No Fear
Hello, Friends! Today we have a guest post from my lovely sister, Louise! She is finishing her last year of nursing school, and she also teaches piano. Louise is a tea-drinker and music-lover. She loves to laugh and she is passionate about pursuing Christ. I hope you will be blessed as she shares her heart with you today. ~Kelsey
Fear. It’s something that everyone has been talking about lately. “I’m afraid of what our new president might do.” “I’m afraid that I will die if I get covid.” “What really scares me is the new slate of bills the legislature is debating.” “I’m terrified of big tech.” “I’m afraid that life might never go back to normal.”
Maybe you’ve said some of these yourself, or perhaps there are other things that make you afraid. But this leads me to an important question.
What does the Bible say about fear?
The Bible says 365 times to not be afraid. That’s a lot of repetition! I don’t know how many times you have to hear something to remember it, but 365? Isn’t that a little bit excessive?
Maybe not.
If you are a Christian, then you probably already know that God doesn’t want us to be afraid. When I was a child, I learned a song based on Joshua 1:9. It said, “Be strong and courageous! Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. The Lord has chosen you, His promises are true. He’ll show you what to do, He’ll be right there for you.” But even with this song to remind me, throughout my childhood I was afraid of many things.
If you’re anything like me, those many verses are necessary to grab my attention. Just one or two isn’t going to cut it!
So how does the Bible want us to handle fears, both rational and irrational? First, like we’ve already established, it tells us over and over to note be afraid.
But Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today. Exodus 14:13a (NASB)
Joshua then said to them, “Do not fear or be dismayed! Be strong and courageous, for thus the LORD will do to all your enemies with whom you fight.” Joshua 10:25
The angel of the LORD said to Elijah, “Go down with him; do not be afraid of him.” So he arose and went down with him to the king. 2 Kings 1:15
The Bible doesn’t just tell us to be unafraid, but it gives us the reason to not be afraid.
“Do not fear them, for the LORD your God is the one fighting for you.” Deuteronomy 3:22
Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you…The LORD is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” Deuteronomy 31:6, 8
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9
So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 2 Kings 6:16
Because God is always with us and He is all-powerful, we do not need to be afraid.
Some of you may say that fear can be good, so let me clarify. When I am talking about not being afraid, I am not talking about if you were crossing the street and were about to be run over by a truck, or if a rattle snake slithered into your path. That kind of fear is a natural response to danger, and it tells us to move! But once we are out of danger, that fear should dissipate quickly. The fear did its job, and you can thank God for protecting you and move forward with your life. The fear that God is telling us to avoid is persistent fear, something often referred to as worry. With these kinds of fears, maybe you are not immediately in danger, and you can’t do anything to stop the thing you are afraid of, but you still come back to these fearful feelings over and over. You think about them when you’re driving, when you are emotional, when you feel like you don’t have anything better to do. These fears are not healthy.
So what does the Bible say we should we be thinking about instead of our fears?
Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. Philippians 4:8
I will meditate on Your precepts And regard Your ways. I shall delight in Your statues; I shall not forget Your word…Your testimonies also are my delight; They are my counselors…And I shall lift up my hands to Your commandments, Which I love; And I will meditate on Your statutes. Psalm 119:15-16, 24, 48
“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:4-9
When we are thinking about God, His word, and His goodness, we do not have room to be afraid. It takes us back to what we mentioned in the first point: God is with us, and because He is so big, we have no reason to be afraid.
Finally, we have no room to fear anything else when we have a proper fear of God.
Wait, we are supposed to fear God? But elsewhere in the Bible He says to not be afraid. Isn’t that a contradiction?
Not at all!
In Matthew 10:28, Jesus said,
“Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kills the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
Does this mean we are supposed to be terrified of God? No, that’s not what it means. Right after this, Jesus says,
“Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.” Matthew 10:29-31
The Bible says that God is love (1 John 4:8), and He invites us to ask Him directly about our requests (1 John 5:14-15). A terror that drives us away would not be consistent with His character.
I have heard some people say that the fear of God is like reverence, but that’s not a word we use very often. The best illustration for me of this kind of fear of God is like a good father.
My dad is loving and kind. When we were kids, he liked to spend time with us. He let us eat his cereal, work alongside him in the yard, and he always bought us treats when we went to the gas station with him. But he also wanted what was best for us. This meant that there were consequences to bad behavior. If I lied, I would likely get my mouth washed out with soap. If I hit my sister, I would get spanked. And if I was disrespectful to my mom, I could be put in the corner for time-out.
Part of the reason these punishments were effective is because my dad was displeased with me. His demeanor changed, and I knowing that I had made him upset made me upset. I feared the punishment, but I dreaded the feeling of having disappointed my father even more.
I was never scared of my dad. After I was spanked, I knew I could crawl on his lap to cry and say I was sorry, and I he wouldn’t be angry with me. When my time-out was over, I could apologize and rejoin the family in whatever activities we were engaged in without fear that I would be punished for the same offense twice.
In the same way, God punishes sin, and it is right for us to fear that punishment. God is holy, so holy that the seraphim cover their faces with their wings (read Isaiah 6 to find out more about God’s holiness). He cannot abide the presence of sin. And because He is holy, He must be just. Justice requires punishment for the guilty.
At the same time, just like a loving Father, God does not want to see His creation punished. What could He do to show mercy while still administering justice?
He sent Jesus to take the punishment we deserved. He died for our sins, and after He rose from the dead, everyone who believes in Him obtains right standing with God. When God looks at those who have repented and trusted in Jesus, He doesn’t see us as guilty sinners anymore. He sees Jesus’ perfection.
This is the ultimate reason why we do not have to fear.
When we were dead in our sins, we were condemned to hell. The thought of death was terrifying because we had no hope for life after death. But when we accepted Jesus, we gained the guarantee of eternal life. Everything else that frightened us in this life suddenly became less significant. Our perspective changed.
But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 15:54-57
If the thing we feared most no longer has power over us, why should we fear anything else?
Does this mean that it is easy to not be afraid? Not at all. Just because we are saved from eternal condemnation does not mean that our immediate experiences do not tempt us to worry. The temptation to be afraid is nearly constant. But it does mean that when we are tempted, God’s Spirit is present to help us not be afraid.
“No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man. And God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13
One thing I like to do when I am tempted to fear is do what Jesus did when He was tempted: quote Scripture. Here are a few of my favorites:
When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, In God I have put my trust. I shall not be afraid; What can mere man do to me? Psalm 56:3-4
In peace I will both lie down and sleep, For You alone, O Lord, make me to dwell in safety. Psalm 4:8
For great is the LORD and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the LORD made the heavens. Psalm 96:4-5
Where can I go from your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will take hold of me. If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,” Even the darkness is not dark to you, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You. Psalm 139:7-12
I encourage you to look up a few verses about fear and memorize them. If you need some tips on how to memorize Scripture, check out Kelsey’s post, “5 Lessons I’ve Learned Through Memorizing Scripture.” Whatever it takes for you to accomplish it, learn the verses so they will be ready when you are tempted to be afraid. Then when the temptation comes, stop, remember your verses, and pray for God to give you courage and peace. It may not be easy. Your heart may still beat faster, and you may get easily distracted by the thing you’re worried about. But the first step to overcoming fear is to choose to trust God.
It’s like the chorus we sing at church: “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.” It isn’t until our gaze is firmly fixed on Christ that the fear will go away.
Love in Christ,
Louise
