Do not Fear
Jdg 7:2-3 - The Lord said to Gideon, “The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’
Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away from Mount Gilead.’ ” Then 22,000 of the people returned, and 10,000 remained.
This is an amazing passage of scripture. In order to save the Israelites the sin of pride, God purposefully reduces the amount of people so that only God can get the glory. As the story goes, the number gets reduced to 300 people and they defeated an army of 120,000. Though the passage does not say "do no fear," it does provide a very clear warning and example of what happens when we do fear. We miss out on glorifying and bringing honor to God. We give glory to that which we fear and we miss out. What a story these 300 men had to tell because they feared the God of the heavens.
Fear God
Le 25:17 - Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God. I am the Lord your God.
If we fear God, we will not take advantage of each other. Why? Because we fear God and his discipline. When we fear God, it changes how we act on earth. Just as a child does not do something for fear of punishment from his father, we restrain on doing evil because we fear our heavenly father. This is why I believe John says what he does: 1 John 3:6 - No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. If we truly live in Him, and we understand his power, his holiness, his justice and his love, we will not keep intentionally doing the same sin. Fear keeps us from sin.
