?

Of course not, we would be confident of victory.

Lastly, Jesus is always with us. What if there was a problem lurking more ferocious than a hungry lion? And what if there were no angels would we be afraid?

What if there were no angels, but Jesus was there? Wouldn’t our fears be removed? Don’t respond to the problem, respond to the Savior and feel the peace that emanates from faith. Jesus is all we need.

If we need peace, He becomes our peace. If we need love, He becomes our love. If we need joy, He becomes our joy.

If we need encouragement, He becomes our encouragement. If we need strength, He becomes our strength.

In short, if we need saving, He becomes our savior. “Fear not for I am with you.”

James Kearns is pastor of Bald Knob Church in Kitts Hill.