Fear that teaches us how to overcome anxiety

Lk 12:11-12 - And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”

When a verse is repeated in the different gospels, you know it is important. This verse or at least renditions of this verse are found in Matthew, Mark and Luke. It is so important because it is so revolutionary. One, you are predicting something difficult is about to happen. Two, God is providing both a command, do not be anxious and a promise, the Holy Spirit will speak through you. I love that we are not to defend ourselves. God doesn’t need our defense. The Holy Spirit is more than capable of communicating his message in his timing for his purposes. He just needs us to fear Him more than anything else and trust that He is capable of doing what he wants through us if we just trust Him.

Ps 34:11 - Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

I have been feeling like this verse is written for this occasion. These verses are teaching us the fear of the Lord so we can fear God and not man. When we fear the Lord, we will not need to be anxious, we will believe the Holy Spirit will speak and we will not need to defend ourselves. How do we learn the Fear of the Lord? Well, according to the next verses:

Ps 34:12-14 - Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.

We recognize that our God hates sin and we choose to obey Him because we fear Him. Anxiety is sin. Worry is sin. It is feeling and believing that God is out of control. Thus, we must turn from evil and turn to Him. Fearing God is the solution to killing anxiety.

How fearing God transforms anxiety

Mk 13:9-11 - “But be on your guard. For they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them. And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations. And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.

It is one thing to fear when tragedy or difficulty happens suddenly and quite another when you know ahead of time that it is going to happen to you. The disciples were promised abuse, beating, and imprisonment. But, they were also promised something even greater, which is the Holy Spirit speaking through them to the glory of God. The one thing that they were commanded not to do was to be anxious beforehand, but to fear God only, and to trust in Him so that he would say what He needed to say through the disciples. It is amazing how we can interfere with God’s using us when we allow anxiety to interrupt us. Anxiety is essentially a lack of trust in God that He is big enough in the situations to do what he desires to do. All he needs is some people who will trust Him at his Word so that He can accomplish what He desires through our lives for His glory.

Ps 60:4 - But for those who fear you, you have raised a banner to be unfurled against the bow.Selah

This verse seems to really be appropriate in light of Mark 13:9-11 because of it s approach against the enemy. The banner of fearing God is all we need against the enemy. God will fight the battle. Our battle is to remain in the fear of God, fully convinced that He is not only in full control, but will use the situation for His glory. When we start to worry, we must boldly unfurl that banner in the face of evil by coming back to this understanding that fearing God is our first defense and our only defense against the enemy. He will keep us in perfect peace, in His will and living for eternity in the temporary as long as we understand that greater is He who is in us than He who is in the world.

Anxiety replaced by true Fear

Mt 10:19-20 - When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

I think this is probably the clearest example of the power and intimacy of God working through our lives when you might be tempted towards anxiety. God commands us not to be anxious and the reason we are not to be anxious is because the Spirit of your Father will be speaking through you. Don’t worry about what you will say because God is in control. The opposite of this though, if they chose to worry, God would not be able to speak through them, because they lack faith and thus are not controlled by the Spirit but are in essence controlling themselves and quenching the Spirit. God is always the answer for anxiety. We are anxious because we are trying to control the situation. Anxiety happens when we realize that we are not in control. Jesus reminds us that He is in control of the situation and thus we need to solely depend on Him. When we do that, we will not be anxious.

Ps 40:3-4 - He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord. Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods.

I like this verse because it is God who puts the song in our mouths, it is He who glorifies Himself through our words when we fear God instead of fear man. When we trust God, others will learn to fear Him as well. It is God who puts the words in our mouths when we commit to fearing Him only and others will learn to fear.