"Do Not Fear" Doesn't Mean "Don't Be Afraid"

 When you feel afraid, does that automatically mean you don’t trust God? Does trusting God mean you should never experience fear? In this episode, Cecille walks us through Joshua 1 and explores what God means when He repeatedly tells Joshua, ‘Do not be afraid'.

Verse of the Week

Joshua 1:9 

 "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

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Intro & Outro- by Leva (Pixabay lemonmusicstudio)

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https://www.cecillevaloria.com

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Transcript

0:01

My parents' faith in God and their love and support for me sustained me from the moment I was diagnosed with general anxiety disorder at eight years old and through my growing up years of being blanketed by the shadow of fear. In those earlier years, I didn't have a personal relationship with God, but seeing their faith helped me to know that God existed and to be able to trust in Him. There are seasons when we lean on the faith of others and look for guidance and direction from those who have gone before us. These could be the times when we are new in our faith and we vacillate in our belief or when we are drowning in very difficult circumstances. Eventually, every believer reaches a Joshua moment where borrowed faith has to become personal faith. I came to that personal relationship with Jesus and owned my own faith in Him in my senior year in high school. In this episode, we will be looking at Joshua one nine and the story of Joshua as he leads Israel into God's promised land. Welcome to Digging Deep for Treasures podcast. This is Cecille Valoria, a Christian author and a retired teacher. This podcast is to encourage women to grow in their faith and harness the power of the Holy Spirit as we unearth scriptural truths so that we can live a peace-filled life in our fear-prone world. So now sit back, relax, and let's dig deep for treasures in His Word. Moses is dead, and God tells Joshua, "Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them." Joshua one, one to five. Joshua isn't just replacing a leader, he's replacing Moses. Imagine replacing the man who confronted Pharaoh, the one who parted the Red Sea, the man who met with God face to face and led Israel for 40 years. He had big shoes to fill. There is reason that God repeats Himself several times in Joshua chapter one, "Be strong and courageous." God repeated Himself not because Joshua wasn't listening, but because God knew, like many of us, when given such a huge assignment, fear could arise. God also knew that the task He gave Joshua would be met in the future by an impossible situation that could bring discouragement and fear. As we read further in the chapter, we find that the Israelites would have to navigate across the flooded Jordan, Joshua three, one. God commissions Joshua to lead the people of Israel and tells him in Joshua one, nine, "Have I not commanded you, 'Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened. Do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.'" Have I not commanded you? The command was given to him by no less than the God Almighty, the one who is in control, the God of impossibilities. Do not be frightened doesn't mean stop being afraid. That's actually not what God is saying. God never condemns Joshua for feeling fear. Instead, he gives Joshua a reason to move despite it. He exhorts him to act. Real courage is not pretending fear isn't there, positive thinking, or relying on confidence in ourselves. Biblical courage is trusting God while your knees are still shaking. I remember a time when I saw this courage in me, which grew from seeing my parents' faith. One of the gifts I am thankful God gave me is the gift of being able to carry a tune and to sing I was nine years old then, and our neighborhood community sponsored a singing contest. I joined. For months, I practiced the song I was going to sing and knew it like the back of my hand. But when I went on stage, I felt my fear rise. I observed my fingers stiffening, my hands getting clammy and trembling. I started to sing, but my voice was wobbly, and I couldn't remember the lyrics past the first line of the song. Panic set in. Despite this, I took a deep breath, and my nine-year-old self boldly announced into the microphone, "Let me start over again," and I did. Amazingly, I garnered second place in that contest. Why can God command courage? Let's listen to Joshua 1:9 again. "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." Notice where the command ends. "For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." That's the reason God can command courage. Not because you're capable, not because you'll succeed, not because everything will work out, but I am with you. God never asked Joshua to believe in Joshua. He asks Joshua to believe in God. As we dig deeper into Joshua's story in this chapter, we discover four pillars God gave Joshua that can help us as well today to live peace-filled lives in our fear prone world. Joshua 1:3 says, "Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon, I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses." God begins with, "I have given to you." The victory starts with God's promise, not Joshua's performance. Fear focuses on uncertainty. Faith remembers what God had already said. The first pillar for us is to remember God's promises. God tells Joshua, "Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success," Joshua 1:7-8. He is told repeatedly, "Meditate on the law." The Hebrew word for meditate, hagah, is to ponder, to speak, to utter, to study. God tells him not to turn from it. Success isn't about military genius. It's about staying close to God's voice. Throughout my ordeal with anxiety, fear often asked, "What if?" But God asks us, "What did I already tell you?" We study and obey God's Word. This is the second pillar. I was the assistant to the chairperson of our missions committee at the church we attended years ago. Our chairperson was a former missionary, and she did a great job of leading us and getting things done. One day, she announced at our meeting that she was diagnosed with cancer and would be stepping down from the ministry. What caught me by surprise was when she handed me the baton. I love missions. I've gone to several before, but to lead a committee, I didn't know if I could do it. Her shoes were hard to fill. Joshua was never meant to become Moses. He was called to become Joshua. I was not called to be like my friend. I was called to be me. Has God called you? Calling produces courage. Comparison produces insecurity. The third pillar for us is not to compare ourselves with others, but rather to allow God to use and mold us into who He wants us to become as we answer His call. Joshua 1:9 ends with, "For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." This is the climax. God doesn't promise an easy road. He promises His presence. It echoes what Psalm 23:4 says, "Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me." Even when navigating through dark periods, suffering or deep loss, His presence is with us. There is nowhere we could go that He cannot reach. This changes everything, and we need to trust in the promise of His presence. This is the fourth pillar. For someone living with anxiety, Joshua 1 can feel impossible if we misunderstand it. Some people think, "If I still feel anxious, I must not trust God." This is what I thought shortly after being healed from general anxiety disorder. I still experience moments of fear, but it was not that long extended shadow of doom hovering over my head and me. That's not what the scripture teaches. Fear is an emotion. Faith is a decision. Joshua probably woke up afraid the next morning, yet he still led the Israelites to cross the Jordan. You can have a racing heart and still obey God. You can have anxious thoughts and still trust Him. God isn't waiting for your fear to disappear before He walks with you. He walks with you through it. In our previous episode, we talked about Isaiah 41:10, which says, "Fear not, for I am with you." Joshua 1:9 says, "Do not be afraid, for the Lord your God is with you." Notice the pattern. God doesn't remove fear by giving explanations. He removes fear by giving Himself. The answer to fear is not certainty. It's God's presence. Where is God asking you to step forward even though you're afraid? Is it in forgiving someone, beginning ministry, parenting, trusting Him after loss, making a difficult decision? God never said, "Go because you're fearless." He said, "Go because I'm with you." Be blessed. Thank you for joining me today on this episode of Digging Deep for Treasures. If you enjoyed it, I'd love for you to subscribe so you don't miss any future ones. Of course, it would be amazing if you leave a rating and a review. This will help more women to find the podcast and grow in their hope and peace. If you're not sure how to leave a rating and review, click on the podcast app you are listening to and look for the rating and reviews option. I'd like to also invite you to join my private Facebook group so we can get to know each other more. It's a great community where we can engage, learn, and grow together. Just hop on to @diggingdeepfortreasures, then enter your name and email, and you will receive an invite for the group. Or you can also connect with me on my website@cecillevaloria.com or at, in my Instagram at, @valoriacecille. Thank you once again, and may you have a blessed week. See you in two weeks