Get Out!

“This time, the fear had opposition. It would not be able to persist with ease, with its feet kicked up on the couch and a glass of lemonade to welcome it home.”¹

That statement right there . . .! If I was forced to pick my favorite part of the book I just finished reading, chapter 12, page 138, 6 lines from the top of the page would be it.

How many of us have made fear nice and cozy in our lives? It can walk in, take a seat, kick up its feet, and be refreshed with a nice cool drink that we made to its liking.

What if we said, “No more!” “I can’t always keep you from showing up, but I can stop accommodating you! You will be met with opposition.”

The key to opposing and overcoming fear is complete trust in God. The more we trust God to be who His Word says He is and able to do what His Word says He can do, the better equipped we will be to oppose fear every time it shows up in our lives. Psalm 56:11 says, “In God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” This scripture demonstrates the power we possess when we place our trust in God.

To trust in God is to no longer give in to, accommodate, or respond based on fear. Trusting in God is turning to Him even when life is as dark as you’ve ever experienced it. And, turning to God means we do the next right, Biblical thing.

When I looked up one day and realized my world had been turned upside down, fear rushed in and took up residence in my head and my heart. All of the what ifs, the how could this be, the what in the world, and what ever shall I do flooded my thoughts. Tears were a constant companion and a rapid heartbeat became my resting pulse. Sleep had become a stranger and worst-case scenarios were my new b-f-fs.

I reached out to a mentor—one of the tools God uses to help us navigate our paths towards trust in Him when it’s too dark for us to see it ourselves. That night, I was advised to read scripture, literally open up my Bible and read it until I fell asleep. Then when fear showed back up, if it was during the day, I was to read it again until I felt it simmer down. If it was during the night I was to read it until I once again fell asleep. I was to repeat this cycle as many times and for as many days as it took to get fear in its rightful place: out!

The scripture I read most often was Psalm 71:20-21:

Though you have made me see troubles,
many and bitter,
you will restore my life again;
from the depths of the earth
you will again bring me up.
You will increase my honor
and comfort me once more.

What this process did for me was build my trust in God. The more I read His word, the more I knew Him and His promises, and His ability to restore me, bring me up, and comfort me. These are the truths that met fear at the door as well suited opposition!

Job said best as he was experiencing some of the most difficult trials recorded in the Bible, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job 13:15 NKJV).

You may not have it all figured out, but taking the next right step towards God is an act of trust and a way to tell fear to “get out!”

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