How to win over fear

Trust Triumphs Over Fear

Luke was playing on our bedroom floor, sitting in a cardboard box full of his toys with a blanket over his head. As his mother left the room and I headed for the door Luke asked, “Where are you going?”  

‘Momma went downstairs to get something to eat and I’m going downstairs to work,” I replied. 

“But I’m scared,” Luke responded.

“Scared of what?” I asked.  “There’s nothing to be afraid of.  Momma and I are downstairs. No one is going to hurt you.” 

“I’m scared to be up here by myself.”  

Then I, foolishly thinking I could be rational about a five year old’s fears asked, “If you’re up here by yourself, then who are you afraid of?”

“I’m scared,” he answered emphatically. 

We all three ended up downstairs. 

Fear can be crippling.  No one likes to be afraid. I wish I were never afraid.  But sometimes, just like Luke, there are times when fear swallows my soul and shrouds me in darkness. 

As a loving father, my desire was to comfort Luke’s fear with the assurance that he could trust me and no harm would come to him. While he may have understood that with his mind, his heart just couldn’t get on the same page. He was afraid and unsure that he could trust me.

I’ve been there.  My heavenly Father, comes to me and says, “Adam, don’t be afraid.” But I haven’t always and don’t always trust Him.   

I should.  He knows my name. He knows how many hairs call my head home.  He knows my fears.  He has demonstrated time and again that He is in control and will take care of me.  I simply need to trust Him more. 

As David reflected on his Oscar-worthy performance before Achish the King of Gath (1 Samuel 21:10-15), he recalled the fear he felt.  He later wrote about that experience in one of his psalms and said, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.  In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.  What can flesh do to me?”  (Psalm 56:3-4).  

Notice in the first sentence that fear came first and then trust.  That’s good, but the second sentence is better because trust comes first and then fear never appears.   

Trust triumphs over fear.  The more I trust the God of my praise, the less I fear.  Truth be told, fear is finished when I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. 

Adam Davis