“What if” is a key indicator that our minds are operating in a time zone we’ve not been authorized to enter.
Fear of the future is real. What if this happens? What if it doesn’t happen? What if it never happens? “What if” is a key indicator that our minds are operating in a time zone we’ve not been authorized to enter. The future’s not ours to know; we are only graced to handle what’s here and now. Not there and then.
We have to ask ourselves, “What are we really afraid of?” Pause here. Examine your most oft-recited what if’s and ask yourself what’s really at the bottom of this fear. Then come back and keep reading. I don’t want us to stop at the uncovering. I want us to get to the undoing.
If you’re like me, you could probably quickly recite the scriptures that talk about fear, most famously 2 Timothy 1:7: For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. There’s a reason Paul included this in his letter to Timothy, and there’s a reason God saw fit to make sure it was included in His Letter to us.
At some point, we will be tempted not only to fear, but to act from a place of fear. So God reminds us in this verse that this emotion didn’t come from Him. Furthermore, “self-discipline” indicates that we have the ability to govern our actions and mindsets in order that we may refrain from giving life to things He did not birth within us.
We have the ability to govern our actions and mindsets in order that we may refrain from giving life to things He did not birth within us.
So why isn’t that verse enough? I’ve read it. I’ve memorized it. Why is this not working for me?
Short answer… pride. I have this habit of thinking that my circumstances, problems, and what if’s are just so much harder than anything the Bible could address. There’s nothing new under the sun, except for the hard things in my life. Honestly, this prescription is just not strong enough to handle my ailment.
Completely arrogant. Gross.
But isn’t that what we often do?
“God I know this is what you said, but you just don’t get it.”
“Lord, I know nothing is impossible for you, but this thing I’m facing is too much and obviously you aren’t doing anything about it, so I think I got you beat here.”
If we aren’t careful, we can make a habit of elevating our problems above the only One powerful enough to solve them.
Taking a verse like 2 Timothy 1:7 – or any passage of scripture, for that matter – out of context can diminish the life-changing power it possesses. So oftentimes, while we desperately flip through our Bibles searching for a verse to ease our aching hearts or calm our anxious minds, we come up empty handed.
All the “fear not’s” in all the Bible aren’t powerful enough to overcome our fear.
Why not?
Scripture isn’t the problem – we are.
Context matters. Without the context in which “fear not” occurs, it’s nothing more than words on a page. Reading them in the Bible may as well be reading them in a newspaper for all the good it’s doing.
Did I just say that scripture isn’t powerful? Absolutely not. Rather, I’m making the assertion that we weaken its power when we take it out of context. To put it simply, Scripture isn’t the problem – we are.
The power of “fear not” is in the context of the situations in which fear was most logical.
When the angel of the Lord appeared to Mary – barely a teenager herself – and told her she would bear a son even in her virginity, and that her child would be the very Messiah for which her people had been waiting for centuries.
When she counted the cost of being an unwed pregnant teen and all the consequences that would come along with that fact – would she even be allowed to live long enough to give birth?
Fear made sense. But fear not.
It took just as much faith for Moses to say “Do not be afraid” as it did for the Israelites to hear it.
When Joshua, whose vision and mindset were products of forty years of wilderness wandering, must take up the mantle of Moses – the one who literally communed with God and lived to tell about it – and lead the people into the giant-filled promised land.
When he had to galvanize the people who had waited for freedom, then waded through the Red Sea and convince them that now really was the time.
Fear made sense. But fear not.
When Moses obeyed everything the Lord told him to do and still ended up stuck between an army and an ocean.
When he told the people in Exodus 14:13 “Do not be afraid. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today,” with no indication that the sea would part.
Fear made sense. But fear not.
Can we talk about that last one real quick? Because it messed with me all week. Read Exodus 14 in its entirety. We know this story. Non-Christians know this story. It’s so familiar that we are likely to miss the greatest point of impact.
Verse 14 is pretty Instagram famous at this point: The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still. But the power of verse 14 is really in the faith of verse 13, where Moses tells the Israelites not to be afraid. How does he do that? How is he not afraid?
We can read this story and know how it turns out. But when Moses said “Do not be afraid,” he had no idea that the sea would become a dry-ground escape route. God had not yet given that instruction.
It took just as much faith for Moses to say “Do not be afraid” as it did for the Israelites to hear it.
Even when fear makes sense, fear not.
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