Faith Doesn’t Mean No Fear

Read

Psalm 56:3-4 (BSB) “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise—in God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”

Think

Courage is easy to misunderstand. We sometimes picture courageous people as people who are not afraid. The student who stands up for someone getting made fun of must not care what anyone thinks. The person who tries out for the team must not be nervous. The student who walks into a new school alone must somehow feel confident.

Usually that is not true. Courage is not the absence of fear. It is choosing what you will do while fear is present.

After Jesus calms the storm in Mark 4, he asks the disciples why they are so afraid and why they still have no faith. At first, that can sound harsh. They had just been in a legitimate storm. Their boat was filling with water. Of course they were afraid.

Jesus was not pretending the storm was harmless. He was showing them that they had forgotten who was with them.

Fear has a way of shrinking your view until all you can see is the thing you are afraid of. You get one bad grade and suddenly you are convinced you will fail the class. A friend acts differently for one day and your mind races toward, “They do not want me around anymore.” You make a mistake and start believing everyone will remember it forever.

Fear loves to take one moment and write an entire future with it.

Faith interrupts that story. Faith says, “I do not know what is going to happen, but I know I am not alone.” David put it this way in Psalm 56: “When I am afraid, I put my trust in You.” Notice he does not say if. He says when. David expected to feel fear. He had just decided ahead of time what he would do with it.

Imagine standing backstage before an audition, presentation, game, or performance. Your hands might shake. Your stomach might feel weird. You might desperately want to leave. Courage is not waiting backstage until every nervous feeling disappears. Sometimes courage is walking out while your hands are still shaking.

Faith can look like that too. You can trust God and still have questions. You can trust God and still feel nervous. You can trust God and still ask someone for help. You can trust God and still cry.

The goal is not to become a person who never feels fear. The goal is to become someone who knows where to take it.

Jesus did not abandon the disciples because they were afraid. He challenged them to see that their fear was not the only truth in the boat. Jesus was there too.

The next time fear starts writing the ending of your story, do not pretend it is not there. Name it. Bring it to God. Ask for help if you need it. Then remember that fear is a feeling, not your leader. It does not get to decide the next faithful step.

Apply

Move while afraid – Choose one thing you know you need to do but have been avoiding because you are nervous. Ask God for courage, then take one concrete step toward it today. Faith can move even when fear has not completely disappeared.

Pray

God, you know the things I am afraid of, even the ones I do not tell anyone about. Help me not let fear decide what I believe or what I do. Give me courage to trust you while I am still nervous, and remind me that I never face these things alone. In Jesus’ name. Amen.