All we have to Fear is Fear Itself

Do you have a fear of public speaking? Research says that of all the human endeavors that produce the most fear, public speaking heads the list. I was once one of its living victims; so much so, it made me a bit sick to the stomach prior to speaking before anyone. I was so fearful that, when I entered college and saw that public speaking was one of my required undergraduate courses, I made it the very last course I signed up to take. It turned out that the public speaking course was the best course I ever took.

Life is like that. Fear and worry can be debilitating and a waste of the precious time God has given us. Who by worry can add one day to his life? Matt.6:25-34. What do you worry about? Is it bills, the kids, school, your job, the environment? Do not the birds get fed? Matt.6:26. It is all about our faith. Fear is a part of our human experience; just ask Moses who took on the King of Egypt, Jonah who lived temporarily inside the belly of a great fish, and Daniel who spent the night in the lion’s den, David as he stood before Goliath and Jesus as he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane before his death.

We must trust in God and follow his inspired word just like the Israelites did as they traveled on dry land between the walls of the Red Sea. We should heed the words of Moses who said “Do not be afraid, stand firm, be still and allow the Lord to fight for us.” Exd.14:10-14. “Remember that greater in us than the one in the world,” 1Jn 4:4, “and we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us,” Ph.4:13.

So let us move forward with courage and zeal as God’s body of believers for his name’s sake and on behalf of the lost people around us. As 1 Peter 5:6-7 says, “ let us humble ourselves, there fore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift us up in due time…casting all our anxie ties (fears/worries) upon him because he does care for us.”

— Gary Rivers