June 13, 2025
Fear Is A Bully
"For I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, 'Fear not, I am the one who helps you.'" Isaiah 41:13
No one likes a bully, but we’ve all had to deal with them at some point.
What do you think of when you think of bullies?
Maybe it’s the kid who incessantly teased you on the school bus. Or the keyboard warrior who is very brave from the safety and anonymity of their computer. Or the person at work that - because they’re connected with the boss - thinks that they can boss everyone around and throw their weight around. The examples, unfortunately, are endless.
And it can be exhausting dealing with the bullies in our life.
I remember when I was in 7th grade, there was this 8th grader who decided for whatever reason that I was going to be his target.
I don’t even know how it started, nor do I remember his name for that matter. I just remember him harassing me every time he saw me.
Truthfully, he wasn’t even a good bully if that makes sense. He was older but I was bigger.
One day I had been having a bad day and all of a sudden this guy jumps out from a set of lockers and starts trying to threaten me.
Before I realized it, I had grabbed him by the throat and lifted him up against the locker with his feet dangling against the air. I told him in no uncertain terms that if he ever messed with me again that it wouldn’t end well for him.
And that was that. No more bullying. In fact, I barely even saw him after that.
I know this is the point where I’m supposed to say all you have to do is face your bullies and they’ll go away.
But the truth is that was a fleeting moment of bravery. Mostly, I tried to steer clear of the bullies at all cost. And I did fear them. So I’m not the best example to follow, especially when it comes to fear.
As the title of this, devotion indicates, fear is a bully.
It will cause you to dread what’s in the future, which is to say it will cause you to dread life.
As someone who has always struggled with anxiety, my mind is constantly going through the potential outcomes, but mostly the negative ones. Fear and anxiety are co-conspirators.
They work in concert to make you worry about, “if this happens, then what will happen with this?
The “if-then”questions can be endless. And just like anxiety- which we focused on in our last devotion - it will rob you of your joy and cause you to miss out on the good that’s happening in the present.
God knew that we would struggle with fear. Perhaps you’ve heard this before but 365 times in the Bible we find some version of “do not fear” or “fear not.” Literally, God gave us a reminder for each day of the year not to fear.
He knew fear was going to be a struggle for us, so He reminds us over and over that He’s got us.
Perhaps nowhere in the Bible does he say it so strongly than in Isaiah 41:13, where the Lord says to Israel, “For I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, 'Fear not, I am the one who helps you.'"
According to Enduring Word, this is both a command and a promise.
The Lord is commanding Israel (but us too) not to fear. And if He is commanding us not to fear, we’ve got to take it seriously. But it’s also a promise that He is with us through our fearful circumstances.
The God who promised to never leave us nor forsake us is saying to Israel (and us too) that, “I’ve got you by your right hand and I’m going to lead you through this.”
I said last time that anxiety and fear in and of itself is not sin, but it certainly can become sin in our life.
Here’s where it gets hard. When I am filled with fear and anxiety and do not believe that the Lord is capable or with me, it communicates to God, “Your promises are not true, I don’t believe you’re with me and I don’t believe you are able.”
So much of our fear is a crisis of belief. Will I trust Him? Do I believe that He upholds me with his righteous right hand?
The amazing thing is that I truly believe that the Lord was powerful enough to speak the world into existence and I also believe that He was powerful enough to overcome sin and death through Jesus dying on the cross and being raised from the dead.
But somehow I don’t believe that He is with me in my trials or capable of leading me through them? If the Lord is capable of speaking the universe into existence and saving my soul from eternal damnation, isn’t he capable of walking me through my trials?
In John 16:33, Jesus said, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
The trouble is never going away as long as we are on this side of eternity. But neither is Jesus. And he has overcome the world, so we can find peace when we rest in Him.
I do know that in the fleeting moments of life when I have faced my fears, it worked out.
Like facing that 8th grade bully
Like facing a difficult outcome and somehow living to tell about it (to this point, I have survived every crisis I have ever faced!)
Like the shy and cautious me finding the nerve to chase after this girl I met from Georgia even though I lived in North Carolina (nearly 32 years later, I can say that one worked out pretty well!)
Like overcoming my fears of what people would say and launching a church that is still going strong 20 years later
Like every big leap of faith I ever took where I was somehow able to subdue my fears and just jump, believing that the Lord had me by the hand and was with me even when I couldn’t see it.
He is with you today. He has you by the hand. He will not leave or forsake you.
Will you trust him? Will you take the leap?