Forty Days Without FearSample

FEAR IS A LIAR!

A few years ago, I joined a boxing club and, so far, I’ve had one official fight. Because the fight ended in a draw, it counts as me being undefeated! One of the first things the instructor said was, ‘Keep your feet moving and don’t flinch when the jabs come your way.’ Although the most natural thing to do would be to flinch, the instructor was clear that standing firm would be advantageous. As I watched a few sparring matches, I noticed the boxer kept throwing jabs even though he was not making contact. 

I asked why he did this and found out the boxer tries to make his opponent flinch and step back, so he can come in with a hook, or a cross, and take him out. This is similar to how we can get taken out in life. The enemy uses fear as a jab that never actually makes contact. He gets us to flinch in fear, retreat, and run away.

The key for the boxer is to face their opponent and not flinch. The key for us is to face our enemy, our fear, because like the fake jabs, fear can’t touch us or hurt us; fear is fake; fear is a liar. Now don’t get me wrong the feeling of fear is real but the picture fear shows you of the future is a lie. 

Fear is spelled F.E.A.R [False Evidence Appearing Real]. 

In today’s passage, the Israelites questioned the goodness of God and were fearful of the future. They allowed fear to dictate their present reality, and the result is they wanted to turn around and go back to where they came from [back into slavery!]. I wonder if we’ve been in a situation like that, when we wondered whether God would come through for us. Perhaps we are in one now! 

Moses encourages the people to be fearless, to stand firm in order to see God’s deliverance. For us today, God’s message is the same: Don’t flinch, don’t let fear dictate your reality, stand firm, and you will see God move.

Action: Remember a time when we saw God’s deliverance and thank Him for it. What He did before, He will do again, so let’s give Him our present situations and thank Him for His rescue/deliverance to come.