402. Afraid of Nothing
Zephaniah 3:13 The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.
The promise for us is that nothing and no one will make us afraid. The Christian fears nothing except God Himself. To fear God is to believe God, and because of His promises we have nothing else to be afraid of. We don’t always act like we believe this promise, because even good, strong believers still worry about many things, are still anxious about whatever, and are afraid of losing what is dear to us. In fact, it is hard to imagine what life would be like if we really had nothing to fear. The Christian knows it is true: we have nothing to fear, but very few people will ever get rid of worry.
Connected to this promise about no being afraid is the promise that the believers shall feed and lie down, meaning that they will dwell in safety and comfort completely under the care and protection of the Good Shepherd. We dream about this kind of existence, even though spiritually we already live in such a world. In the kingdom of God there is nothing to make us afraid. It’s just that sometimes we forget we are already and actually in that kind of kingdom. For this reason we need to remember and take hold of promises like this.
Another connection to this promise is that the faithful believers will not sin and will not lie or deceive. By faith in Christ they are accounted righteous and judged to have no sin or deceit. If we could live with such integrity we would probably be more secure and less afraid. Sin, death and Satan cause fear; overcoming them removes the fear.
“The Lord is with us; of whom shall we be afraid?” “If God is for us who can be against us?” We know the answer to these questions, and we have His promise to live the answer.