Fear Not, For I Am With You

When God Says – “Fear Not, For I Am With You!”

“Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. For I, the LORD your God, will hold your right hand, Saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you.’” – Isaiah 41:10 & 13 NKJV

The words “Fear Not” occur 61 times in the KJV of the Bible. The phrase “fear ye not” appears 31 more times. I want to focus on the comforting truth found in the verses above, Isaiah 41:10 & 13. These verses speak of God’s unwavering support and guidance, offering us assurance in times of fear and uncertainty.

Israel Assured of God’s Help

In Isaiah 41, God begins to outline His redemption plan for Israel. During their long journey, the Jewish people would encounter many hardships and challenges. Without a doubt, fear would rise throughout the days ahead. Three times in this chapter, the Lord speaks to that fear with words of comfort and assurance (Isaiah 41:10).

In Isaiah 41:13, God reassures Israel of His support in the mist of their trials. The picture of God holding our right hand signifies His intimate and personal involvement in our lives. Close your eyes if you will and simply imagine Him holding your right hand. There can be no real transformation of actions without it first starting in our imagination.

The Hebrew word for “hold” in the Strong’s concordance is “hāzaq”: implying a strong grip, showing God’s firm and steadfast support. This is not a casual touch but a powerful grip that signifies protection and guidance.

When God says, “I am with you,” He seeks to calm our fears with the reassurance of His powerful presence even in the worst times. Despite all that Israel had suffered during their years in captivity, despite every threat from powerful enemies, despite their weaknesses and consequences of defeat. God wanted them to know that He was still with them, just as He is with us through every unforeseen twist of fate and personal trial in life.

Related: Trusting the Good Shepherd

Fear Not, Trust in God’s Promise

“I will strengthen you.”

This is what God was telling Israel and what He is also telling us today. It is a promise to us that we can trust. Do we truly know what that means? In the original Hebrew, the verb translated “to strengthen” entails making someone stronger and stronger; it means “to grow and develop; to prevail; to have or show courage; to seize, grasp, and keep hold of.”

God was aware of Israel’s weaknesses, just like He is aware of ours. He used their personal experience and journey of faith to develop strength and courage in them. The Lord was with them; He had grabbed hold of them and would never let them go.

Peter wrote, in 1 Peter 5:10 NLT “In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation.” James taught that our suffering builds character and strength, through patience (James 1:3–4).

Patience defined: The suffering of afflictions, pain, toil, calamity, provocation or other evil, with a calm, unruffled temper (American Dictionary of English Language). I heard one preacher define it as, “Cheerful Endurance”.

John 10:28-29 NKJV says, “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.”

No one can pluck us out of God’s hand or separate us from Him once we receive Him. But this doesn’t say we can’t separate ourselves from the Lord. The Lord doesn’t force us to get saved and follow Him. We have free will.

We as believers may feel at times like Israel did in captivity: abandoned, rejected, disheartened, alone, and afraid. If you need God’s strength today, remember His comforting assurance in our main scripture of Isaiah 41:10. In this scripture it also says, do not be dismayed. To be dismayed is to be Disheartened; or deprived of courage (American Dictionary of English Language).

The term “dismayed” is mentioned numerous times in the Bible, particularly in the Old Testament. In its original Hebrew form, of the word “dismayed” comes from the root word “chathath,” which means to be shattered, broken, or frightened. It conveys a sense of being overwhelmed by fear or distress, losing courage or feeling discouraged. Trust in God will counteract the effects of fear. Faith will keep you encouraged!

Related: Trust in God – Don’t Be Afraid

Where Is Your Focus?

Faith, which is trusting confidence, and fear, are opposite poles. Don’t focus on fear. Fear is a painful emotion or passion excited by an expectation of evil, or the apprehension of impending danger (American Dictionary of English Language). It takes faith to walk in victory in a negative situation.

