Do Not Fear
6 min read
13 Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. 14 For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD sends rain on the land.’ ”
— 1 Kings 17:13-14
The exhortation from God to not be afraid is one of the most common commands in the Bible. Obviously, that is because one of the most common emotions that we experience in life is fear.
Panic attacks are an intense manifestation of fear. About 2.7% of Americans experience panic attacks. I couldn’t find any data, but i wonder if panic attacks are on the rise in the US.
If we were in a proper mental state to examine the fears in our lives, we might realize that most of our fears are pretty irrational. There is the fear of the unknown, the fear of losing control, the fear of failure, and on and on. But even if we were to recognize the irrationality of many of our fears, it’s not so easy to shake them off.
I also wonder if every fear that we experience is related to the fear of death. Of course, no one ever likes to think about it, but we will all return to dust one day. That may be why every philosophy, every religion, pretty much tries to answer the question of what happens after we die.
And that is the most natural question for us human beings to ask. God has placed a sense of eternity in our hearts, and even the staunchest atheist doesn’t want to let go of that hope (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
Whatever the nature of our fears may be, the more pressing question for us is how to deal with them day to day. Strictly speaking, every fear, including the fear of death, apart from the fear of God, is irrational. And it’s much better to live life rationally, rather than irrationally.
If we truly fear God, what is there that we really need to fear? If we fear death, all our fears become irrational.
Maybe I’m being too “spiritual” and expecting too much of myself when it comes to fear—fear of death, especially.
This woman of Zarephath was looking death in the face due to starvation for herself and her son. If anyone has a right to be afraid, it would be people like her. Somehow, though, she faced death with great courage, even though she was full of fear.
The fact that she faced death with such courage shows us that the fear of death—fear of anything—is really just the absence of hope, the hope of a blessed life.
But “this is what the LORD … says.” Our God is the God of life. And His desire and purpose for us is not a life filled with pain, bitterness, and hopelessness. His desire and purpose for us is that we might “have live, and have it to the full” in Christ Jesus (John 10:10).
The fullness of life is a life filled with blessing because it is a life filled with the hope of eternal life.
Father, why does my soul ever become downcast? I will say to my soul, “Put your hope in God,” because You will give me life so that I may praise Your name. You have revealed Your faithfulness to me over and over again. I will praise You forever. In Jesus’s name. Amen.