Three verses support my commitment and ability not to be afraid
By Dean Collins
Sometime in the early 90s, I started praying and quoting 2 Timothy 1:7 to myself quite often. I can’t remember when I began quoting and praying Psalm 23:4 and Isaiah 41:10, but over the last 15 years or so, I have quoted and prayed all 3 verses nearly every day and sometimes several times a day.
On the outside, I don’t appear to be a person who is fearful. In fact, personality profiles always suggest that I have self-assurance and strong beliefs that are both internal as well as visible to others. I recently shared a story with some older friends of a conversation I had about 10 years ago with a man who has known me since I was 11 years old. He said he could tell me the week I shifted from being timid to becoming someone who was a leader. It was probably the summer I was 13 years old.
Yet here I am years later needing daily to remind myself to trust the scriptures we believe are from God and heed their instruction, “Fear not.” Literally hundreds of verses in scripture tell us not to fear but rather to trust in God and to live confidently in his presence and his power, love, and the self-control he supplies freely by his Spirit. Paul reminded a young Timothy that God did not give us a spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control. I am older than Paul was when he wrote that sentence, but I still need the reminder.
The media keeps us endlessly informed of all the things we should worry about. We have a common list that includes the economy; the supply chain; the viruses; various political regimes in China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran; and even the politics of both the Republicans and the Democrats. At a minimum, all these annoy us; often they make us downright afraid.
A faith thing
But I suspect this fear thing that always pokes itself into our heads is more of a faith thing at the root. Do we trust Jesus? He said if we seek to preserve our lives we will lose them, yet if we are willing to lose our lives, then we will have them. I suspect that most of the time when we are afraid the issue at hand is our feeble attempt to hold on versus let go. We have a tendency to think that somehow our plans are the best plans, even when we know deep down that God’s plan is and will remain the best. But when we can’t see the details of his plan in a given moment, anxiety creeps in.
The early followers of Jesus had the same issues. The moment things looked a little uncertain, the questions came and fear started creeping in. When asked about when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus answered that he wouldn’t come in the way we expect it. We won’t be able to validate by external measurements. We must trust that the kingdom of God is with us because Jesus the King is with us. And if he is with us then we don’t have to worry about control, power, or even outcomes. In the end he will reconcile it all, renew it all, and restore it all in his time.
The Spirit’s assurance
One of the oldest writers of any books in the Bible may have told us the secret to overcoming fear. The apostle John in his first epistle said this: “By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.” The Holy Spirit is evidence and assurance that God is in us and with us. He went on to say there is no fear in love and that perfect love casts out fear. When we abide in Christ and live and act with love, we can be confident that God is with us and by his power he will give us victory over every fear.
Things will not always resolve according to our plans or even our liking. But we can be confident that in his time God will resolve all things perfectly, and as children of the King, we will live to see it all!
Your time with God’s Word
2 Timothy 1:7; Isaiah 41:10; Psalm 23:4; Hebrews 13:6; Psalm 56:3-4; 1 John 4:13, 18-19 ESV
Photo by kim ick at Unsplash.com
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