Why fear when God has already given you, in Christ, everything you need to be what you’re supposed to be and to do what you’re called to do?

I think it’s one of the dirty secrets of the church of Jesus Christ that many of the things we do are done out of fear and not faith. Fear happens when we look at ourself, assess our resources, and conclude that we do not have what it takes to do what God is calling us to do or to face what we have to face.

Fear in a believer is a function of forgetfulness. To the degree that we forget who God is, who we are as his child, and what we have been given by his grace, fear is our default emotion.

I am deeply persuaded that the only solution to fear is fear.

In other words, fear is defeated only by a bigger, greater fear. For clarity; when the fear of God overwhelms and controls our heart, it protects us from the paralyzing and debilitating fear of other things. It’s only when God looms hugely larger than anything we could ever face in this fallen world that our heart is able to experience peace even when we don’t understand what is happening (and we don’t have the power to solve it if we did).

Meditate on these passages:

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me” (Ps. 23: 4).

“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” (Ps. 27: 1).

“The fear of the Lord leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied” (Prov. 19: 23).

“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isa. 41: 10).

“I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears” (Ps. 34: 4).

“Blessed is the one who fears the Lord always” (Prov. 28: 14).

So how can we enter the experience of vertical fear (fear of God) overwhelming and quieting horizontal fear (fear of anything else)? Well, first run to God and pray that he will grace us with the eyes to see and the heart to remember His awesome glory. Then require yourself to quit meditating on your problems and instead meditate on the glory of the God who has become our Father and who is always with us. No, we should not deny our problems, but if we let them be the subject of our meditation, they will loom larger and larger, and we will grow more and more afraid. Today, face reality, but meditate on God’s glory.

For further study and encouragement: Psalm 111”

— New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel Devotional by Paul David Tripp https://a.co/azovAzI