Do Not Be Afraid

Some people seem to think the exhortation to fear not is some kind of burdensome commandment we must struggle to obey – or else. Not even close. It’s a promise, a provision given by us in grace. We’re offered the privilege of rejecting fear so it can’t take away our peace. God is not threatening us, He’s graciously offering us Himself as the solution to a devastating mental attitude sin - fear, and all of fear's companions; worry, anxiety, stress, impatience, restlessness and despair.

As one writer put it,

The more things you surrender to fear, the more things you fear;
The extent to which you surrender to fear, the greater your capacity for fear;
The greater your capacity for fear, the more you increase the power of fear in your life;
The more you increase the power of fear in your life, the greater your failure to live the spiritual life.

Providing us the option of faith and rest in God in all things, as over against fear as a developing stronghold of pain and stress, is our Father’s delight, Fear not, little flock, for your Father’s delight is to give you His kingdom. . . Luke 12:32

Fear is a destructive force which sabotages our capacity for faith and mistrust. We cannot fear and trust at the same time, so by God’s Word we want to strengthen our trust and shatter our fears. The solution to hopelessness or discouragement is the same as the solution to fear; a true, accurate perception of God and of His real desire toward you and me.

The apostle Paul suffered greatly in this life. He knew what it was to face fear. He was poverty stricken, persecuted, and had no personal family to support him. But Paul continuingly reminded himself of those truths he had learned about Who the Lord really was and how much God loved him, even when everything in his life, both inward and outward, screamed the opposite. Even when he was tempted to the point of despair (2 Corinthians 1:8b), he fought to choose faith over fear and move forward, trusting in the only hope he had – the integrity of God.

We are so quick to assume that the way others see us, and the way we see ourselves, must somehow reflect, at least in part, the way God sees us. But God is not like us; He doesn’t change or withdraw His love just because we believe He should. God cares deeply for us no matter what our circumstances or personal condition.

This confused and troubled scene we live in on this side of heaven is a testing ground. It’s a place where we learn to see beyond our inward and outward criticism and shame, and look intently and consistently into the eyes of Christ. God cannot spare His children from the trials of life that all humans go through. Inner virtues are not developed in comfort and pleasure; they are developed in enduring life’s trials with our faces set like flint on the goal of honoring God. We keep our arms wrapped around the Father so we can survive the storms that come against us. There is no camaraderie greater than the one formed during combat between men and women who depend on each other to survive. God is our ultimate comrade. As we attack life with one hand on the weapons of our warfare and the other holding on to God’s hand, we form an unbreakable bond of love and trust.

The things in this life that can throw us into fear and discouragement become the very things that strengthen our love and faith in God if we will pass through them keeping our minds renewed by the scriptures and fixed on the truth of Who God is.

Aristotle said that fear is the pain that arises from the anticipation of harm. We are more afraid of what hasn’t happened than of what has happened. All it takes is one or two personal disasters to convince us that a million more disasters await us. 1 John 4:18 says, There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear anticipates punishment. He that fears is not mature in love. What does God have to do to convince us that we need not fear? Would it help if He died for us, saved us, promised to never leave us, promised to return for us?

Apparently not.

All of these things are true and we still fear. Let me show you how important this is to the Lord.

Matthew 10:31, Fear not, you are of more value than sparrows
Luke 2:10, And Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid.’
Luke 8:50, Do not be afraid, only believe. . .
John 12:15 Fear not, daughter of Zion.
Mark 6:50, Do not be afraid, it is Me.
Psalm 56:3, When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You.

Fear is always a possibility for us; just as faith in God is always a possibility. The choice will always be there. Adversity is inevitable; stress is optional.

I know what fear can do. I’m not sure, but I think I even know what a panic attack is. I may have had a couple of those; it was either that or a spiritual attack. Either way, fear was definitely involved. Satan loves to incite fear; it totally sabotages confidence and inner rest. So, as 1 Peter 5:7 tells us, The devil roams about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Why a roaring lion? Lions roar to paralyze their victims with fear. It makes them much easier to catch. Why work any harder than you have to? Ever see a documentary on lions? They are lazy. The will expend whatever energy is needed to chase and kill something, and then lay around all day eating, breeding and basking in the sun, until it’s dinner time again. All the better if you can just ‘roar’ and your snacks line up, frozen, ready to be snatched up at your convenience.

