Faith Over Fear: The Joy that Outweighs Anxiety

The book of Proverbs speaks of the fear of man, which lays a snare, which is counterpoised with trusting in the Lord being safe (Proverbs 29:25). The Lord Jesus rebuked His disciples for their fear when they feared for their lives in the storm: “Why are you afraid? O you of little faith” (Matthew 8:26). They don’t trust the Lord, and perhaps that’s you—you’re afraid because you don’t trust the Lord. This fear about the future is also sinful and needs to be repented of. Jesus tells us not to be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself (Matthew 6:34). There’s this fear that we’ve already talked about, just this fear as a spirit of slavery. Paul says, “You did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons” (Romans 8:15). Repent of the negative consequences of this kind of fear and pray that as we get on to the second point about joy, which drowns out that fear—it doesn’t make it disappear, but outweighs it—is a counterpoint to it. That we would be filled more and more with more and more joy and less and less fear.