Fear Interrupts Our Walk

What would you guess is the most common command in Scripture? It is not for us to be more loving or less prideful or to be sexually pure.  The single command that occurs more often than any other is the two words—FEAR NOT. Why does God command us not to fear?  Fear is the number one reason people fail to get out of the boat and the one reason they as Peter stop in the middle of their walk on the water.  Fear will sink us faster than anything else.  Trust and fear are battling for our heart all the time.  Eventually one will win out. That’s why we must always monitor the source of our fear. This emotional feeling can be good. On the one hand it is an internal warning cry that danger is nearby and we had better take action and remove ourselves from harm’s way. On the other hand it can stifle our trust causing us to live lives of spiritual boredom. No wonder God repeated the command. His will is that we walk in daring faith which is just as contagious. Let me give you an example. This past June Brody our five year old grandson and his sisters came to stay with us for a week. While here we went to the neighbor’s pool for a swim.  I kept telling him not to go in the deep part of the pool.  I said, “Son you can’t swim and I might not be able to get to you if you go under.”  He replied, “Papaw I can swim.” I said “No you can’t” and repeated this several times while we were swimming. He continued to answer by saying, “Papaw I can swim.” The next week we took the entire family, (thirteen of us) to Hilton Head for vacation.  One evening I came out on the porch and saw Brody diving in the deep part of the pool swimming to the side and making his way back out.  When he got out with goggles pulled down over his ears and water dripping off his entire body he said, “Papaw I told you I could swim.”  Indeed he could.  Although I had tried to dampen his spirit, he stepped into the water without the emotional instability that paralyzes so many of us.  In him I saw the epitome of the words “fear not.” God must be pleased when we obey His command and He sees the same spirit in us.