Stepping Into The Gap

A Reflection on the Psalm for Sunday, January 25, 2026:
​Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Psalm 27

R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.


The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.


One thing I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.

R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.


I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!

R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.

​Pause. Pray. Reflect.

Fear comes in all shapes and sizes. As unique as the individual who experiences the fear, so is the fear itself. Fear can be cultivated slowly, through repeated exposure to events that keep turning out the wrong way up, or through an immediate and life-altering blip in time. It is defined by social contexts, relational interactions, and biological dispositions. We can even adopt fear through experiences of others, unrelated to our own circumstances. Fear can be lasting or momentary, recurrent or situated in time.

The psalmist does not, however, distinguish between the whos or whats we fear. This could be because the psalmist knows the One who gave us this important and primitive instinct. And it seems He also knows that the One who gave us this useful and sometimes perplexing feeling also has the power to take it away.

In some cases, simply acknowledging that we are not alone in our fear is an antidote, or maybe the cause of the fear resolves and we naturally return to a more restful state. In other cases, the roots of our fears are deep and require ongoing companionship and reflection to get to the dark places where those fears were born. In either scenario, faith in God can provide the safety we need to glean the courage necessary to battle our fears. Faith is a necessary ingredient to resolve fear.

This past week, I unexpectedly ran head first into a mountain of fear. As I moved closer to a major career and life transition, I suddenly felt completely incompetent, insecure, and filled with doubt. If I had acted on this fear, I would have thrown away three years of hard work (read: suffering), two contracted job placements, and an overflowing caseload of clients. Most importantly, though, I would have thrown away a specific and anointed call from God Himself. Not acting on this fear was safeguarded by two things: faith and reason. I shared the doubts I was having with a friend, and they quickly reminded me that I was exactly where I was meant to be. This is reason. I also asked God to show me how this fear became rooted in my heart. This is where reason meets faith. He allowed me to see the difficult parts of my story that led to my insecurity, and compassionately pacified my fallen human nature.

There are inherent risks in taking on this transition in my life. This is true for any transition. Risks that require careful planning and logical discernment. And there will always also be unforeseen risks that simply require faith.

Someone once said, faith is spelled R. I. S. K. But that’s just the point, isn’t it? Without stepping into the gap, there would be no opportunity for God to carry me to safety. How, then, would He demonstrate His presence in my life? How could I know if it was my careful planning or the Stronghold of my life that moved me along the path of peace? If I, like the psalmist, “believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living”, He will surely honour my faith, and the constancy of His love will be my courage.




Lori MacDonald

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