Face Fear Unafraid

But do not be afraid of them; remember well what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt (Deuteronomy 7:18).

A seminary student on his way to preach his first sermon before professors and peers was full of fear. Whiny and fretful he kept complaining, “My palms are sweaty and my throat is dry. Never done this. My palms are sweaty and my throat is dry.” Merciless classmates laughingly suggested, “Bro, if you’re so afraid that your palms are sweaty and your throat is dry, lick your palms?” So….he did! What are you doing by fear that is really foolish in your life? 

Don’t surrender to fear. God has a counterproposal to our fears. Our approach is negative. His is positive. Do not fear … versus … Do remember. Or don’t think on what might happen, maybe by you. Rather do reflect on what has happened actually, by his grace. Make sense? 

REMEMBER WHAT GOD HAS DONE. In Deuteronomy 7 we have the record of God charging his people to destroy the enemies who occupy the Promised Land. The Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, their idolatry would be a metastasizing cancer among God’s people. The “Yes” of faith would need to trump the “No” of fear for such holy obedience to God.  

So notice where God inspires Moses to invite his people to look. “…remember well what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt.”  Don’t forget the miracles you experienced in Egypt. The LORD did not sit on his hands when you cried out to him. A Nile turned to blood. Frogs filled every kettle. Pharaoh held his lifeless firstborn. The Red Sea swallowed the world’s fastest chariots. You were delivered. 

Face your enemies unafraid by remembering what God has done - for you! He died for you. He has risen. Love lives in heaven and love lives in you. You are forgiven. Ever and always he indwells you. And look at all the still waters of friendship the Good Shepherd has given you! Can’t you feel the fear melting away as you rehearse all that the God of the Angel Armies has done for you? Face your fears with God given faith in what God has done. 

The young man who licked his palms in fear before his first sermon is being greatly used by God today to share his Word. Oh, he always gets nervous before he preaches but this is what he shared with me not long ago, “God helps me replace the terror with trust in his Word and promise.” Will you rely today on surrender or substitution in facing your fears?  

Jesus increase our confidence in what you have done,                                                                                                                                                                                 

Pastor Tim