Overcoming My Fears

NOTE:

This is a manuscript, and not a transcript of this message. The actual presentation of the message differed from the manuscript through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is possible, and even likely that there is material in this manuscript that was not included in the live presentation and that there was additional material in the live presentation that is not included in this manuscript.

Engagement

As many of you know, Mary and I have been volunteering three days a week at the visitors center at Catalina State Park. One day a couple weeks ago, a couple that was checking into the campground asked about whether they might see mountain lions or bears and what they should do if they happened to encounter them during their stay. Not more than five minutes later another couple asked about whether or not there were spiders and snakes in the campgrounds. In both cases I reminded the campers that they were essentially invading the home of these wild animals, but I also tried to assure them that they shouldn’t be afraid since those animals were probably more afraid of them than they are than they are of the animals - well okay, maybe not the spiders.

Tension

For me, that was a reminder that as humans we often live fearful lives. Some of our fears are well-founded and often they actually do prevent us from harm. It is healthy to have a fear of walking out in front of a car or touching a hot stove, for instance. And even at Catalina State Park we remind people to watch where they are walking or placing their hands in order to avoid being bitten by a snake.

But there are other fears in our lives that aren’t so healthy. They often paralyze us and keep us from doing things that we need to do or we ought to do. And sometimes, if we don’t deal with those fears in the proper way, they can even keep us from doing what God has called us to do.

This morning as we continue our study of the book of Exodus, we’re going to see how fear paralyzed the Israelites, even after they had been freed from their bondage in Egypt. But even more importantly, we’re going to learn how they overcame that fear and how we can apply those same principles to our own fear.

Truth

Most of us are probably familiar with what happens next after the ten plagues that we looked at last week - if not from the Bible at least from watching Charlton Heston in the iconic film, The Ten Commandments.

After the Israelites leave Egypt, Pharaoh’s heart is hardened once again and he readies his chariots and his best officers to pursue them. They finally overtake the Israelites where God has instructed them to camp. And in the middle of chapter 14, we read this verse:

Exodus 14:10 ESV

10 When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord.

I want to call your attention to the phrase “they feared greatly”. And I also want you to see why they feared greatly - it is because of what they saw, or i think it would be fair to say, because of their circumstances.

I’m going to come back in a moment and fill in some of the blanks, but for now let’s skip ahead to verse 13:

Exodus 14:13 ESV

13 And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again.

Notice Moses’ command to the Israelites: “Fear not...” He is trying to encourage the people to deal with their fear by reminding them that they are about to see the salvation of the Lord.

Apparently something happens that allows them to overcome their fears because they obey God. And because of that, by the end of the chapter, the object of their fear has changed.

Exodus 14:31 ESV

31 Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

The Israelites no longer fear the Egyptians. Now they fear the Lord.

With just those three verses, we can now identify the main idea we’re going to develop today:

Fear gets off the throne of my life when the fear of the Lord gets on

What we’re going to see today is that the way to battle fear in our lives is somewhat counterintuitive.

The world generally tells us that we need to face our fears. Perhaps you’ve heard someone say something like this:

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, professionals built the Titanic.

And I suppose that there is a degree of truth in that philosophy. But as we’re going to see there is another, better way. Rather than trying to battle our fears head on, what we need to do instead is to make sure we’re growing in the fear of the Lord.

The idea of the fear of the Lord is found throughout the Bible. It’s a concept that we talk about a lot in the church. But like many of you, I’ve really struggled to understand exactly what that means. Over the past month or so I’ve had some additional time to really dig into that idea more deeply. I don’t normally recommend books, other than the Bible, in my sermons. But as part of my study I’ve read two books that have been really helpful to me in better understanding the fear of the Lord. So if you’re dealing with fear in your life, I’d suggest you read one or both of them.

Rejoice and Tremble: The Surprising Good News of the Fear of the Lord by Michael Reeves

Fearless: Free in Christ in an Age of Anxiety, by Rachel Starr Thomson, Mercy Hope, and Carolyn Currey

These books, along with my own study have helped me to better understand that the fear of the Lord is actually a positive thing. It is not being afraid of God and His punishment, but rather, as Reeves defines it is...

...the intense love for, delight in, and enjoyment of all that God is.

- Michael Reeves in “Rejoice and Tremble”

And, as our main idea for this morning proclaims, the best way to overcome my fears is not by focusing on those fears at all, but rather by developing a healthy and biblical fear of the Lord.

So with that in mind, let me fill in some of what occurs between the three verses we’ve already looked at and then we’ll see if we can learn from the example of the Israelites and develop some principles that will help us to develop that kind of fear of the Lord.

There are probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 2.5 million Israelites who flee from Egypt. As soon as they leave, God instructs Moses to have them camp on a large plain next to the Red Sea. He also tells Moses that He is going to harden Pharaoh’s heart once again and that the Egyptian army is going to pursue them. God is going to do that for two reasons - so that He will get glory and so that the Egyptians will know that He is the Lord.

