Fearless Future: Face the Unknown Without Anxietyنموونە

Have you ever felt beat up by a Bible verse?

Or know you have a huge wound in your heart but someone hands you a finger-sized Band-Aid in the shape of a passage of scripture that’s supposed to make it all better?

I’m sorry that happened to you. Same here.

And honestly, I’ve inflicted those injuries on myself and others too.

Fear and anxiety got the best of me for years. I felt horrible about it. I thought that if I somehow tried harder, or better prepared for all outcomes, then I wouldn’t get so stressed. Like somehow, I could work myself out of being worried.

Proverbs 31 was one passage that gave me trouble. Talk about hard work! I read it like a task-list that I could never live up to.

This woman never slept. She imported her own food, planted vineyards, sewed sustainable fashion, ran a business, farmed, owned land, served the poor and her family with wisdom. And don’t forget Proverbs 31:25.

She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future. (Proverbs 31:25 NLT)

I don’t know a single human who can work their way into achieving that one.

No fear, not even the hidden stuffed-deep-down kind. Wearing strength and dignity like clothing.

But Proverbs 31:10-31 isn’t a job description. It’s a commendation for women as a Hebrew acrostic poem. In Jewish tradition, a husband would sing this poem to honor his wife’s hard work and noble deeds in front of their children. Because “a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised.” (Proverbs 31:30b)

Did you catch the connection between these verses?

The one who fears the Lord can laugh without fear of the future. As if one type of fear replaces the other.

Evangelist and teacher Oswald Chambers said, “The remarkable thing about God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else.”

One who fears the Lord reveres Him, seeks to please Him, and worships Him in awe and adoration. Fear of the Lord requires that we recognize God is not like us. He and His goodness are all together better.

Slapping a “believers don’t fear for the future” Band-Aid on my worry never helped. Just like ignoring my anxiety or trying to do more things for God never increased my awe or adoration of Him.

Believe me, I tried. When tiring myself out with hard work or worry, the most I could achieve on my own was just another form of anxiety—worrying about if God was satisfied enough with my performance.

But you know what grows my fear of God, in that way where I fear less of everything else?

Being aware of who He is. Noticing His presence here with me.

I think that’s what well-meaning friends are trying to do when offering Bible verses. But God offers us more than simply passing around His promises like temporary bandages. We need to experience the truth of His Word, as our living and active God meets with us in the midst of our dark circumstances and most hurtful fears.

We don’t live unafraid because a verse told us to.

We live unafraid when we trust and experience how God truly is there with us—just like He says He is.

Those fears you have…the news that makes you want to throw up…the thoughts that keep you awake at night…Share these with God. Don’t avoid or ignore them. Tell God about them. Show Him what hurts. Let God in. Ask Him to show you how He’s there with you.

This remarkable lack of fear, the kind that allows you to laugh at the unknowns of your future, comes from more intimately knowing the God who is there with you.

He goes before you, is behind you, and surrounds you with His presence. And the clothing of strength and dignity that He offers you to wear? Those are found in His presence too.

Maybe this sounds too easy to be real in your painful circumstances. But I promise it’s true.

Tomorrow, I’ll show you how God met the Israelites in their painful season with a promise that still offers hope to us today. The Bible passage I’m referencing is often misunderstood, so you won’t want to miss it!