Fear Wrote the Story | Restoring Warriors Daily Devotional | Matthew 25:25

In Matthew 25:25, the servant says something revealing:

“I was afraid… so I hid it.”

That’s the root of it—fear.

And here’s what makes this so real: fear often disguises itself as wisdom.
 “Play it safe.”
 “Wait until you’re ready.”
 “Don’t risk it.”

But in this parable, fear wasn’t wisdom—it was disobedience.

The servant didn’t just act in fear—he believed something wrong about the master. He saw him as harsh, distant, and impossible to please. And that misunderstanding shaped everything he did.

The same thing happens today.

When men see God as disappointed, distant, or waiting for them to fail, they hesitate. They hold back. They delay obedience. They avoid leadership. They stay quiet when they should speak.

Fear isn’t just emotion—it’s often a distorted view of who God is.

Because Scripture shows us something different:

God entrusts.
 God equips.
 God walks with you.

He doesn’t call you to something just to watch you fail.

Most men aren’t stuck because they lack calling.
 They’re stuck because fear has rewritten the story in their head.

Fear says: You’re not ready.
God says: I am with you.

Fear says: Stay safe.
God says: Step forward.

The tragedy isn’t failure.
 It’s never stepping out at all.

Big Question:
Where has fear caused you to hesitate instead of stepping into what God is calling you to do?

Challenge:
Identify one area where fear has been holding you back—leadership, faith, relationships, or obedience—and take one uncomfortable step forward this week.

Prayer:
Lord, forgive me for allowing fear to shape how I see You. Remind me that You are good, faithful, and trustworthy. Give me courage to step forward, trust You fully, and be faithful with what You’ve placed in my hands. Amen.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

In situations where we're called to speak, where we should speak, and we stay comfortable. Hey, welcome back to the Restoring Warriors Daily Devotional. Hey, this is where we challenge men to live more boldly for Christ. All right, so Restoring Warriors, we're a men's ministry, we're located in Denver, Colorado, and we do a couple different things. We live to equip men to be better leaders. All right, and we do that in a couple different ways. Number one, we meet weekly here in Denver, Colorado. Number two, we're currently expanding and adding small groups all over the country and are looking for group leaders to step up and lead. And number three, we're building a powerful online community. So, hey, if you want to join a group, if you if you feel called to lead a group, if you want to join us online, go to restoringwarriors.com, click on join a group, and we will direct you from there. All right, we're jumping back in. We're in the book of Matthew, we're in chapter 25, and today we've made it to verse 25 where it says this. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you. All right, so so fear has a way of sounding responsible sometimes. Sometimes it whispers in your ear. It says, play it safe. All right, don't risk that. Don't step out until you're fully ready. All right, but this parable right here, in this parable, fear wasn't wisdom. It was the very thing that kept the servant from pursuing his calling. All right, and notice what the servant said first, okay, because this is really important. He said, I knew that you're a hard man. All right, that wasn't a statement about the master, it was a confession of his own misunderstanding. He believed that the master was harsh. He believed that he was unfair. He believed that that he was impossible to please, and that showed up in his lack of action. That belief shaped his behavior, and because he misjudged the master's character, he buried the very thing that he was trusted to steward in the first place. And that same pattern, it shows up all over the place today in men. We see God as disappointed in us, right? We feel like he's looking at us like he's disappointed, or that he's dis distant from us, or that he's just waiting for us to fail. All right, so we hesitate, all right, we hold back, we delay being obedient, we shrink from leadership, we stay quiet in situations where we're called to speak, where we should speak, and we stay comfortable instead of getting outside of our comfort zone and moving. All right, all right, fear it's not just an emotion, it's it's a misinterpretation of who God is. And scripture, it paints a very different picture. Okay, if we follow scripture, it paints a much different picture. Okay, God entrusts, he entrusts all of this to his people, he equips those that he trusts his stuff with, and then he invites, all right. God doesn't give us assignments that are meant to crush us because he likes to see us in turmoil. No, he gives them to us because he believes that we can be faithful with what we've been given, right? And and the servant here, he buried his gold, right? And it was because he was afraid of the master. But but the faithful servants stepped forward in this parable because they trusted him, right? And so many guys, they're not stuck because because they lack calling. Oftentimes we know what our calling is, but but we stay stuck because we have this fear that's written inside of our heads. It says, it's a fear that says, You're not ready. But God says, I'm with you. All right, and fear might say, hey, you're gonna fail, but but God says, no, be faithful. All right, all right. And fear says, hey, stay here where it's nice and safe, and God says, no, go step and I will lead you. All right, and the tragedy is in in this story, it's not that the servant failed, it's that he never even tried. The truth is, most callings, they're not buried because we're rebellious against the calling that God gave us. We bury them due to our fear. All right, so take out a journal, let's take the next five or ten minutes or so and just take this question I'm about to ask you and reflect on it. Journal what comes up, invite the Holy Spirit into this moment. All right, what where in your life has fear caused you to hesitate? Has it caused you to delay, or play it safe instead of stepping into what God is calling you to do? All right, and and a daily challenge for you is identify one area in your life where fear's been holding you back. Okay, it could be in leadership, it could be in your faith, it could be in a relationship, it could be in obedience. All right, and take one concrete step forward this week. Take one step of action, even if it feels uncomfortable, all right. Movement in the direction will break fear's grip. All right, let's pray. Father, Father, forgive me for the times that I've allowed fear to define who you are. And remind me, God, that you're good, that you're faithful, that you're trustworthy. Give me the courage to step into what you've called me to, even when it feels uncertain, Lord. Lord, help me trust your character more than more than I trust my own fears. Strengthen my faith to act, to lead, and to be faithful with what you've placed in my hands. It's in the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. Hey, thank you for tuning in today. If you were encouraged by this devotional, I encourage you to subscribe, like, send this to a friend. All of that helps us in the in the algorithms, it helps us spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. Hey, come back tomorrow. We're gonna drop a new devotional every uh every day, Monday through Friday, first thing in the morning. Absolutely love being on this journey with you. I can't wait to see on the next one.