Sophocles said, to him who lives in fear, everything rustles.

Just like the pain of hopelessness, fear can destroy our capacity for life, not to mention covering everything we see with a blanket of false perception and distortion.

The opposite is also true.

Faith establishes an incredible capacity for life. Faith gives energy; fear drains it. Faith sees the future as positive; fear dreads getting up in the morning. Faith will do all it can to look beyond the seeming impossibility of our circumstances and hope in God; fear allows those circumstances to overwhelm us; it assumes we’re dead meat anyway.

These are just some of the reasons God has given us so many passages that address fear. It can be a much bigger issue than we realize. It affects more layers and levels of our lives than we know, just as hope or faith opens up more nuances of real life than we can imagine. People who have a strong child-like faith in God are absolutely indestructible, just as people who are always afraid are nearly impossible to encourage.

Dr. Paul Tournier said,

Fear creates what it fears. Fear of losing the love of a loved one provokes us to that lack of frankness which undermines love. The skier falls as soon as he begins to be afraid of falling. Fear of failing an exam takes away the student’s presence of mind and makes success more difficult.

Martin Lloyd Jones even went as far as to say,

When a man is defeated by life it is always due, ultimately, to a spirit of fear. Fear is the real, the ultimate cause of all failure in life, and of all unhappiness.

I’m sure we’ve all had those experiences to some extent. Peter certainly did when he tried walking on water. It was easy as long as his eyes were fixed on Jesus. But when fear took over he went under. Part of the reason for that story, I believe, is to show the importance of faith and its relationship to fear, but the other point Matthew makes is just as important to those of us who tend toward fear. When Peter began to sink, Jesus saved him.

Yes, we aren’t supposed to fear, we’re supposed to be faith giants. But most of us aren’t faith giants and we still need to be reassured that God’s hand is on its way to us whether we measure up on the faith-scale or not.

If we do fear, simply confess it as sin and move on. Don’t deny it or pretend it isn’t there, be transparent about it. Whatever is not of faith is sin and the solution to any personal sin is 1 John 1:9.

Our goal, our challenge, is to find a way to so saturate our minds with the truth of God that we take on a whole new perspective of life and of our future. Maybe someday we can see the path ahead of us like Mary Slessor did (a missionary) and wrote,

Why should I fear? I am on a Royal Mission and I am in the service of the King of Kings.

Exactly.

Is anything too difficult for God? Are we too difficult for Him? Did He bite off a little more than He could chew when He took us on? No, He took us on before the world was even created. We were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. There is absolutely nothing that can or has or ever will enter our life that takes God by surprise. Replacing fear with faith is not for God’s benefit; it’s totally for us, so we can enjoy life rather than dread it. He’ll love us either way.

The early Native Americans had a unique way of training young braves. On the night of a boy’s 13th birthday he was placed in a dense forest to spend the entire night alone. Until then he had never been away from the security of family and tribe. But on this night he was blindfolded and taken several miles away. When he took off the blindfold he was in the middle of thick woods and he was terrified. Every time a twig snapped he visualized a wild animal ready to pounce. After what seemed like an eternity dawn broke and the first rays of sunlight entered the interior of the forest. Looking around the boy saw flowers, trees, and the outline of a path. Then to his utter astonishment he beheld the figure of a man standing just a few feet away armed with bow and arrow. It was his father. He had been there all night long.

I will never leave you; I will never forsake you. (Hebrews 13:5b)

Finally, consider this practical help from Hannah Whital Smith’s biography,

Hannah, I do not see how you could bear so much sorrow!’ ‘I did not bear it,’ was the quick reply; ‘the Lord bore it for me.’ ‘Yes,’ said the visitor, ‘That is the right way. We must take our troubles to the Lord.’ ‘Yes,’ replied Hannah, ‘But we must do more than that; we must leave them there. Most people,’ she continued, ‘take their burdens to Him, but they bring them away with them again and are just as worried and unhappy as ever. But I take mine and I leave them with Him, and come away and forget them. If the worry comes back, I take it to Him again, and I do this over and over until at last I just forget I have any worries, and am at perfect rest.