There is war in the Sudan. Two generals are fighting to rule the country and destroying much of it and killing many of its people as they do so. There has been fear regarding the safety of Americans residing there. Last Sunday morning it was announced that American Embassy staff and their families had been successfully evacuated. While that is praiseworthy, there are still many Americans caught in Sudan struggling to leave the country. I cannot imagine how fearful they must be.
Lately, people have been shot and injured or killed who simply went to wrong houses, wrong cars, wrong driveways accidentally. I watched as a car with a pizza delivery sign drove by me the other day and wondered if that person was fearful that they might encounter the same thing.
Reasons to fear are all around us. They flood our media. They speak through people in authority. They can even be in our homes, our schools, our stores, our parking lots, our businesses. The enemy of our soul means for them to grab our attention and hold it, keeping us frozen in place, unable to think or move. Fear can dominate our lives and overpower our thinking.
That is why it is so important to know our God. I have heard it said that there are 365 “Do Not Fear’s” in the Scriptures, one for each day of the year. I was reading in Isaiah 41 and came across two.
“Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with My righteous right hand…. For I, YAHWEH, your God, hold your right hand and say to you: Do not fear, I will help you.” [Isaiah 41:10,13 HCSB]
Did you notice what I did? The first thing I noticed is that God “will hold on to you with [His] Righteous right hand.” The second thing I noticed is our God will “hold [our] right hand.”
Right hand to right hand means we are face-to-face. “Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith.” [Hebrews 1b-2a HCSB]
“Eyes on Jesus” is the antidote to fear!
