I’m a very fearful person. I struggle with fear of a lot of things, not just one or two. For example, I fear just about every kind of bug that God has created; the only one I can truthfully say I don’t have some sort of aversion to is the black ant. This fear grips me particularly in summertime, making it very difficult for me to enjoy myself outside (that’s why fall and winter are my favorite months :-)). I’m also afraid of heights. This is common, but it contributes to my inability and unwillingness to use swings.

However, my fears are not limited to tangible reality. I live in almost constant fear of what others think about me, or any other possible discomfort. My fears have a wide range of consequences, often hindering my ability to glorify God. This should not be the case. Our fears ought to give us an even greater opportunity to glorify God, by doing the things we fear despite being afraid.

The famous John Piper of Desiring God Ministries wrote an excellent article about fear on November 21, 2001. In writing this post, I have drawn extensively from Piper’s article, and I would encourage you to read it and ponder it yourself. Piper presents thirteen reasons why true believers in Christ need not be afraid, but I saw two main themes that I am going to share with you. They deal with fear of men and fear of the abstract.

We live in a fallen world, and in this fallen world their is mistrust of one another. Along with that mistrust, we get fear. Today we are particularly aware of the fear of men, as a war is waged against terrorists. We fear what other can do to us, but as Christians we have no need to fear others.

Psalm 56:11 succinctly recapitulates this point, saying, “IN God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”. Although David probably meant that as a rhetorical question, I’ll go ahead and answer it anyway. Ultimately, man can do NOTHING to us. Let me clarify. Man CAN harm us. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out; we are faced with suffering at the hands of men every day, but it has no lasting effect. Man can shun us, beat us, torture us, or even kill us, but God will use that evil for good. If they shun us, God will use it to bring us closer to Him. If they beat and torture us, God will use them to strengthen our faith in Him. And if they kill us, God will bring to paradise with Him. The martyrs illustrate this beautifully with their lives. They suffer for God, but still worship him boldly, not fearing what their persecutors do to their bodies, because they know their souls cannot be harmed.

Fearing man is only one part of the the fears we face. We also fear abstract concepts that have no current expression in reality but are nonetheless terrifying. Examples of these fears are the fears of failure, insecurity and/or death. God also reassures us that we need not fear these things. Nothing happens outside of God’s will, certainly not anything that is ultimately harmful to us. This doesn’t mean we won’t suffer, but it does mean that God is in control of what happens to us.

So really, it comes down to trusting God’s promises. One of my favorite verses is Jeremiah 29:11: “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.’” We must trust that God is a loving, wise, and sovreign God and is able to make good His promises to us.

Terrors will come, and we will fear, but in our fear let us remember God’s promise and glorify Him by fighting past our fears with all HIS strength.

~Jayan