It didn’t take long for Pharaoh and all his chariots to overtake the Israelites in their camp. Although they have just witnessed God’s mighty power in the ten plagues, when the Israelites look up and see the Egyptian army approaching, they are afraid of that army, just as we saw earlier in verse 10. To their credit they do cry out to God, But at the same time they also complain to Moses and claim that it would have been better for them to stay slaves in Egypt than die in the wilderness.

But we see in verse 14 that Moses has grown a lot in his faith and he tells the people not to be afraid because the Lord will fight for them.

God instructs Moses to lift up his staff and divide the seas so that the people can walk through it on dry land. The pillar of cloud that had been going before the people now moves around behind them. We’ll address the significance of that in a moment. And the people of Israel do exactly what God has told them to do and they walk through the parted sea on dry land.

When the Egyptians pursue them, their chariots get stuck in the mud. But by the time they realize this is the hand of God, it is too late to retreat. The waters cover the Egyptian army and drowns them. But every single Israelite makes it safely through.

Finally, having seen the hand of God at work once again, the people feared the Lord and believed in Him and they also finally believed Moses.

And then the people sing:

Exodus 15:1 ESV

1 Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying, “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.

And Miriam, Moses’ sister also sings:

Exodus 15:21 ESV

21 And Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.”

So I hope you can see why we’ve said this morning that...

Fear gets off the throne of my life when the fear of the Lord gets on

Application

As I mentioned earlier, we can learn a lot about how to develop the fear of the Lord in our own lives by taking a look at how the Israelites did that.

HOW TO PUT THE FEAR OF THE LORD ON THE THRONE OF MY LIFE

Admit my fears

Overcoming our fears is not a matter of convincing ourselves that nothing bad will ever happen to us. In fact, as we’ve seen consistently throughout the Bible, God never promises we won’t have trials and difficulties in this life. He never asks us to pretend like everything is okay and that there are not valid reasons for us to have fear.

There were certainly valid reasons for the Israelites to fear the approaching Egyptian army. They were hemmed in on one side by the Red Sea and on the other side by the powerful Egyptians in their chariots. On their own they were no match for that army. So I don’t really think that God had a problem with them expressing their fears. Just read the Psalms. A good number of them begin with the Psalmist expressing some fear to God.

The problem for the Israelites is that they continued to dwell on their fears. And the more they did that, the more they allowed their fears to become bigger than their God.

It is normal and healthy to admit our fears. We don’t have to try and pretend that we don’t have real reasons to fear. As we’re going to see, overcoming our fears is not about convincing ourselves that nothing bad can happen to us or even about pretending we don’t have reasons to fear. So...

If you loose your job, it’s okay to admit you’re fearful about how you’re going to pay the bills.

If your doctor schedules you for some tests because he or she has some concerns, it’s okay to admit you have some fears about your health.

If the market plunges and the value of your IRA or 401(k) is cut in half, it’s okay to admit that you have some fears about how you’re going to make it in retirement.

If you’re having struggles in your marriage or some other relationship, it’s okay to admit you have some fears about the future of that relationship.

The key is to not get stuck there. In order to replace your fears with the fear of God, you have to take the next step...

Trust that God will be with me

I think this is probably the most important step we have to take if we want to let the fear of the Lord unset all our other fears.

The problem for the Israelites is that they did exactly what we tend to do. They put their faith in their circumstances and not in God Himself. The fear of the Lord says, “Circumstances are irrelevant. All that is relevant is that God has promised to be with me and that I can trust Him”. The fear of the Lord does not mean that we have faith that God will prevent anything bad from happening to us, but instead it means that we trust that He will be with us, regardless of circumstances.

And there is a simple litmus test to determine how well I’m doing that:

Am I obeying what I already know?

After all their complaining and wavering, the Israelites finally do that in verse 22:

Exodus 14:22 ESV

22 And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

They look around at their circumstances, which are pretty scary, right? Can you imagine what it might have been like to walk through the sea with a wall of water on either side. We were talking Monday morning about whether they would have been able to see the fish and other animals in the sea on either side of them - kind of like walking through the aquarium at Sea World, but without the glass walls. And then there was the Egyptian army right behind them.

But in spite of those fearful circumstances they finally decided to trust that God would be with them and they obeyed Him. And God was with them and they emerged from the Red Sea unharmed - every single person that had left Egypt.

As we have already mentioned a couple times this morning, God has never promised we won’t have problems. But what He does promise is to be with us and go through those problems with us.

So when you don’t know how you’re going to pay your bills, remember God is with you.

When you get that cancer diagnosis, remember God is with you.

When you have a fight with your friends or your spouse, remember God is with you.

