Fear Not

Do you have something or some things that you are afraid of? Have you ever wondered how you can face your fears?

The Bible has many verses that talk about fear - 365 to be exact. I once saw a quote on the internet saying that it's one verse for every day of the year. A reminder to us that we should not fear because God is always with us. Everyone is afraid of something whether they want to admit it or not. I have no shame in telling you that I still called my dad down to the basement the other week when I found a rather large spider. Of course his response was, "It wasn't even that big," but my mom and I beg to differ. There are many things people can be afraid of: The dark, spiders, thunderstorms, relationships, meeting new people, even death. Some fears are bigger than others. Some may seem kind of pointless compared to others, but everyone's fears are valid for whatever they've experienced in this life. No matter what your fears may be, there is one sure way you can get help in calming them. That's by diving into the Bible and praying for God's perfect peace.

As I said before, there are plenty of Bible verses that pertain to fear. They're a great way to help calm any fear you might be having. But what if you can't dive into the Bible at that moment because you're driving or doing something you can't take your attention away from? I made my own solution to that a few years ago. On my music app, I made a playlist entitled "Fear Not" and filled it with all the Christian songs I've heard that talk about fear. Each one of those songs has a great message - all sharing different lyrics and different viewpoints, but coming to the same conclusion. There's no need to fear because God's got your situation in His hands. When I find that I'm becoming very fearful about something, I play that playlist until I feel better about the situation. The combination of the songs and the Bible verses are all I need to remind me who has the final say over everything.

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in times of trouble." Psalm 46:1

This verse is one of my all time favorites. It's actually what inspired this whole post. While I only featured verse one, I do want to highlight what the second verse says, too. David continues to write that even if earthquakes come and the mountains are crumbled into the sea, we will not fear. I absolutely love the picture that is painted in these two verses. No matter what is happening around us, we will not be afraid because God is our refuge and strength. God isn't pictured as just our refuge in this passage, He's also shown as our strength. Not only is He our place to hide, but He's also our source of strength. He will help us persevere when we feel like we can't go any further. God will always be right there to help us - no matter what the situation is. One problem with our fears is that we are led to believe sometimes that God is just sitting up in heaven laughing at our situation or wondering how we even managed to get into that situation in the first place. Truth is, He's not doing any of that. He loves us way too much to do anything like that. In times like those, we need to remember that God is always readily available to help us - all we need to do is just send up a prayer. Let's look a little closer at this idea.

Recently, Zach Williams painted the picture very clearly for me in one of his new songs "Heart of God". The first part of the bridge says, "He's not sitting there shaking His head writing you off, leaving you lost. He's not sitting there shaking His head wishing He never went to that cross."I know there have been many occasions where I can just picture God shaking His head in disapproval of the choice I made or the situation I got myself into, and I'm sure you've been able to picture the same thing. It wasn't until I heard this in that song that it hit me. God doesn't sit there shaking His head at anything we do. He sits there waiting for us to ask Him to intervene, or He intervenes and we don't even realize it at that point in time. The bridge continues, "He's not sitting there shaking His head writing you off, leaving you lost. He's not sitting there shaking His head - He went to that cross." It probably would be so easy for an all-powerful entity such as God to just write us off because we're not following His directions. Imagine I'm going to go one way instead of the way He wants me to go. I can almost hear Him saying, "Sorry, Mollie, that's all I can do for you," - but that's not the case at all. It's actually the complete opposite of what God wants to do. You see, even though I've wandered away from what God is directing me to do, He's still going to guide me back to that place He wants me to be. He's not just going to let me wander aimlessly like a lost sheep. As much as I can imagine God being disappointed at something I've done, the end of the story is that He still went to the cross to die for me and my sins. Why? Simply because He loves me. Going back to the scenario in the last paragraph, God isn't sitting up in heaven disappointed that we have a certain fear. He's sitting there, wanting to help us overcome that fear because He loves us that much.

"Don't be afraid for I am with you. Don't be discouraged for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand." Isaiah 41:10

This is one of my other all time favorite Bible verses. Just the phrasing of that last part - "I will hold you up with my victorious right hand" - is enough convincing to not be afraid of what may lie ahead for me. It's so easy to let fears grow into something that's unnecessarily huge. I can name at least a handful of times I spent weeks, even months, stressing and worrying about how I was going to talk to people about things that seemed hard for me to talk about. It got to the point that I felt fearful even when they just passed me by while I was sitting in church or wherever else I might have been. Eventually, I built up the courage to step out and face those fears that were building up. It was only then that I realized two things - it was deceivingly easy compared to what I was imagining and I always got overwhelmingly positive responses compared to how I thought it was going to go. In all of the situations, I know that if I just did what I needed to right away I wouldn't have been so afraid of doing what was needed and I would have reached a favorable outcome sooner rather than later. I've memorized Isaiah 41:10 to help me remember where my help comes from. To help me remember why I don't need to be afraid.

I want to ask you a simple question: What are you afraid of? Whether it's a general thing or it's going out and actually doing something, I implore you to remember where your strength comes from. Who is your refuge? Who will hold you up with their victorious right hand? When you're picturing that God is shaking his head in disappointment or shame at your fear or current situation, remember that it's not true. That it's really Satan putting those thoughts in your mind to prevent you from moving forward. God went to the cross to die for you - He's not disappointed in anything you're doing. He always is there when you need Him. He loves you and wants to give you the help you need. Try to remember to choose faith over fear.