Dealing with our fears

I have read that when we are born we are only afraid of two things: the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. All the other fears we have are learned, often through experience. Scripture teaches us that God has not given us a spirit of fear and yet fear is a constant companion of many of us. What are some of the common fears that seem so prevalent in the human race, and how can we overcome them?

The first fear is the fear of loss. This loss can involve losing our loved ones, our finances, our careers, our youth or anything else that we hold valuable. Opposing change is often no more than the fear of loss. We are afraid of losing the roles we played in the old system. We fear that our role would change in a new system, or even worse, we might not have a role.

A second common fear is the fear of failure. How many people do you know who want to do a new thing but are afraid they will fail? We set goals that are easily achieved rather than ones that would stretch us so we don't risk failure. Unfortunately, doing that prevents us from living life to the fullest. This week I am holding my first online auction. For the past few weeks I've had to learn a platform that would enable me to post my auctions online. It's been a challenge, and I'm still learning it. I enjoyed the live auctions, the bid calling, and everything that went along with live auctions, but with the uncertainties associated with Covid I felt I needed to move my auctions online. This move might not be successful, but I'll never know if I don't try. You can't let the fear of failure keep you from pursuing your dreams.

The fear of rejection is another big one. There wasn't anything worse that could happen to a young man when he asked a girl to go to the prom with him and she rejected him. The same was true when the young lady hoped a certain person would ask her to the prom but he took someone else. That rejection can follow a person for years! People with this fear often become people-pleasers. They go overboard to ensure people will like them so they won't feel rejected again.

Another common fear is the fear of the unknown. Some people live their entire lives afraid that something bad is going to happen to them, and that something never comes. There are people who live almost in panic that some unknown tragedy will come into their lives. It's a tough way to live.

What can we do to overcome these fears? We begin by realizing that we are trusting our fears more than God. The things we fear the most are the areas in which we trust God the least. It's important that we begin to trust God in every area of our lives if we want to conquer our fears. We can do that by studying the Scriptures that address the areas in which we have our greatest fears. For instance, the person who fears losing his possessions will find a wealth of Scriptures that remind us that God is the ultimate provider of all our needs.

As we begin to learn to trust God more, when we feel the fears start coming back, we can stop and ask ourselves who is really in control of our lives? Are we in charge, or is God? If God is in charge we can begin to visualize Him watching over us and our circumstances. We can pray to Him about our situation and trust Him to help us overcome our fears.