Whenever I was a kid my fears consisted of thunderstorms, the dark (all because my awesome brothers would turn out the lights and play "bloody Mary" and make me watch awful movies such as Chuckie, Freddie Krueger, the late night show of "Tales from the Crypt," oh and who could forget "IT"~love you bros but honestly...your sick...lol), and frogs (because my awesome brothers would throw frogs at me). I am sure that my parents could think of a few other things I was afraid of but these are the BIGGEST ones that stand out to me till this day. Now, as I have become an adult my fears have increased drastically. I think it has something to do with becoming a parent~plus anxiety of course. When you have your first child, you suddenly start to see everything awful in the world. Germs...bad, sickness...bad, and any kind of unknown...bad. I hate to say it but I have become not a "glass is half empty or full person" but a glass is shattered type of person.
The Lord has been dealing greatly with me on the subject of fear and I want to share with you some things I have learned. The first thing we need to do is to try to answer the question: What is the scariest part of having fear? I had to think about this questions a lot before I could come up with an answer for me personally; you may feel the same way or different but here is the answer I came up with. The scariest part about dealing with fear is not being in control of the situation. No, matter what the situation is that I have to face, the idea of being out of control freaks me out. In "Bible Study Fellowship" we have been studying the life of Moses and through this study the Lord has taught me that in the midst of fear, He is still in control. Don't believe me...let's dig into scripture together to find out questions that fear makes us ask.
Question # 1. After God tells Moses that he is to "GO" to Egypt to free His people this is Moses response: Exodus 3: 11, "Who am I that I should go..."
Question #2. After God tells Moses, "I will be with you" Moses argues with Him asking who he should tell the people God is. So, you could say that he is asking, "Who are you?" Exodus 3: 13.
Question #3. God gives Moses a clear description of who He is...see Exodus 3:14. Then Moses replies with "WHAT IF?": Exodus 4: 1, "What if they won't believe me and will not obey me but say, 'The Lord did not appear to you?"
After the questions from fear come up we start to make excuses for not facing our fears. Exodus 4: 10, "But Moses replied to the Lord, "Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent--either in the past or recently or since you have been speaking to Your servant--because I am slow and hesitant in speech."
Finally, we give into our fears and are paralyzed by them. Exodus 4: 13, "Moses said, "Please Lord send someone else." If there is one thing I have learned about facing my fears lately is this very important detail...Fear makes us look at ourselves and WHAT WE CAN DO instead of turning our eyes on the ONE who is in CONTROL in the first place. I LOVE GOD's response to every argument that Moses gave. If you take the time to read Exodus chapters three and four you can see exactly what I am talking about. (Now, I am just giving a summary so don't get mad at me). Moses says, "Who am I?" God says, "I am with you." Moses says, "Who are you?" God says, "I AM WHO I AM" and then gives Moses a specific way of how things are going to go down. Moses says, " WHAT IF?" God says, "WHAT IS IN YOUR HAND." See, God was trying to point Moses to all that was right in front of him that He was going to use. Moses starts to give into his fear saying, "I am nothing, I am not good at speaking." God essentially says, hello that is the point. Exodus 4:11-12, "The Lord said to him, "Who made the human mouth? Who makes him mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is not I, the Lord? Now go!I will help you speak and I will teach you what to say." Then, as we said earlier...Moses actually tries to convince the Lord to send someone else and I just LOVE his response to Moses. He says in Exodus 4: 14, "Then the Lord's anger burned against Moses, and He said, "Isn't Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well, And also, he is on his way now to meet you. When he sees you, his heart will rejoice."
I absolutely, love THIS response from the Lord because really He is saying to Moses...Your not getting the point. I know you are nothing but I want to use you. I know you are scared and have fears that you are going to have to face but don't worry I will be with you. I don't care if you do not want to go, you are going any way. BUT I will send your brother to help you. Now, people that is just a glimpse of God' grace. He could have struck Moses dead right there and He didn't need Moses to free the people, He could have don't it Himself. But GOD wanted to use Moses to free his people and make Moses face some stuff in order for his faith to grow in God.
As Moses, walked with God, facing his fears became easier each time. For example, right before they were about to walk through the Red Sea, they were straight up FREAKING OUT. Just like Moses did in the beginning when God told him all that he was to do. Look at Exodus 14: 10-14, "As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and saw the Egyptians coming after them. Then the Israelites were terrified and cried out to the LORD for help. They said to Moses: Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you took us to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Isn't this what we told you in Egypt: Leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians that to die in the wilderness."
Moses straight tells the people, "CHILL OUT!" Exodus 14: 13-14, "But Moses said to the people, "Don't be afraid. Stand firm and see the Lord's salvation he will provide for you today; for the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you must be quiet." I liken it to...SHUT UP! The man who said he couldn't speak well in the beginning, faced his fears a little at a time, and is now saying to 2 million plus people to shut up. LOVE IT! Now, the question is: Did the Israelites get out of Egypt? Well, if you know the story...of course they did. Did Moses part the Red Sea? No, God did BUT God chose to use Moses in a mighty way to free the Israelites. So, I say ALL of that (I know it was a bit much) to say this...
WHAT IF YOUR BIGGEST FEARS WERE USED TO FREE MORE PEOPLE??? Better yet, WHAT IF FACING YOUR BIGGEST FEARS MEANS FREEING MORE PEOPLE?
If you are gripped with fear you have to start looking to the ONE who is in control no matter the circumstance. Yes, this is easier said then done especially since fear makes us ask the, WHAT IF's all the time. In stead of asking the big WHAT IF. Start to ask yourself...WHAT IS, EVEN IF, and more importantly, WHO IS!
Three simple truths that I learned from "Young Believers Broadcasting" (you can subscribe to this station on You Tube) that have really helped me in facing my fears are as followed:
1. GOD IS FOR ME! Romans 8:31, "What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?"
2. GOD IS WITH ME! Hebrews 13:5, "Your life should be free from the love of money. Be satisfied with what you have, for He himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you."
3. GOD IS IN ME! Colossians 1:27, "God wanted to make known to those among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."
Every time I face a fear, these three truths are always there. Is it always easy to face my fears? Absolutely, not! But when I recite these things to myself it makes me focus on the ONE instead of me and my circumstance. I am also reminded of 1 John 4: 18, "...perfect love cast out fear." If I can rest in His perfect love the fears slowly leaves. Have all of my fears disappeared, NO. Like I said in my previous post...I am a working progress. But I know that over time God will give me the strength to face my fears and eventually my fears will not phase me. The day may not be until heaven comes but for now...I AM RESTING IN HIS UNFAILING LOVE!!!
~TIFFANY
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