Do Not Fear

October 9, 2024

We all have all different kinds of fears.

“I’m afraid I’ll make mistakes and embarrass myself. I’m afraid that I won’t be able to finish what I’ve started. I’m afraid I’m not good enough. I’m afraid of things I can’t control. I’m afraid of an uncertain future.”

I want us to look at what happens when we see with eyes of fear, rather than with eyes of faith. A good example of this is in the Old Testament in the Book of Numbers, Chapter 13 and 14.

Here is the background of Numbers 13-14; Moses has led the nation of Israel to freedom. He's got them free from Pharaoh and the Egyptians; they've crossed the Red Sea. They've been traveling for about two years, from Egypt, and they're coming up to a place called Kadesh. At Kadesh, they're getting ready to cross the Jordan and go into the Promised Land. This is the land that has been promised to them for 400 years.

When they get up to the edge of the water, before they go in, twelve spies are chosen by Moses and they are sent in to go visit the land. When they come back, they give a mixed report. Two of the spies say, "It's incredible. It's ready for our taking. God has given us truly the Promised Land." Those two spies were named Joshua and Caleb. The other 10 spies come back and said, "Yeah, it's a great place, but…" and they have a whole list of problems on why they can't go in. They're not seeing with eyes of faith, they're seeing with eyes of fear.

And because they failed to see with eyes of faith, that entire generation missed God's purpose for their life in God's will. In our own lives, what happens when we see with eyes of fear, instead of with eyes of faith?

Here are five…

1. We exaggerate our DIFFICULTIES.

In the story, God has just delivered them from Egypt, the most powerful nation in the world and now they're worried about some local tribe. They've just defeated Pharaoh and now they're worried about somebody else. 

How quickly we forget. When we look at our problems with eyes of fear, they get bigger.

Numbers 13:31-32 “We can’t go up against them! They are stronger than we are!” So they spread this bad report about the land among the Israelites: “The land we traveled through and explored will devour anyone who goes to live there. All the people we saw were huge.”

The majority report of the spies was negative. Only two of the spies have faith, Joshua and Caleb. Here's the problem – negative attitudes are contagious. When they walked up there to the edge, everybody was excited about going into the Promised Land. It was only when 10 come back and said, "We can't do it," that everybody changed their mind and they began to get infected with a negative attitude.

2. We UNDERESTIMATE our own abilities.

Numbers 33:13 Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they thought, too!”

They have been slaves for 400 years, they have been freed for 2, but they're still mentally enslaved and they still see themselves as helpless and they still see themselves enslaved. They're enslaved not by a Pharaoh now but by an idea, by an image, by a self-concept.

We overestimate the problem and we underestimate our abilities. Third thing that happens when you see with eyes of fear…

3. We get DISCOURAGED.

Numbers 14:1 Then the whole community began weeping aloud, and they cried all night.

They had a giant pity party. “Poor us!” Now they're crying and weeping because they don't get to go into the Promised Land.

What's keeping them out? Their fear. They're not living by faith. We get discouraged. Then quickly, we move to number 4 and that is, we move from discouragement to griping.

4. We start to GRIPE about our lives.

We gripe about everything that's going to go wrong in our lives.

Numbers 14:2 Their voices rose in a great chorus of protest against Moses and Aaron. “If only we had died in Egypt, or even here in the wilderness!” they complained.

First, they cry and now, they complain. We do the same thing when we are looking at our circumstances through eyes of fear.

5. We eventually give up and we BLAME GOD.

Numbers 14:3 Why is the Lord taking us to this country only to have us die in battle? …Wouldn’t it be better for us to return to Egypt?

Notice, they're blaming God for not letting them go in the Promised Land. God isn't holding them back. It's their fear that's holding them back. They're second guessing. Now, all of a sudden they're remembering the good old days of Egypt. Good old days? What's the good old days? Four hundred years of slavery, why would anybody want to go back to Egypt? It was slavery, but it was what they knew.

There is no real freedom without taking risks. Safety and freedom are on opposite ends of the continuum. We're either moving more towards safety and slavery or we are moving more toward taking risks and freedom.

What are you looking at with eyes of fear instead of eyes of faith? God made us to live by faith. Don't live your life in the desert, just because it's comfortable and it's what you know.