Are you in Fear?

ByHanna Shiferaw

Gideon was living in a country which is defeated and conquered by its enemies. And, he was a fearful man who was threshing wheat which is basically done on an open field, in a winepress which is perfectly unsuitable place to do such a job; in order to hide it from his enemies. Sadly for him, it was his duty rescuing his country from its enemies.  However, he had successfully accomplished his duty despite his deep fear. How he did it? He was brave enough to throw his fear out and fill the space with something useful that we are going to discuss now.

Fear makes you lose your courage for life. It holds you back from stepping ahead. Fear is a disease which needs a cure.

Now, what is that something useful Gideon fills his life with? It is called Faith. Faith is a way of seeing your future ahead. It is “the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrew 11:1. Gideon was able to see his future ahead from the beginning that he can defeat his enemies, and he believed in it. Then, he decided to fight them with full confidence, no space for fear to hold him back. He could think the shame of being defeated or something like that. But, he didn’t give a space for this fearful thought. He was sure that he will defeat his enemies and free his country. Then, of course, he got his victory. Any accomplishment you get in life, you get it through faith.

However, there is one big point though. Faith needs foundation, a ground to stand on. You can’t say out of the blue that you can do anything you want and believe that you can get it. How could this happen? There are too many uncertainties in life. What in a world could make you sure that you will get it? That is why faith needs a ground to stand on.

Thus, this was what happened in Gideon’s life, which gave his faith a strong foundation.        

And the Lord said to him, "Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites (enemies) as one man.'' Judges 11:16. God is the one and only ground to put your faith upon, so that, there will not be fear to hold you back from what you deserve to get from life.

Are you in fear? Are you scared of bad things will happen to any part of your life, like your health (scared of losing it?), job, marriage (sacred of divorce?), children (scared that anything bad will happen to them?), family...?  First of all, know what exactly your fear is? Unless you know which part of your body is sick, it will be impossible to find the perfect medication. Then, find a cure; throw it out of your way and fill the space with faith in God. As long as God is there, he will protect you from the things you fear. With him whatever happen in your life (sometimes seemingly “bad” things may happen), it happens for the best reasons.