Psalm 118:6 “The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”
“Do you see many students who struggle with fear?” asked the girl who was interviewing me for a school publication. Considering I teach Public Speaking—the number one fear of most Americans—I didn’t have to think twice. There’s something about being vulnerable in front of a group of people that can undo the hardiest. Like the time a number of years ago when I was asked to speak to a group of college students. Fear and anxiety literally took over my body. My mouth became so dry that my lip actually stuck to my upper teeth! Have you ever tried to talk with your lip stuck to your tooth? Not a pretty sight.
Fear comes in all sizes and packages. We deal with some fears best by refusing to give them more power than they already have. The enemy of our souls plagues our mind with a backpack of scenarios in hopes of provoking us to fear. Those fears we must ignore or command to leave because any thought that pulls us into fear is not a thought authored by God, “for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Timothy1:7 ESV).
We must face other types of fear head-on. If you want to pass the class, you have to give the speech. If you want to visit London, you have to get on the airplane. If you want to be more like Jesus, you have to stand up for truth, even if it means rejection. We overcome these fears by remembering the source of our peace.
When Scripture admonishes us not to fear, it often includes the reason why: the incredibly powerful promise for I am with you. When hard pressed, the psalmist remembered God—more powerful than all his enemies—stood as his helper (Psalm 118:5-7). Such was the case when God commanded Joshua to lead Israel into the Promised Land (Joshua 1:9), when David instructed Solomon to take on the massive task of building the Temple (1 Chronicles 28:20), and when any of us face the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23:4). Fear loses its grip when we realize we’re not in this alone.
Oh, friend, don’t let the isolating lies of fear be a factor in your life.