When I was growing up in southern Indiana, my brother Jim and Cousins Jerry and Jason Palmer lived within 1000 yards of each other. Jim and I are 11 months apart in age, and Jerry was 3 years younger and Jason was 2 years younger than his brother. We played softball, cowboys and Indians, cops and robbers, and even threw rocks at the bats that flew around our security light. (I got a whipping for that) But at night with the light from the security light, we’d play “Hide and Seek.”
I am sure at one time or another, all kids play the game. However, living out on “Woods Lane”, at night, it was pretty scary. See, we lived there, but in the dark of the night, those trees that we climbed in during the day, would cast strange shadows during our game of “hide and seek”. The garage that our grandpa Virgil Woods kept his tools in and we parked our bikes in, was dark and “Who knew what is in there!”
It seemed when it was Jerry’s turn to count and “seek” the rest of us, he would almost always say, “Well, I am tired, I quit.”
Was he REALLY tired? Maybe. Was he afraid to search in the garage and sheds, and behind those trees to find us? Was he afraid I would jump out and scare him? (Yeah, I got a whipping for that too.)Why would he fear those things that he saw during the day that just looked different at night?
Why do WE fear? I heard fear described this way. False Evidence Appearing Real.
See, fear keeps us from achieving so many things, and will hinder God’s best for us.
Fear is powerful. Just ask the men that Moses appointed to explore the land of Canaan.
God told them the land would be theirs. Yet, the scouts reported,
Numbers 13-
26 They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. 28 But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.”
30 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”
31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” 32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33 We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”
That fear kept them in the wilderness longer than they were supposed to stay. God promised that He would care for them, He continues to make THAT promise to us, yet we still fear. God does not change. He keeps His promises.
Is fear keeping your from God’s promises? You know that God has called you to His work, but you fear failure? If God calls you to it, He will keep you.
Fear of pain? God will use your pain and test, to give you a testimony.
When Peter stepped out of the boat to walk to Jesus, FEAR kept the other disciples IN the boat.
Fear of the unknown? I have struggled with that for years. Yet, I have come to know that God is in control of my life,
“All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be”. …Psalm 139:16
“Many things about tomorrow, I don’t seem to understand. But I know WHO holds tomorrow, and I know WHO holds my hand.”
I think it is ironic that the phrase “Do not fear” or “Fear not” appears 365 times in scripture, and class there are 365 days in a year.
Have courage! You are God’s prize possession! The apple of His eye! He wants us to conquer that spirit of fear, and to live in VICTORY!
Romans 8:15- For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. [ Or adoption] And by him we cry, “Abba, [Aramaic for Father] Father.”
Type or write that verse and put it somewhere that you can see daily. And memorize it! Claim that promise! Live in VICTORY thru Christ!
Whatever YOU fear, let God’s TRUTH set you free!
