Chair pt. I

“Fear not.” “Be of good courage.” “Do not be afraid.” How many times have we heard that in the Bible? Countless times, it seems. God does not want us to be afraid. But why? Why doesn’t He want this? Because fear paralyzes us from accomplishing His will. Fear is like a poison that spreads from a source, slowly rendering ineffective everything in its path. It starts in the mind as a little worry but soon grows into a monster too large to control ourselves, and we submit to its intimidation. This is not in God’s plan.

God does not want us to be afraid because fear is not from Him. If God is love, and “perfect love casteth out fear,” then there logically can be no fear in God. And why should there be? He is all-powerful and all-knowing. Nothing ever catches Him off-guard. Nothing is ever too strong for Him. So why should God have anything to fear? The truth is, He has no reason. Perhaps more appropriately the question is, “Why should we have anything to fear, if we have God dwelling within us?”

Our text today is from Isaiah chapter forty-one. If you have your Bibles, now’s a good time to pull them out and follow along. Our key verse is verse ten: “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness.”

Here again is that “fear not” phrase. In this reference, it is both a command and a promise. “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (Second Timothy 1:7) That verse clearly says fear is not from God. He commands us not to be afraid, because He has not given us fear. Instead He has given us power and love and a solid mind. He gives us power to overcome every obstacle we meet. He gives us love because “perfect love casteth out fear.” And He has given us a sound mind to reason with. We do not have to be afraid of anything, because God is on our side. And if God is for us, who can prosper against us?

“Fear thou not” is also a promise in this verse. God doesn’t just tell us not to be afraid and then leave us hanging. He promises that He will strengthen us, help us, and uphold us. He leaves us with no reason to fear or dismay.

In the Hebrew, the word translated “fear” is the verb “Yare’” (Yaw-ray). It’s interesting to note that Yare’ is a verb—a word indicating action. Fear is not something you just put on, like a shirt. It is something you do, like running. Because it is a verb, it means that we can choose to stop doing it. We don’t have to be slaves to fear. Holding to fear is only hurting yourself, paralyzing yourself from accomplishing God’s full potential in your life.

(to be continued)