Overcoming Fear

Every good parent is concerned that their children overcome their fears. Our youngest son, Ryan, developed a fear of dogs when he was very small. That happened because a neighbor’s dog got loose and terribly frightened him. After that he didn’t want anything to do with dogs. It seemed like nothing we could do could help him overcome his fear. Later on when he was a little bigger, we bought a Collie pup. At first he was afraid of the pup, but as he watched his brother and sister and all of us play with it, he gradually overcame his fear of dogs.

Some people never overcome their fears, and consequently, they carry them throughout their lives. These fears are the source of so many anxieties and negative emotions. What is more, these fears often are passed on to the next generation, beginning a cycle of generational fear.

God wants us to fully trust him and fear nothing. This is what Jesus says, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt. 10:28). How is this possible? How do we get to a place where we no longer fear people, disasters, the devil or even death? The answer is in that simple word trust.

Abraham was having trouble trusting God with the fulfillment of his promise. It was a promise that had been given many years before, but nothing had happened. God promised Abraham that he would have a son, but he and Sarah were much older, and it was hard to believe God would actually keep his word.

Abraham, in a conversation with God, said that since he remained childless, he figured that Eliezer would have to be his heir. God took Abraham outside and asked him to look up at the heavens and count the stars. God said, “So shall your offspring be” (Gen. 15:5). The next verse is an incredible compliment to Abraham’s faith and trust in God, “Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness” (Gen. 15:6).

Later that day God revealed to Abraham that his posterity would suffer for hundreds of years in a strange land, but after four hundred years he would bring them back to this very land. God told Abraham that he could “Know for certain” (Gen 15:13). It is hard for us to know anything for certain, but with a firm trust in God, we can experience certainty. We may not be able to see though the darkness of our lives, but he can. David wrote about God’s ability to see through the darkness like this:

Psalms 139:11-12

11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me

and the light become night around me,"

12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;

the night will shine like the day,

for darkness is as light to you.

The greater our trust in God, the less we fear. The more we believe as Abraham did, the greater our certainty that he will keep his word. Through our faith in God, we can overcome our fears.