FACING OUR FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN

“Do not be afraid (terrified), nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).

The word of the Lord to Joshua, just as he was about to step out into the plan of God for him, was “do not be frightened (afraid or terrified).”

Fear can sometimes have a paralyzing effect. What we don’t know or can’t see will sometimes cause us to stop or pause our forward movement and the Lord was speaking to that.

To be dismayed means that we have allowed fear to terrify us and break us down, causing us to become confused and ineffective.

Fear sometimes gets a bad name. There is good and bad fear. Some Christians believe that if you are really “in the Spirit” or really “exercising faith,” you will never experience fear but that’s not totally right.

We are instructed in Scripture to “fear the Lord,” which means to “be in awe” of Him, to be “reverent.” And that’s good fear. I believe we don’t have enough reverence in the church right now; in fact, church services have become so casual that it’s almost embarrassing at times.

Another good fear is one that I possess: I don’t particularly like climbing up on high ladders or standing on the edge of a roof.

For years I had an inordinate fear of the devil. I feared that he could come and take me over at any moment and there was nothing I could do about it. It was an irrational fear but real, nonetheless.

When I was young, a very famous healing evangelist came to our church. During the healing service, a woman went on the platform and the evangelist announced to the crowd that she was possessed by a demon. He then told us that he was going to cast the demon out of her and informed us that if we were not in the right spiritual attitude, the demon would go out of her and into us. Sure enough, as soon as he prayed for the woman, a person in the balcony began screaming and the evangelist and the pastor hurried into the crowd and prayed for him.

In my young mind, two things were happening. The first was that I had no clue as to what the right spiritual attitude was. The second was that I saw God and the devil in a wrestling match and some days God won and some days the devil won. My fear was compounded by the ignorance of the evangelist who did not properly handle this prayer of deliverance. From then on, I had an unfounded fear that at any moment the devil could take advantage of me just as he did that innocent person sitting in the balcony of the church.

It was not until later in life that I was able to understand the truth that the devil and God are not on the same footing. The devil is not sovereign; he is not everywhere; he is not all-powerful; and he is not knowledgeable about all things. The devil is a liar and a deceiver; he is a master of manipulation and trickery — and the devil is not God! When this truth settled in my spirit, my fear went away and has never returned.

Much of our concern and fear of the future comes because of what we don’t know. God’s commitment is to walk with us into our future. He will be our guide and our companion! We are instructed to hold fast to Him as we step into the unknown!

God’s promise to us is, “I (God, the sovereign creator of the universe) will be with you at all times; I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

This is an important truth to embrace and it is stated emphatically in Joshua 1 verse 5, and again in verse 9.

The Psalmist David understood this truth and captures its meaning for us in Psalm 23:4:

“Even when I walk
    through the darkest valley,
I will not be afraid,
    for you are close beside me.
Your rod and your staff
    protect and comfort me.” (NLT)

We step into our future with confidence, knowing that God is with us. We hold fast to the One who knows exactly where we are going and how to get there!

Jesus repeated this powerful promise to His disciples just before His ascension when He said, “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

As we face the uncertainty of tomorrow in a chaotic world, our tomorrow may be unknown to us but it is not to Him, and His promise to us is, “I am with you always.”