Many of us are living with fear.  Studies show that babies are really only afraid of two things: the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises.  Those are the only two fears that we are born with, but as we grow, we accumulate different learned fears.

What is fear?  One definition is this, Fear is placing faith in the “What ifs.”  What if I lose my job? What if something happens to my family? What if?

This is exactly what Moses said this when God spoke to him.   God picked Moses to free his people from slavery, but he immediately asks, “What if?”  “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you’?” Exodus 4:1. [i]  All of Exodus chapter 3, God saying He’s going to be with Moses and help him.  But he still plays the game that most of us play, “What if?”  What if I lose my health? What if I never get married?

When I ask, “What if?” it shows me a something important about my faith:

What if” shows me where I need to trust God more.    For example, if I say to God “What if you do not provide financially?”  I am basically saying, “God I fear you will let me down financially.”  

Here’s what I have to do:

Acknowledge My fear, whatever it is and choose to Trust God.  

When I acknowledge my fear for what it is. I can then begin to pray about it and give it God.  God has to be bigger to me than whatever I fear.

David is a great example of this.  He says, “I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears” Psalm 34:4[ii].   Seek Him until He takes away your fears. Seek Him in His Word, seek Him through prayer, seek Him in your Growth Group, have people pray for you; seek after God day and night until He takes away your fears.

That’s what I do when I fear the future, because when I look out at all the work I need to get done I feel overwhelmed.  In desperation I pray, God, you are enough for today.  Help me do what I need to do today, help me plan for tomorrow and I will trust you for the rest.   God has been faithful to me. Seek after Him and He wants to do the same thing for you. God has not given you a spirit of fear.[iii]  It’s not from Him.

But what if?  But what if?

I heard a story from Beth Moore a great teacher of the Bible that illustrates this well.    She was so afraid of losing her husband, say said, “What if I lose him, how could I go on?”  So, she was just talking to God and praying about it and seeking God about this fear that she was in bondage to. She felt like she entered into a conversation with God, where God just started walking her through a journey. She said, God, what if I lose my husband?

And she felt like God said to her, well, what if?

And she say, Well, if I lost him I’d go numb and the next few days my friends would probably help me get ready for the funeral and I would just kind of get through it.

And God said Yea, and then what?

And she said, well, then I probably wouldn’t get dressed for a month and I would just sit at home and cry, and cry and cry and cry.

And she felt like God said, Yea, and then what?

And she said, Well, I’d probably not get dressed for another month and just sit at home and cry, and cry, and cry, and miss him and be devastated.

And then she felt like God said, and then what?

And then she said, at some point, I would probably start to seek you and you would be faithful and you would help me go on with life. 

And God said, exactly, exactly.

You too could go down the line of “What if.” “What if this happens” and “what if I do lose a child,” and “what if we do go bankrupt,” and “what if I do lose my job,” and “what if the economy” and  what if it does happen? Yes, you might go through a difficult time, but when you fully trust yourself into the hands of God, He has not given you a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.[iv]

What if, what if?  If you KNOW Christ and if you continue to GROW in Him, He will sustain you; because if you truly KNOW Him, guess what? You have nothing to fear, but a reverential fear and love for the One who created you, and the more you KNOW Christ, the less you have to fear on this earth.  Satan wants you to be in bondage to fear, but Christ wants to set you free.

Darrell

For more about the series, No More go to www.RidgeFellowship.com