In my professor prayer group, we’ve been talking about living courageously. To live courageously (and therefore even more abundantly), we do things that require faith and a new perspective on what to actually fear. We know courage must operate when fear rises. Otherwise, it’s not really courage. Courage, after all, is the ability to do something that makes us afraid.
One of the things people most fear involves the opinions of others. I woke up thinking about this Psalm I memorized years ago. In Psalm 56:11, we read this:
In God I trust and am not afraid.
What can man do to me?
David wrote this while under attack. He certainly experienced many tangible reasons to live in fear. He feared for his life! We often fear for our reputation or position. We fear for the future and imagine scenarios where we won’t have what we need. We fear that someone could make a decision or do something that might harm us. What do we most fear today?
Nobody can do anything to us without God’s permission. Nobody can do anything to us that God cannot make right (even if it doesn’t happen until heaven) or turn towards our eventual blessing. Nobody can steal the joy and peace granted us by the Holy Spirit. Even if someone harms our body, our soul is kept safely in God’s hands. What can humans do to us when we have a God who rescues us from every evil attack and brings us safely home? (2 Tim 4:8).