Fear is a God-given emotion that can warn us of danger and protect us from harm. But when fear becomes our master, it can paralyze us, steal our peace, weaken our faith, and prevent us from doing God’s will.
In Chapman University’s 2025 Survey of American Fears, people’s leading concerns included corrupt government officials, loved ones becoming seriously ill or dying, economic collapse, cyberterrorism, another world war, nuclear weapons, pollution, and government tracking of personal data.
Other polls and surveys have produced different lists, ranging from spiders and snakes to old age, death, and even public speaking.
People often say the Bible contains 365 “fear nots”—one for every day of the year. While that appealing claim cannot be verified by an actual count, its underlying message is unmistakably true: From Genesis to Revelation, God repeatedly assures His people that they need not live enslaved by fear.
“Fear not” does not mean that faithful people never feel afraid. It means we refuse to let fear control us, define us, or keep us from trusting God.
In one such passage, as God’s people were preparing to embark on the conquest of Canaan, Moses encouraged the children of Israel not to fear.
“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you” (Deut. 31:6).
This exhortation contains four components we can apply today.
(1) Be strong.
Our strength is in the Lord. This theme runs through both the Old and New Testaments. Through prayer, Bible study, and meditation, we can find the strength to overcome our fears, whether real or imagined. Spiritual strength empowers us to conquer our adversaries, overcome temptation, and endure adversity.
Alexander Maclaren was right when he wrote, “Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but…empties today of its strength.”
(2) Be courageous.
While God supplies the strength, we must respond in faith and act courageously. Courage is not the absence of fear; it is faith acting despite fear.
Edgar A. Guest expressed it this way in his poem “Equipment”:
“Courage must come from the soul within,
The man must furnish the will to win.”
Henry Van Dyke defined courage as “the standing army of the soul which keeps it from conquest, pillage and slavery.”
Indeed, as Nelson Mandela observed, “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.”
(3) Be aware of God’s presence.
Wherever we are, God is there. Whatever we face, He is with us. Whoever opposes us, He is greater. No matter how difficult the challenge appears, we never face it alone.
Like David, we can be assured that there is nowhere we can go beyond God’s presence (Ps. 139:7–10).
Corrie ten Boom is often credited with saying, “Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”
(4) Be assured of God’s faithfulness.
“God is faithful,” the apostle Paul wrote.
Sometimes we are unfaithful. Friends may fail us. A brother may let us down. Even a loved one may refuse to stand with us in a difficult situation.
But not God. He will not forsake us, fail us, or forget us.
Fear is a natural human response, but it must never become our master. We cannot allow it to control our choices, weaken our faith, or keep us from obeying God.
As the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. observed, “Our problem is not to get rid of fear altogether, but to harness it and master it.”
“Of whom shall I be afraid?” is a fair question.
When we can confidently affirm—
“The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life;
Of whom shall I be afraid?” (Ps. 27:1)
—then the answer is easy, as we hear and heed the Lord’s promise: “Fear not, for I am with you” (Isa. 41:10).
Someone expressed the victory of faith this way: “Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered. No one was there.”
—Ken Weliever, The Preacherman
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