When your children rebel, remember God is with you.

When you’re struggling in school, remember God is with you.

No matter what you’re facing, remember God is with you.

One of my favorite passages in the Bible when I’m going through difficult times is the first part of Isaiah 43. I’d highly recommend that you bookmark that passage in your Bible and read and meditate on it any time you are afraid.

Isaiah 43:1–5 ESV

1 But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. 3 For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. 4 Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life. 5 Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you.

Surrender control

Another cause of many of our fears is a feeling that things are out of our control. Of all the principles that we’eve talked about this morning, this is the one I struggle with the most. I like to be in control. When I’m in a car, I want to be the one who is driving. I usually would prefer to do an important project by myself rather than delegate it to someone else. But I know that if I’m going to grow in my fear of the Lord, I have to learn to let go.

The Israelites had a hard time doing that, too. When God delivered them from their Egyptian slavery, He sent them out into the wilderness. They didn’t know where they were going to go, how they were going to get there or even where they were going to find food or water. So they were afraid because all of that was outside their control.

I am not suggesting that we completely abandon our responsibilities. Fearing the Lord is not, as some would claim, completely a matter of “letting go and letting God”. There are some things we can control and ought to control. We ought to eat healthy and exercise to lessen the chances of disease. We ought to work to provide for our families. We should save for retirement. These are all things we are commanded to do in the Bible. But as we do those things, if we’re going to develop our fear of the Lord, we need to surrender control of the results and leave those to God.

Some of us are going to get sick and even die regardless of how healthy we eat or how much we exercise. Some of us are going to lose our jobs through no fault of our own. Some of us are going to see our retirement accounts decimated by inflation or stock market collapses. But if we truly fear the Lord, we won’t let fear paralyze us when those things happen.

Don’t live in the past

One of the biggest drivers of fear in our lives is change. For most of us, it is easier to live with what we already know than to face the unknown. We certainly see that here with the Israelites. And we’re going to see it again later. Most of them were more comfortable living under the oppressive yoke of Egyptian slavery than facing the unknown that came along with the freedom God had provided for them.

I’m convinced that is why the pillar of cloud moved from before the people to behind them. I think that was God’s way of preventing them from going back and living in the past rather than trusting God with their unknown future.

I think that a lot of the political debate and division in this country is a direct result of this fear of change. And it we see it occuring on all sides. Certainly as Christians we would like to see our country return to the days when it was founded on Biblical principles and people in our culture largely lived according to those principles. There is certainly nothing wrong with that. But the problem is that when we see that slipping away it is easy to become fearful and to spend a lot of time and effort fighting that fear by trying to elect new politicians who promise to return us to the “good old days” or try to change our laws with the idea that we can go back to the way things were. While there is nothing inherently wrong with that, I’d argue that the more effective way to deal with those fears is to develop our fear of the Lord by trusting in Him rather than our political system.

When you’re driving, your rear view mirror is important. But if that’s all you look at, you are going to crash, right? You need to be looking forward with only an occasional glance at that rear view mirror. I’m not saying that we can’t learn from the past. In fact, that is often a helpful thing in developing our fear of the Lord. But we can’t live there.

Celebrate what God has done

Throughout the Bible, we see God’s people memorializing what God has done in a number of different ways. Sometimes they put up a memorial or built an altar. Sometimes they make an offering. And sometimes, like we see here, they sing. The first 18 verses in chapter 15 are known as the Song of Moses. But you’ll notice that it’s not just Moses singing. The entire nation sings - all two and a half million of them. That must have been quite an experience.

Probably the closest I’ve ever been to that is being at a Promise Keepers event in Mile High stadium in Denver in 1995 and singing praise to Jesus along with 70,000 other men.

We don’t have to do anything quite that dramatic, though, in order to develop our fear of the Lord. We do that every Sunday when we sing together. Sometimes it might be something as simple as keeping a journal where I record how God is working in my life, or just spending some time in prayer thanking God for what He has done. The more we do those things, the easier it is to really fear the Lord and let Him overcome my fears.

Fear gets off the throne of my life when the fear of the Lord gets on

Action

What are you afraid of? I’m going to give you a minute or two to pray about that and think about that and then I’m going to ask you to write down any fears that God brings to mind. I’ve given you some space in you sermon outline to do that.

[Prayer time]

By writing down your fears, you’ve take the important first step. Congratulations! But if you really want to put the fear of the Lord on the throne of your life so that God can overcome those fears, you need to take some concrete steps this week to apply the principles that we’ve talked about today.

Inspiration

I’m going to close with a quote from one of the books I mentioned earlier that really gets to the heart of what we’ve learned today.

Fear and God are competing for the same place in your life. They both want lordship.

- Fearless: Free in Christ in an Age of Anxiety

Which one are you going to put on the throne of your life?