Fear not, I am with thee
“Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”Isaiah 41:10
Reflection
"Fear not" is one of the most repeated commands in the whole Bible. But notice that, when God says it, He almost never leaves the command hanging in the air. It is one thing to order someone not to feel fear; it is quite another to give reasons for fear to lose its power. In this verse Isaiah records exactly that: "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God". Each command comes with a "for". Fear is met with truth, not with pressure.
See the reasons presented. The first is presence: "I am with thee". What frightens us most in fear is the feeling of being alone before what is coming. The second is relationship: "I am thy God". Not a distant, generic god, but the God who has a personal bond with you. And right after come three promises in sequence: "I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee". Each verb covers a need. To strengthen is inward, when our strength runs out. To help is outward, when the task is bigger than we are. And to uphold is for when a fall seems imminent.
The final phrase shows with which hand He does this: "with the right hand of my righteousness". The right hand, in the Bible, is a symbol of power and authority. It is not a vague comfort, it is a real hand, firm and just, that holds. That holding does not depend on our strength to grasp, it depends on the strength of the One who holds. That is why fear loses its argument: it speaks of the size of the problem, but God answers with the size of His hand.
Today, give your fear a name. Then open this verse and answer it with the three verbs: "Lord, for this, strengthen me in what? Help me with what? Uphold me where I am about to fall?". Pray the verse personally, writing your own points. You will notice that fear, when placed before a specific promise, shrinks. Not because it disappears at once, but because now it has beside it a God who surpasses it.
Prayer
Lord, thank You that Your commands of courage always come with reasons: You are with me, You are my God. Strengthen me where I am weak, help me where the task is bigger than I am, and uphold me where I am about to fall. I hold on to Your right hand, which never fails. Amen.
Put it into practice
Write down your biggest fear at the moment and, below it, complete three sentences: "Lord, strengthen me in...", "Help me with...", "Uphold me in...". Read the result in prayer and keep the paper in your Bible.
To reflect on
Which fear has been speaking loudest in you, and which of the three promises (strengthen, help, uphold) do you most need to hear today?
Bible text: King James Version (public domain).