This week we will begin a new Teaching Series called: Facing Life’s Fears. In addition, our congregation is being asked to study together Max Lucado’s powerful book…Fearless.
I’m excited for this series because fear is an emotion that touches all of our lives. Life can be risky and it is filled with opportunities or reasons to fear or have anxiety. When I use the word fear, I mean all levels of fear from general apprehension and worry to dread and terror. Fear starts out when we are very young with fears of things like darkness, monsters under the bed, or actions we experience in an abusive home. It continues into our teenage years with fears of rejection, humiliation and failure. Adulthood is also filled with fears around the possibility of disease, death, financial problems, broken relationships, loved ones being hurt, storms, failure, aging, crime, and more. The list is endless. I personally struggle, at times, with worry and anxiety and need reminded that “love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear” (1 John 4:18).
We are an anxiety-laden society as the sales of many books dealing with anxiety and the sales of anti-anxiety drugs seem to indicate. Fear is both unpleasant and can be harmful physically, mentally, and even spiritually. Fear and anxiety choke out the Word of God in our life as the Bible tells us in Matthew 13:22: “…all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced.”
Fear can be very displeasing and dishonoring to God if we do not respond to it with faith. The Bible reminds us that we will have anxieties but we are to “give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you" (1 Peter 5:7). We all want answers to the fear problem, to worry and anxiety. We look for something to relieve us from our fears, something that will reassure us and instill confidence and peace within our hearts.
Some people look for that security in their bank account, others in a relationship. Some place their trust in the government, the latest drug, their job, or in a variety of other things. But none of these things are real solutions because none of them offer total security or absolute reassurance. No amount of money, success, or any position in life can truly give us peace in every situation. So the question becomes, How can we have peace in our life instead of fear? That answer to this important question is given in Psalm 27.
In this Psalm, David expresses his confidence in God - and in an absence of fear. “The Lord is my light and my salvation—so why should I be afraid? The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble? When evil people come to devour me, when my enemies and foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though a mighty army surrounds me, my heart will not be afraid. Even if I am attacked, I will remain confident. The one thing I ask of the Lord—the thing I seek most—is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, delighting in the Lord’s perfections and meditating in his Temple. For he will conceal me there when troubles come; he will hide me in his sanctuary. He will place me out of reach on a high rock. Then I will hold my head high above my enemies who surround me. At his sanctuary I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy, singing and praising the Lord with music.”
Because his focus was on God and dwelling in God’s presence, David can lift his head with confidence and sing with joy. In the midst of his trouble, David is reminded that God will never forsake him and will always guide him.
This is the consistent message of the Bible…stay focused on God. In Isaiah 26: 3 we read: "You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!”
Philippians 4: 6-7 tells us: “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”
There will be times when anxiety and fear will come into our lives it is then that we have a choice to make - we can choose to focus on the problem and be overcome with fear or we can choose to focus on God.
Pastor Rod
