“Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in [God]” Ps. 56:3
“For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control” 2 Timothy
In light of the current world panic concerning the coronavirus, I thought it might be a good time to revisit what the Word says about fear…
Fear can be a debilitating emotion. It can paralyze us and keep us from doing anything about the fear. Fear can be a disease that prevents us from seeking a cure. If I am afraid of heights, one ways conquer that fear is to go someplace that is high, but the fear keeps us from taking advantage of that cure. There was a man who was so fearful of the Nazi concentration camps that he did not come out of his sister’s farmhouse for 32 years after the war. His sister could not convince him that the “coast was clear,” and he remained there until outsiders got wind of his situation and 
virtually made him come out into the world. “I would have remained there until my death, had they not intervened. In my fear of concentration camps, I had created my own.” We sometimes are not dissimilar to this man. Our fear of one thing puts us in a place that is worse than what we fear. Over the past few weeks the world has been caught up in the fear of the coronavirus. We need to be cautious that our fear does not lead to more damage than the virus itself. One of the years I coached the players 
word t-shirts that read, “Respect All, Fear None.” That might be a good thing to keep in mind now. We must respect the power of this insidious disease, but not fear it to the point of panic.
I have never counted all the “fear nots” in the Bible, but I read once that there are 365 (a year’s worth) of them in the Bible. I would think if that if phrase is there that many times, God might be trying to tell us something. Fear is not bad in itself, but fear that controls us is. Any man who enters battle will have fear, but when fear controls the person, that is something to be worried about. When I was a kid, there was a very popular movie called “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid.” 
In one famous scene the two main characters were trapped on a cliff with a river flowing far below. Butch wanted to jump because the alternative was to stay and die. Sundance wanted to fight it out. Butch could not understand why Sundance was so intent in dying on that cliff. Exasperated he said, “What’s your problem?” and Sundance answered, “I can’t swim.” Butch laughed and said, “Well, the fall will probably kill you anyway,” and they jumped. Fear becomes a problem when it keeps us from moving forward to a place we need to go.
Some fear is perpetuated by the “author of fear” Satan himself. God asks us to have faith and Satan hands us fear. Some people fear Hell so much that their fear leads them to a belief that it does not exist. There are two choices that they have, believe and avoid it through a belief in the Lord Jesus Christ, or deny its existence. 
Unfortunately, many choose the latter. Faith opens the door to God and fear can open the door for Satan. That is why God instructs so often to “fear not.” God tells us, “Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” (John 14:27) It is clear. He is with us and wants to help us. Trusting God’s faithfulness dispels our fearfulness.
A couple of years ago a co-worker Jodi Hutchins shared a cute story with me. Jodi gave a little second grader and her kindergarten brother a ride to school every day. She heard a conversation taking place in the back seat. The little girl said to her brother, “Did you know that Jesus is right here with us? Did you know that He is sitting right here between us? We can’t see him but he is here. Mrs. 
Hutchins did you know that Jesus is right here with us,” and Jodi told her that she did. The little girl went on, “Do you know how I know He is here? Well, sometimes late at night, I will say, ‘Jesus come cuddle with me’ and He does. That’s how I know.” We can’t forget in this story’s cutefulness, its truthfulness. Jesus really is with us.
President Benjamin Harrison and his wife were so afraid of electricity because of its newness that they would not touch the switches. If there was no servant around to switch off the lights, they would just leave the lights on all night trying to sleep by putting their heads under the blanket. 
Their fear of switches made sleep almost impossible. What a difference between them and the little girl who cuddles with Jesus when feeling alone!
Another reason for us to overcome fear is that we have a testimony to those around us. If we are the first to “man the lifeboats” in any crisis situation, people wonder how big this God of ours is. As we all know, God has the power to calm the seas, but much more often He wants to calm us instead. I heard once that we should share our courage with others and keep our fears to ourselves. I don’t know that that is always true, but I do think that if we say we walk hand in hand with the mighty warrior who created all we see and then act like Barney Fife most of the time, people will not question us as much as they will question God.
Again, fear in itself is not bad. When it becomes bad is when action is needed and fear negates that action. Our first response to fear should be to pray. We should come clean to God and rely on His verses of courage. In Psalms it says: “I sought the Lord, and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears.” (Psalm 34:4) This is a great verse to quote when we are controlled by fear. I like to quote it out loud so the devil and his evil cohorts know that I’m taking my stand and they can take their fear someplace else. Jesus used the Word to combat Satan when he was tempted in the desert (Matthew 4:1-11), and we should follow His example.
We need to fight fear with the power of Christ so we can teach others the same, especially young people. When I was young, research out of Johns Hopkins University found out that the greatest fears of grade school children were
: 1) Animals, 2) Being in a dark room, 3) High places, 4) Strangers, 5) Loud noises. Today, kids are afraid of the following: 1) Divorce, 2) Nuclear war, 3) Cancer, 4) Pollution, 5) Being stolen. I guess it is time that we took hold of our fears so that we can assure others that fear need not be permanent.
Once we take a stand it gives our faith “legs.” Our obedience strengthens us. David said, “I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; so shall I be saved from my enemies.” (Psalm 18:3) Victory begats victory and defeat begats defeat. Little victories lead to larger ones. I used to tell my players that if they could not win battles in practice where the only enemy was themselves, how could they hope to win when they were facing their opponents.” In our lives we can start with the little battles by saying, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid!” (Hebrews 13:6)
I will end with a practical example. Let’s take two facts that many of you probably know. One, I have no desire to fly (not sure if it’s fear, but it is certainly not desire) and two, I am a bone marrow donor. If I got word that someone in Chicago needed my bone marrow or would die, would it make sense to say, “That’s all well and good, but I don’t fly. I don’t mind driving, however.” I would probably
just get there in time for the funeral! That would be allowing my fears to stop me from helping someone who desperately needs help. We like to think our fears affect only us, but that is seldom the case. Even Phobophobia which if the fear of being afraid is something that would not only change our lives, but those around us. We too often fear things around us because we don’t fear God above us. By fearing Him we draw courage from Him to face everything else. Be not afraid!
Into His hands I lay what haunts me, the fear that stands, a massive wall
Into His hands I lay what taunts me, and take his hand defeating all.
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