GOD DOES NOT INTEND FOR US TO LIVE WITH PROLONGED FEAR
There are at least three basic things that we fear:
- Fear of death
- Fear of pain (such as disease or accident, either real or potential)
- Fear of loss (such as financial crises or other personal loss – again either real or potential)
Our fear may be mild and subtle, or it might be extreme and debilitating. Or something in between. In any case, our first step is to find out what the Bible says about fear.
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God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7)
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Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. ( Philippians 4:6 – 7)
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Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time,casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. (1 Peter 5:6 – 7)
God does not intend for us to live with prolonged fear. The Bible offers us at least five ways to overcome fear.
- Avoid unnecessary risk
We have all shot ourselves in the foot, blown holes in the bottom of our own boat, been our own worst enemy. So our first step is to be smart, work hard, get counsel, be teachable, so that we do things as well as possible to avoid bringing unnecessary pain into our lives.
For example, in Proverbs 10:4, we read
"Poor is he who works with a negligent hand, but the hand of the diligent makes rich." From this we conclude that if we are diligent, we can avoid the dangers that lurk in the future if we are negligent, reducing the number of things to be fearful about.
- Repent of known sin
We are borrowing trouble if we do not repent of known sin, which has three consequences:
Cause effect consequences: Galatians 6:7 says,
“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.” If we are careless about sin, we reap automatic negative consequences. If we repent of known sin, it eliminates those consequences as something that could generate fear.
Divine discipline: God – as our loving heavenly father – intervenes in our life with his loving discipline. Hebrews 12:10 says,
"he disciplines us for our good, so that we may share in his holiness." The things God may bring into our lives via discipline might be very unpleasant! To repent eliminates discipline as a potential source of fear.
Spiritual warfare: when we willingly harbor known sin, it gives Satan an advantage in our lives. Ephesians 4: 26–27 says,
“Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity.” To repent takes away the potential fear-factor of things the devil might bring into our lives.
So, when we repent of known sin, it reduces these three categories of things that might potentially bring consequences into our lives that could encourage fear.
- Place tenacious trust in God
Romans 8:28 says,
"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose."
In 2 Corinthians 12:9, we read,
"My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness."
If we place tenacious trust in God, we have confidence that He will cause all things in our lives to work together for good, and that His grace will be sufficient for us in the process.
This does not mean that we will never have fear. Even Jesus struggled with temporary fear in the garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 6:36–46). But after a season of prayer, a divine calmness came over His soul and He faced the will of God with the assurance that God's grace would be sufficient for all that was to come.
- Tell yourself the truth until it changes you
If something is important, it needs to be repeated however often is necessary until it changes us.
This is why the Bible tells us to meditate on the Scriptures day and night (Psalm 1:1–3). This is why Romans 12:2 says that we must be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Repetition of truth, meditating upon truth, is how our minds are renewed.
So we read the Bible, we memorize passages, we meditate on them, we create scriptural affirmations, we read good books, we repeat the truth day and night to renew our mind and transform our lives.
We tell ourselves the truth until it changes us.
- Put God at the very center of your life
In the end, our task is to put God at the very center of our lives, to want him more than we want anything else. That is the final answer to fear.
Our fears are tied to the loss of things that are our greatest desires. If we want peace and prosperity more than we want a robust relationship with God, then we will be fearful when our peace and prosperity are threatened. If we want health and wealth more than we want a robust relationship with God, then we will be fearful when our health and wealth are threatened.
But if God is our greatest desire, if He is the thing we most want in life, then we are safe because God cannot be taken away from us. And if we trust that He will cause all things to work for good in our lives, and that His grace will be sufficient in the process, it removes our fear.
Conclusion
An English missionary, Allen Gardiner, was shipwrecked in 1851 on a very remote island near South America on his way to start a new mission.
He and his companions tried their very best to stay alive until somebody came to find them, but nobody did. Finally, far away from civilization, far away from his loved ones, he died of thirst and hunger.
When they finally discovered his body, they found his journal nearby. On the very last page, he had written out Psalm 34:10: “The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.” Underneath it, the last words he penned were, “I am overwhelmed with a sense of the goodness of God.”
Overwhelmed with a sense of the goodness of God?!? Why wasn’t he angry? Why wasn’t he afraid? Why wasn’t he in crisis? Because he had God at the center of his life and there was nothing to be afraid of.
To have God at the center of our lives, to trust tenaciously in His goodness and power and love… to want Him more than we want anything else, is the final answer to fear. It is not the quick and easy answer to fear. But it is the final answer.
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