BEATING THE FEAR BULLIES

2 Timothy 1:7

"For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline" NLT

the voices at 3am are very convincing..we all know the voices... the ones that remind you that certain bills haven't been paid yet...because you haven't been paid yet.  They ask a lot of 'how' questions that really don't sound like questions at all..they sound more like an accusations.

For the single person, they may say stuff like "How are you going to find the right person at this age?..you're so far behind the timeline you laid out...even if you do get married, by the time you do, you'll be to old to start having kids!"

For the CEO the may say stuff like "how much longer do you think you can hide the fact that you really have no clue what you're doing much less how to lead a company with this many people's livelihood at stake?!...Somebody's eventually gonna find you out!"

Those voices sound suspiciously like bullies.  They are loud and intimidating.  They get right up in your face and the only thing you can see is their accusing eyes and all you can hear is the horrible sound of their voice.

But maybe there's a reason that the bully needs to get up in our face.  Our God is so great, so vast, so strong, and so easily seen in all that He has made that the only way the bully can possibly block our view is it get right up in our face so that he is the only thing we can see and hear.

As a guy who often gets to lead, write, and sing songs that talk about the greatness, the vastness, and the strength of our God, I have come to a new insight to what those songs can do on Sunday and throughout the week.  Those songs are a way to push the bully's face away (like you'd do to a little brother when he tries to get up in your face) and lift our eyes to see just how big our God is.  Those songs give us something to sing so loudly that it drowns out the voice of the accuser.  Worship in song is a chance to let God define our circumstance instead of letting our circumstances define us.  Worship is a chance to see the angel army that has surrounded the tiny fear army that has surrounded us.  In our worship, we get to look around the bully and see the Sovereign God who is unchanging and whose goodness will remain long after the voice of fear and all of our terrifying circumstances fade away.

Look up, see Him, sing out, and fear no more.