Fear Not

There are many things the Lord teaches and tells us about when it comes to being in a relationship with Him. There is faithfulness, obedience, and humbleness, just to name a few.  Those are things that bring our Heavenly Father great joy, but there are also things that we can do that can bring displeasure to Him as well.

One of the biggies is that we are commanded not to fear. If you were to count how many times in the Bible we are told not to fear you would find we are told 365 times. If you know math and a calendar you notice there is one command per day of the year not to fear.

Why is fear such an issue for God? Fear is the outward showing of our lack of faith in Him. When we fear, what we are saying is that we doubt that God can keep us, heal us, forgive us, save us, lead us, or do anything else that would take our eyes off Him and put them on our problems, hurts, and issues.

I was in my devotions in Mark chapter 5 and if you are familiar with this text, you know there are a couple of powerful events that happen. We see the man possessed by “Legion” that Jesus freed. There is one of the rulers of the synagogue by the name of Jairus whose daughter was very sick and dying. As Jesus was heading to his house there was a woman with a bleeding issue. We know that she had the faith that by touching the garments He wore she would be made well, she did, and she was.

We then go back to Jairus and his daughter. As Jesus was heading to the house Jarius got word that his daughter had died. This did not deter Jesus, He looked at Jairus and said these words, “Do not fear, only believe.” I try and put myself in Jairus’ shoes. How hard would it be to hear the word that your child has died, but then be told not to fear and only believe? I’m not sure how I would deal, but here is what I do know, desperation will drive us to the brink of our faith and what we believe. Jairus had to be desperate. Jesus was the only hope he had.

Let’s be honest, Jesus is the only hope we have in this world. Knowing this and understanding this must bring us to the place of not fearing and only believing, for if He can raise the dead, He can solve all our problems, hurts, and pain.

My friends, Jesus is still King of Kings. He can meet all our needs, only do not fear, just believe, and watch Jesus go to work.