A Terrible Master
“But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham my friend, I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, ‘You are my servant’; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” — Isaiah 41:8–10 (NIV)
Fear has an incredible imagination. Give it one unanswered question and it can produce an entire feature-length Hollywood calibar film. One uncertain conversation becomes the end of a relationship. One new opportunity becomes seventeen different ways you could fail spectacularly. One strange noise in the house at night becomes an intruder, despite the fact that it was almost certainly the ice maker (do all ice makers only dramatically make ice in the middle of the night???).
Fear is very talented at taking what could happen and convincing us to live as though it already has.
In Isaiah 41:10 God tells His people, “Do not fear,” but He doesn’t stop there. He gives them a reason.
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10, NIV).
The command not to fear is surrounded by promises about God.
I am with you. I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you.
And those promises matter even more when we look at the verses immediately before them. God reminds Israel that they are His servants, His chosen people, the descendants of Abraham, whom He calls “my friend.” He tells them, “I have chosen you and have not rejected you” (Isaiah 41:9, NIV).
Before God addresses their fear, He reminds them whose they are.
Israel had legitimate reasons to be afraid. They had enemies. They faced uncertainty. The threats surrounding them weren’t imaginary. God wasn’t asking them to look at genuinely difficult circumstances and pretend everything was fine.
He was telling them that their circumstances were not the only reality in the room - God was there too.
We see this throughout Scripture. When Joshua was preparing to lead Israel into the Promised Land, God told him repeatedly to “be strong and courageous” (Joshua 1:6–9, NIV). Joshua had every reason to feel intimidated. Moses was dead. Leadership of an entire nation had just landed in his lap, which seems like only a mildly stressful first day on the job (NOT!). There were battles ahead, enemies occupying the land, and an entire generation of Israelites who had already demonstrated that they were not exactly an easy group to lead.
Yet God’s answer to Joshua’s fear was not a motivational speech about Joshua’s leadership potential.
“Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9, NIV).
Again, the answer to fear was the presence of God.
That can change the way we understand courage. Biblical courage is not pretending we aren’t scared. It isn’t convincing ourselves that nothing bad could happen. It certainly isn’t repeating “I’ve got this” until we finally believe ourselves. Sometimes we very much do not have this.
But God has us.
David understood that distinction when he wrote,
“Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4, NIV).
Notice that David still walks through the valley. God’s presence does not always mean avoiding frightening places. Sometimes it means discovering that the Shepherd is already walking through them with us.
That is why faith and fear so often compete for our attention. Fear asks us to stare at what might happen. Faith turns our attention toward the God who will still be God if it does happen.
Paul writes, “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7, NIV).
The Christian life was never intended to be governed by fear because fear is a terrible master. It makes decisions based on imagined outcomes, keeps us obedient to other people’s opinions, and often convinces us that avoiding discomfort is the same thing as being safe.
Proverbs warns us, “Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe” (Proverbs 29:25, NIV).
A snare traps something that was meant to move freely.
Fear can do exactly that. It can keep us standing still at the edge of obedience because we are waiting for God to remove every possibility of failure before we move. We want the calling and the guarantee that nothing uncomfortable will happen along the way. We would preferably like the Lord to provide a detailed itinerary, several positive reviews ("Yelp" for the Christian Life, if you will), and a generous cancellation policy.
Usually, He gives us something better...Himself.
That doesn’t mean fear disappears the moment we pray. Paul’s instruction about anxiety assumes that anxiety will give us plenty of opportunities to practice bringing our fears before God:
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Philippians 4:6, NIV).
And then comes the promise:
“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7, NIV).
God does not tell us to deny what scares us. He tells us where to take it.
There is a significant difference between surrendering fear to God and waiting until we no longer feel afraid before obeying Him. If Joshua had waited until the enemies disappeared, he never would have entered the land. If David had waited until there were no valleys, he never would have needed a Shepherd.
Sometimes faith looks remarkably ordinary. It is simply taking the next obedient step while your stomach is still doing something deeply unhelpful.
The question is not whether we can guarantee the outcome. We can’t.
The question is whether the God who says, “I am with you,” can be trusted.
Scripture answers that question from Genesis to Revelation.
So when fear begins writing its elaborate screenplay about everything that could go wrong, we can bring ourselves back to what is actually true.
We have been chosen in Christ (Ephesians 1:4, NIV). We have been adopted into God’s family (Ephesians 1:5, NIV). Nothing can separate us from His love (Romans 8:38–39, NIV). He will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5, NIV). And when we are weak, His power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9, NIV).
We do not need to know exactly what is waiting on the other side of obedience. We know Who is going with us.
“So do not fear, for I am with you.”
Let that be enough for you.
bytaylormcgee
