What a precious promise to the young Christian, or to the old Christian attacked by lowness of spirits and distress of mind! “Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy redeemer the Holy One of Israel.” Christian brethren, there are some in this congregation, I hope many, who have solemnly devoted themselves to the cause and service of the Lord Jesus Christ: let them hear, then, the preparation which is necessary for this service set forth in the word of our text. First, before we can do any great things for Christ there must be a sense of weakness: “Worm Jacob.” Secondly, there must be trust in promised strength; and thirdly, there must be fear removed by that promise: “Fear not, for I will help thee.”

– Charles H. Spurgeon

Many Christians complain that they cannot discover the will of God for their lives. Some of those, I believe, may struggle because they do not seek to live in His will. Rather, they are looking for a magic eight ball: shake it up, turn it over, and read the will of the Lord. Should I take that job? Ask the eight ball. Should I marry this person? Ask the eight ball. Should I go to the mission field..? You get it. Many Christians are seized with fear about such things because they have never submitted to God in more foundational ways. 

What are the first things that God wills for our lives? To walk daily with Jesus. To love Him with all our heart, all our mind, and all our strength. To love one another in the same way as we love ourselves. To obey His commandments. To pray continuously. To take care of the poor, widowed, and orphaned. To give generously. 

If we fail to do God’s will in those foundational things, we cannot expect to know God’s will in the more personal things. 

If you are seized with fear about the direction of your life, then be faithful to that which is foundational. Fear Not, but desire just one thing: “that I might not offend Him.”

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Brother Lawrence said the greatest pains or pleasures of this world were not to be compared with what he had experienced of both kinds in a spiritual state. As a result he feared nothing, desiring only one thing of God – that he might not offend Him. He said he carried no guilt. “When I fail in my duty, I readily acknowledge it, saying, I am used to do so. I shall never do otherwise if I am left to myself. If I fail not, then I give God thanks acknowledging that it comes from Him.” 

– from The Practice of the Presence of God. 

Here, right in the middle of this fearful world is a place that is meant for all time, for all people, which has a peculiar task that the world doesn’t under­stand. It keeps calling over and over but always anew, in the same tone, the same thing: Fear is overcome; don’t be afraid (John 16:33). 

“In the world you are frightened. But be comforted; I have conquered the world!” Christ is in the boat! 

And this place, where this kind of talk is heard – and should be heard –  is the pulpit of the church. From this pulpit the living Christ himself wants to speak, so that wherever he reaches somebody, that person will feel the fear sinking away, will feel Christ overcoming his or her fear…

Let the most depressed and despairing people speak, those who ask: “Isn’t our time up?” “Aren’t the years of catastrophe, of utter decline and breakdown, the chaos of our lives in both great and small things, which no one can ignore, the sign that God has let us go?” “God doesn’t want us anymore.” “There’s no more mercy coming our way from God.” “God is against us, and we have to accept it.” “It won’t do to keep clinging if we aren’t wanted.”

 This is the cry out of the very depths of despair. There is only one thing that helps, and it is what the church does with any of us who thinks and feels this way. It takes the cross and places it before our eyes and asks: Did God abandon him? And since God did not abandon Jesus, we will not be abandoned by God, either.

– Dietrich Bonhoeffer,

“Overcoming Fear,” Sermon, Berlin. January 15, 1933.