We’ve all experienced fear at some point in our lives. If you’ve ever heard a dentist say to his assistant, “Would you mind taking the battery out of the smoke detector? I’ve got to do some serious drilling here,” you know what fear is.
I have a fear of bridges. Whenever I drive across a big bridge, especially one over water, I get very tense, hold my breath, and grip the steering wheel. My kids knew this growing up, so, when they were little, each time we crossed a bridge they would start singing, “London Bridge is falling down.” Not fun.
There are many reasons to feel fear, like starting a new job or going to a new school; a layoff happening at your workplace; waiting on a phone call from a doctor; a pandemic.
In the midst of that fear, it’s important for us to know that nothing we fear is more powerful than our God.
Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand. (Isaiah 41:10 NLT)
In that verse, God is saying to you that you have no reason to fear, because he will strengthen and help you and hold you up in the middle of whatever your’e facing. When we’re facing fear, we want a God who is more powerful than the thing that frightens us. So just how powerful is God?
Here’s the third “O” word that describes God – he’s omnipotent. That’s just a fancy way of saying that God is all-powerful. He’s more powerful than anything in existence. He’s greater than any difficulty you are facing.
Basically, God can do anything he pleases.
Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases. (Psalm 115:3)
When it comes to you and your fears, you can rest knowing that the God you worship is a God who is all-powerful and in complete control of your situation.
For example, God has complete control over nature. Read Mark 4:35-41 to see how Jesus calmed a raging storm. In Genesis, when God tells Abraham that he and Sarah will have a son in their old age, Sarah laughs at the thought. God then asks a rhetorical question:
The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” (Genesis 18:13-14)
Is anything too hard for the Lord? No.
If you want evidence of God’s power, look at creation. All that we know was created by God – out of nothing. There were no pre-existing materials that God used to make the universe. There was nothing at all anywhere until God spoke it into existence (Genesis 1). Everything that is not God exists because of God.
All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:3)
When I was in the first grade, my dad bought me a telescope. We had a blast looking at the moon and planets and stars at night. One day during one of the Apollo missions I told our neighbors that I had used my telescope to see the Apollo spacecraft circling the moon. A few years later it dawned on me that they knew I had made that up. Six-year-olds do that kind of thing I guess. But just think about those stars in the sky. Or, better yet, go outside tonight and look up.
Those stars are suns, and those suns have planets. There is galaxy after galaxy after galaxy in the universe, far beyond anything we can comprehend. God created all that. He spoke all of that into existence.
God not only created all things, but he sustains all things. He didn’t just wind up the universe and let it go. He’s the one who is keeping it going.
And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (Colossians 1:17)
…he upholds the universe by the word of his power. (Hebrews 1:3)
God is the one who keeps the universe going. Think small for a moment. God is the one who makes sure that every electron in every atom is doing exactly what it’s supposed to do. And whenever one tiny part of an atom does something unexpected, it’s only because God either caused it or allowed it. As Creator, he’s free to do whatever he wants to do with his creation. He, and he alone, is in absolute control of every single piece of his creation at all times.
There are many people who, of course, will discount all of these truths about God. But no matter how much mankind learns and accomplishes, we will never be on the same level as God. Regardless of what some people think, we are not equal with God, and we never will be. God is almighty. God is omnipotent. All power belongs to him. All of creation is subject to him.
Including the thing that is causing you to fear.