The Hebrew children were overcome with fear. They heard reports of giant-sized enemies with cities walled up to heaven and they were terrified. They whimpered and whined and wanted to go back to Egypt. Somehow they forgot that they were serving a miracle-working God, the same God who had just drowned Pharaoh’s whole army in the sea. In Hebrews 3:19, we have this sad commentary concerning Israel: “So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.”
When we express fear before our enemies they sense it immediately. The enemy is like a mean dog. As long as we walk toward that dog with confidence he will grudgingly move out of our path and slink away. But God help us if we show fear and begin to retreat. That same dog will eat us up.David was a man of great spiritual strength and holy boldness. However, on one occasion, fear got hold of him. He wrote a description of this episode for us in Psalm 55:4-5: “My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death assail me. Fear and trembling have beset me; horror has overwhelmed me.” How did the great David get into such a state? He gives us the answer in the second and third verse of this Psalm: “…My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught at the voice of the enemy…” David had been listening to the voice of the enemy and it almost destroyed him. When we realize who our heavenly Father is, and how much he loves and cares for us, we cannot go on fearing. The Bible says in 1 John 4:18: “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”
Esther Yambe
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