“And Moses said unto the people, Fear not…” Exodus 14:13-14

In our last blog we began the discussion about fear. (My thanks to all of you for posting your faith-building remarks and stories!) Before God would deliver Israel from Pharaoh’s army at the Red Sea, he instructed them to get out of fear. Fear not! That would seem like a tall order because if ever a people had justification to be afraid, it would be them. The night before, every Egyptian family lost their firstborn son. They had endured nine other plagues from the Hebrew God and now the perceived perpetrators, the Hebrews — who had been their slaves as long as anyone could remember (400 years) — had left town with their families and with a bunch of the Egyptian gold, silver and jewels. After a night of intense grief and reflection, they were more than ready to exact their revenge on these defenseless, huddled masses and get their stuff back too!

The Hebrews, well aware of their plight and backed up against the Red Sea with no way of escape could hear the mightiest army on earth racing toward them with swords drawn and blood lust in their eyes. Yet the first thing God told them was, “Fear not.” Before we go any further, let me ask you, what have you been afraid of? How does it stack up against what the Hebrews were afraid of? I’m just asking. This isn’t to say that you don’t have plenty of natural reason to experience fear. It’s to make the point that God delivered them from a very large fear without breaking a sweat and He will do no less for you.

But the first thing you must do is obey His command and, “Fear not!” You see, fear and faith are very similar. Fear believes a negative outcome is imminent while faith believes a positive outcome is in store. Faith comes by hearing the report from God. (Rom 10:17) Fear comes by hearing the report from the spirits of darkness. Faith hears (Gal 3:2, 5) and fear hears. It boils down to who, or what, are you going to tune into?

God is always transmitting His report, His perspective, His answers. But if we are in fear, it means we are tuned into the wrong station — hearing the wrong message from the wrong source — and we can’t hear Him. We must turn the dial over to the faith station, so to speak. We must tune into the report God is giving. If we are in fear, it is evidence that we are tuned into the wrong source and therefore will miss the instruction, the wisdom, the hope that He is transmitting on the faith station.

Think of it this way: suppose there is a category five hurricane bearing down on your town in which there are two radio stations. One is telling the people they are all doomed and the other is directing them to strong area shelters. One station produces fear while the other gives confidence or faith. The one you listen to determines your outcome. When we are in fear, it’s time to change the station. It’s time to change the input we are receiving. We need to adjust our receiver to the Word of God, both the written (logos) and the freshly spoken (rhema). We hold the tuner in our hands and God expects us to tune into His station so we can get the right information and experience the result He has in mind. So, how does one actually go about tuning in to the faith station? What does that look like to you? Please share your thoughts with the community.

“And Moses said unto the people, Fear not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will show to you today: for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you shall see them again no more forever. The LORD shall fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.” Exodus 14:13-14

This, of course, is from the most dramatic deliverance in human history, yet it applies to all of us in any situation in which we find ourselves needing God’s intervention. I want to draw your attention to a couple of things here. First of all, was the simple yet important statement God begins their deliverance with… “FEAR NOT!” To begin the process of deliverance, God instructs the Israelites to first of all quit being in fear.

One summer as a teenager on three different occasions I saved someone from drowning. One was a baby floating face down in a pool but no one noticed but me. The second was a child, but the third and most memorable was an adult who couldn’t swim. He had gotten into the deep end of the pool and when he realized he was over his head, fear took over and he began flailing and screaming for help, and he began to sink.

I swam quickly over to him and began to pull him over to the side of the pool, but something happened I was unprepared for… His abject, uncontrollable fear caused him to grab me and use my body to keep him afloat, nearly drowning me. With great difficulty, I was still able to keep his head above water and get him to the side, but it was his fear, not the water, that almost drowned him.

Fear can make you lose rational sense. It can also make you completely miss God’s voice, His leading and/or His deliverance. The first thing you must deal with when you need God’s deliverance is fear. Your fear. And according to God, it is within our ability to take responsibility for and to control our fear. We will deal with this subject in the coming days, but today I want to ask you to share with the group how you have overcome fear in the past. It might just be a lifesaver to another reader. Thank you.