You know I’ve heard all the theory – you don’t have to be afraid – because God is in that place with you.  Hmm.  That’s the theory.  But how do I know – how do I know that I can really rely on Him to be there and to be on my side and to act?  Well?

Fear is something that, quite frankly, we don't much want to talk about. And yet it's something that's so very real for so many people in this world. We don't want to admit, to the rest of the world, that we're afraid. And so we kind of put on this brave face as though everything's fine. But on the inside, fear can be eating away like a cancer. So often it's the case that the things we used to place our confidence in, they're not working anymore.

People place their faith in all sorts of things. Their stock portfolio, until the stock market takes a dive. People place their faith in relationships until those relationships fail. And so we lose confidence and when we lose confidence, the deep rot of fear sets into our hearts.

Well truly I tell you, God wants to deal with that so decisively in our lives. Now that doesn't mean that we're not going to go through things and situations and challenges that aren't scary. Of course we are. That's life. But God’s plan is that, when we do, that we'll be ready. That our confidence will be in Him.

Imagine a life where these times of fear are replaced with a quiet confidence in God Himself. That's His plan. That's why He keeps saying to us:

Do not be afraid.

Us being afraid falls so far short of His plan to fill us with His peace. That's why I really encourage you to stick with me over these next few minutes as we discover how to live out God’s ideal of not being afraid.

I was talking with a friend recently. Great guy, one of "nature’s gentlemen" as the saying goes. He's kind and considerate and competent. He's just a delight. I've worked with him about 15 years but over the last few years our paths have headed off into different directions. Now I had cause to call him about something. Expecting to hear his cheerful, bouncy voice on the other end of the phone. But what I discovered was a shell of the man I once knew.

His world had fallen apart. His family was gone, his career seemed over. It was an incredibly difficult and painful time for him. He said, "I'm sitting on a beach at the moment, wondering what, if anything, the rest of my life holds."

Now none of us want to have the stuffing ripped out of us. But you know something, it happens to all of us at some point. It doesn't matter who we are, where we live, what we believe. And you know, I've heard some preachers preach as though, "Well if you believe in God, bad things won't happen to you." That's a load of rubbish. Bad things happen to God’s people too. In fact, sometimes especially they happen to God’s people, they just do.

Take Israel, God’s chosen people. They found themselves in this scary, fearful place. They'd been in slavery, exiled in Babylon for the best part of 3 generations. It's a long time. Only a handful of their elders can ever remember living in God’s Promised Land – Jerusalem.

So what does God have to say to these people who are cowering in fear under the yoke of slavery? Have a listen. It comes from the Old Testament, the Book of Isaiah, chapter 41, beginning at verse 8:

But you Israel, my servant Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham my friend. You whom I took from the ends of the earth and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, ‘You are my servant. I have chosen you and not cast you off. 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 uphold you up with my victorious right hand.’

See the first thing that God does is He reminds them of His promises to Abraham. When Abraham stood in that Promised Land, centuries before, this is what God promised him. Genesis chapter 15, beginning at verse 18:

On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram saying, ‘To your descendants I give this land. From the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates – the land of the Kenites and the Kenizzites and the Kadmonites and the Hittites.’

And all the other little vegemites. God gave that land to Abraham and his descendants. It was God’s promise. God had chosen them and had promised them the land. So God had gathered them from the ends of the earth and he said:

I will not cast you off, I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.

The whole thing that God relies on here, in talking with His people and their fear and their despair. Is not in who they are or how strong they are or how clever they are. No, He's saying to them, "look at who I am. Look at my promise. I know it's tough. I know you're confused. I know it's scary but I am your God. I am with you. You are my servant. I have chosen you. I took you from the ends of the earth. Don't be afraid."

But how does that help them? See isn't He the God who failed them 70 years earlier? Okay, so He sends them some prophet and he says, "don't be afraid' but He's got more. He's got so much more. See He said, 'it's not just my promises, have a look at who I am."

And just in that chapter before, we were looking at Isaiah chapter 41, just in the chapter before, He tells them who He is. He says:

To whom will you compare me? To an idol? A bit of mulberry wood made by an artisan? Don't you realise?  Haven't you heard? Hasn't it been told to you from the beginning? Haven't you understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth and it's inhabitants are like grasshoppers.

Who stretches out the heavens like curtain and spreads them like a tent to live in. Who brings princes to nothing and makes rulers of the earth as nothing. Scarcely are they planted, scarcely are they sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them and they wither and the tempest carries them off like stubble.’

‘To whom will you compare me? Who is my equal?’ says God the Holy One. ‘Lift up your eyes. Look and see who created these stars. Who brings them out by their hosts and numbers them and calls them by name because He is great in strength? Mighty and power, not one is missing.’

‘Why do you say O Israel, My way is hidden from the Lord and my right is discarded from my God? Haven't you known? Haven't you heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He doesn't grow faint or weary.’

This is powerful stuff: Don't you get it? He's saying, 'I'm the God who created the whole 'shoot and match'. See those trillions of stars up there? I created them, I make them come out each night. I am so much bigger than your circumstances. It makes absolute sense for you to put your confidence in me.

I have been in those fearful places in my life. And you know what happens? All you can see it the dirty great big 800 pound gorilla in the room. All you can see are the people or the circumstances that cause us to fear and that's human.

We don't know what the future holds. We imagine all the bad things are going to happen at the same time. And then, I don't want to get preachy but I've discovered in my life, that when God steps into my situation, no matter how scary it is. When He steps in and whispers in my heart:

Do not be afraid.

He means it.

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 uphold you with my victorious right hand.

My hunch is that today, today He means to whisper those words into your heart and mind.

Do not be afraid.