Are You Riddled With Fear?

Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. Joshua 1:9

We have all heard and maybe memorized the Ten Commandments and probably feel like the Bible is full of rules of things for us to do and not to do. You might be surprised to know that the most frequent command in the Bible is “Fear Not” and “Be Not Afraid”. Together they appear approximately 88 times in the Bible. God tells Abraham, Hagar, Jacob, Joshua, Daniel, Joseph and Mary and many others to “Fear Not!” He speaks through Joseph and Moses, and many prophets of Israel, saying the same words. He also speaks to you, saying “fear not” and “be not afraid.”

We are a society riddled with fear and controlled by anxiety and worry. Think about your life and how fear rules you. We are afraid we will have any number of calamities to befall us. Some of those fears will come true, but most never will. We are afraid we will fail if we try, and we are afraid we will succeed. We are afraid of growing old, yet we are afraid of dying. We are afraid of loving and committing and then being hurt, and at the same time we are afraid we are not loved and never will be. When we have children, we open a whole new area to fear and worry about. The fears never stop no matter how old you are. Some people are so controlled by fear they fail to experience life and fail to live a productive life. God knows that when we are crippled by fear, we are unable to be useful to ourselves or anyone else. We fear and dread the death of our mortal bodies more than anything else. We try to care for them and keep them alive as long as possible. Matthew 10:28 says, “fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. . . .” Jesus has already conquered death; therefore, we are victorious. When we cease to exist on this earth, we will continue to exist with Jesus. We have already died, and now we live in Christ. “Fear not, for I am with thee . . .”, saith the Lord (Isaiah 43:5).