Be Strong! Do Not Fear!

June 10

Many people believe that we are living in the ‘last days’ before the occurrence of some cataclysmic event. That conviction is shared by belief systems as wide-ranging as the Christian Church which anticipates the soon return of Christ and those who anticipate the end of the world because the ancient Mayan calendar ends in December of 2012.

Though some subscribe to none of the doomsday theories, the preponderance of mankind anticipates an event of some magnitude, if for no other reason than that there is so much strife on our planet. Weighing heavily in favor of the imminent world-wide conflagration theory is the fact that a large segment of the Islamic population is endeavoring to usher in their ‘Twelfth Mahdi’ by generating turmoil and ultimately, war.

Because of the unrest among men and nations and religious persuasions, as well as the reality of the increased frequency of natural disasters, man is in a state of anxious anticipation as he awaits the next awful event. The Bible offers a word of counsel to those who find themselves confronting fear within themselves and among those around them.

In Isaiah 35:3, 4, the prophet says, “Strengthen the feeble hands and steady the quaking knees; say to those with fearful hearts, ‘Be strong; do not fear! Your God will come!’” So the thing that ignites a sense of un-ease, one of the scenarios that generates anxiety—the return of the Lord—is the very thing the Bible says is to allay our fear! If we have received Christ as Savior, we need not dread His coming.