The Grace Walk Devotional by Steve McVey

Author:Steve McVey [McVey, Steve]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Religion, Christian Life, Devotional
ISBN: 9780736953467
Google: Be6EAQAAQBAJ
Amazon: B00BFH3UXG
Barnesnoble: B00BFH3UXG
Goodreads: 17394893
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers
Published: 2013-02-01T00:00:00+00:00

32

Dealing with Our Fears

Do not fear, for I am with you;

Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,

Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.

—ISAIAH 41:10

General Norman Schwarzkopf is a man few people would call anything but courageous. One time in an interview he was asked, “General Schwarzkopf, is a general allowed to feel fear?” His answer was, “Sure, I hope so.”

Schwarzkopf sometimes talked about how it’s not the feelings of fear that are wrong, but it is wrong when we embrace those fears so we find ourselves unable to perform whatever the duty at hand may be. He challenged those he led to understand that courage doesn’t mean that one feels no fear, but that true courage is feeling afraid and doing the job anyway.

It is quite common in mainstream Christianity to hear the suggestion that it is wrong to even feel afraid. Now, few things can steal your peace in life faster than being told that you’re wrong to have normal human emotions. The faulty notion that it’s wrong to feel the emotion of fear has caused people to feel condemned for experiencing those feelings. When Jesus told His disciples not to be afraid, He meant they weren’t to embrace those emotions and allow fear to control them. He didn’t mean they were wrong for experiencing the spontaneous feelings that circumstances would evoke at times.

It is unrealistic to think you won’t experience feelings of fear. While it is true that God has not given us a spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7), don’t think this means that fear won’t sometimes show up on your doorstep asking to be let in. The question is, what are you going to do when it arrives?

You may be tempted to think, I shouldn’t feel this way. No, feeling afraid is normal in certain circumstances. The apostle Paul once wrote, “I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling” (1 Corinthians 2:3). When Paul faced the daunting assignment to go to Corinth and establish a church, he felt fear, but he acted anyway. Courage isn’t the absence of fear, but acting boldly in the face of fear.

When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before His crucifixion, He experienced feelings of fear. It would be foolish to think otherwise—He was a normal human! What else would cause Him to sweat blood and ask His Father if there was any way for Him to take away what was to come? The pivotal moment in that garden was the way He faced His fears.

Jesus faced His fears, and then acted in faith. He didn’t succumb to them. Instead, He courageously moved through them toward the divine purpose of His life. He refused to give in to feelings of fear and, instead, moved forward with faith in His Father.

In Isaiah 41:10, God gives three reasons why we don’t have to be afraid when we face threatening circumstances.

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