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Skip Fear, Altogether!

Fear rarely achieves good results. One writer said, “Fear is the wrong use of imagination. It is anticipating the worst, not the best that can happen.”1 Instead of imagining the worst, think about what will happen when God shows Himself. Dream of the rescue, of what He could do when His hand becomes visible. This is not to set us up for disappointment but to grow our faith by rehearsing miracles in our mind like a child imagining “what if.” What if the God who has led us this far really has a plan, and what if that plan is good? What if evil doesn’t prevail? What if the Egyptians on one side and the Red Sea on the other are all a part of His plan? What if this is about Him and not about us? What if we don’t love our lives even unto death? What if God is God, and He will put His glory on display, so that everybody knows He is God? 

What if, instead of looking back at Egypt’s army in fear, God’s people took a cue from their own history and began to focus on the leadership of God up to the critical Red Sea moment. How could the One who had already done so much for them fail them now? Reflect back with me on what we’ve established so far: 

• God’s will always has God’s power
• God’s will always has God’s provision
• God’s will always has God’s timing
• God’s will always requires God
• God’s will always matches God’s Word
• God’s will always requires obedience and faith
• God’s will always honors God
• God’s will always wins

The story of God and His people is simply too good to end with the scrolling text: “God failed them, and they died. The End.” The story is too good; better said, the story is too GOD for that. His plan has to prevail, or we’ve got bigger problems than a few hundred advancing chariots and some horses. We have a failing God. 

The same is true for you. God is weaving a story of His power in your life. He won’t fail you. The Lord is batting a thousand in the category of faithfulness. Contrary to others’ opinions or your fears, you aren’t about to be His first “oops.” As Chuck Swindoll encourages, “God has never missed a runway through all the centuries of fearful fog.”2

Notes

1. Cited in James S. Hewett, ed., Illustrations Unlimited (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale, 1988), p. 205. 

2. Chuck Swindoll, Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1983).