Fear Not!
Sometimes, the way that we perceive ourselves is not how others perceive us, and it’s commonly not how God perceives us either. Usually, we are too proud and self-righteous, but the opposite can also be true: it’s possible to be paralyzed with fear about doing something for God because we think that we’re not good enough, or that people will make fun of us.
God says unto His people: FEAR NOT
“[F]ear not, neither be discouraged.” -Deuteronomy 1:21
This was God’s continual counsel to Joshua as he finally led God’s people into the promised land after serving a punishment of forty years of wandering in the desert. Why did God tell the people so many times to not be afraid? Because forty years ago, when a very critical and consequential decision had to be made, the people were afraid.
But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. -Numbers 13:31, 14:1
Were the people’s fears justified?
Certainly the foes that they were to face were formidable, but I think their greatest error occurred when they chose to look at the situation through their own eyes, rather than God’s. Take a look at their perspective when they spied out the inhabitants of the promised land:
And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. -Numbers 13:33
Notice that it doesn’t just say that they appeared to be grasshoppers in their own sight, but they also supposed that their enemies saw them in the same way that they saw themselves. They figured, “since we look so small compared to them, they must think that we are tiny and weak too.”
Only God knows the hearts of men
When the people supposed that their enemies saw them as little grasshoppers, they made an obnoxious mistake. Their suppositions couldn’t have been further from the truth! When Israel finally sent more spies into Jericho, a woman named Rahab let them know what everyone really thought of them:
I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. -Joshua 2:9
If they had simply trusted in God, and not looked unto their own circumstances, the Lord would’ve given His people an astounding victory forty years earlier. If only they hadn’t been paralyzed by fear! Looking at the verse above, you can see how false their perspective was about themselves. They weren’t little “grasshoppers” to their enemies, they were a terror and a dread among the nations.
The name of Jesus is a terror to the devil
Today, if we have been born again by the Spirit, we have the testimony of Jesus dwelling within our hearts. And because of this, we have been shown a path of absolute conquest. This path is called the will of God, and while we tread it, we are assured victory and conquest over our enemies.
This is not to say that we may go where ever we please, whenever we please. But, if we are in the will of God, we have the assurance of His Spirit to press forward, being ever-mindful of God’s counsel: “Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest” (Joshua 1:9).
The only way we could possibly lose is if we listen to our own doubts and fears, as the children of Israel did so long ago, and esteemed themselves only as “grasshoppers.” This fearfulness is not derived from God, because if we are in His will, He speaks only to strengthen us and uplift us from our apprehension:
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; -2 Timothy 1:7-8
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