We choose what we dwell on. To focus on the source of fear is to cause more fear; to focus on the One who takes fear away is to find comfort. We can choose to fix our thoughts on what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, and admirable. We can think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise (Philippians 4:8 NLT).

As Jairus, the synagogue ruler was bringing Jesus to his home to heal his daughter, he received news that his daughter had died (Mark 5:35). Immediately, Jesus told Jairus, “Do not be afraid; only believe” (verse 36). Most people may believe that death puts a person beyond God’s ability to intervene. But right there in that moment Jesus was about to show that He was able to raise people from the dead just as easily as He healed their bodies.

In the account of the woman who was healed with the issue of blood, also in Mark chapter 5, Jairus could have reacted in one of two ways to this situation. One, he knew that time was critical, and he could have been upset with this woman for the delay that possibly cost his daughter her life. Or two, he could have taken courage and had his faith strengthened by seeing such a miraculous healing take place before his eyes. We always have a choice as to how we process what happens in our lives. We can choose to be bitter or better (Deuteronomy 30:19).

Jairus, after receiving the news of the death of his daughter, must forgo the natural focus on the tragedy and fear and focus instead on faith and the Lord’s nearness. In choosing not to be afraid, we must remember that “the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

Fear Not – An Example From My Life

There was a time in my life when fear was trying to rear its ugly head. I’m sure that I am not the only one. Perhaps you have a big project to complete, but the funds aren’t coming in or God said to do something that you cannot see how things will work out. Well for me it was during a time that I kept focusing on the natural. How was “I” (wrong choice of words to begin with) going to handle this situation, rather than focusing on the nearness of Jesus and simply obeying His leading. Anxious thoughts were coming to mind. This is a tactic of the enemy for sure. To get our focus off Jesus and His word and turn our focus on to the circumstance.

I heard the Lord ask me this question in that very moment, “Do you not trust me? Do you not believe that I am able to do exceedingly abundantly, more than you can ask, think or even imagine and even beyond that, to supply your needs? Not just barely getting by?”

It shocked me that the Lord would ask me that question about trusting Him. Many times, we really think that we are trusting in Jesus and His word but are we really? Fear is a faith stealer. What do we gain by not following and trusting God’s word? We must proclaim the truth that we know, which is in the word of God. The word has power. We need to find out what we already have according to the Bible and focus on that. We aren’t lacking anything except maybe the knowledge of what we’ve already got!

Knowing and Agreeing With God’s Word

“Can two walk together, except they are agreed?” – Amos 3:3 NKJV

When God says, “I am with you,” He quiets our anxious thoughts with the assurance of His strength. We know that if God is with us, nothing can stand against us (Proverbs 21:30; Romans 8:31). We don’t have to rely on our own strength. In our human weakness, God’s strength is made perfect (2 Corinthians 12:9–10).

When God says, “I am with you,” He comforts us with His guarantee of help. The Bible says the Lord will not let us stumble; He watches over us, never sleeping or slumbering (Psalm 121:3–4). But it does require us to obey His leading. Whenever we are in trouble, He is ready and willing to help us (Psalm 46:1). The God who made heaven and earth is the One we can count on when we need rescuing (Psalm 124:1–8). We can confidently say, “The LORD is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?” (Hebrews 13:6 NLT).

When God says, “I am with you,” He promises never to fail or abandon us. His presence will be with us forever. Jesus reaffirmed this pledge with His parting words before ascending into heaven: “And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20 NLT).

To live a life of faith or to walk the walk of faith requires courage. And what is courage, courage is overcoming fear. To have courage you must have hope. Hope is confident expectation. To have hope you’ve got to have faith. And to have faith means deciding to follow God’s direction and trust Him. Caring more about what He thinks and what He has told you to do, than what anyone else thinks or says.

In our lives, we often face a lot of things that bring about fear and uncertainty. But if we realize that God is holding our hand, it can transform our perspective and give us the courage to face any situation we may come up against. Just as we would hold the hands of our children if crossing a busy street, to reassure them and give them comfort and boldness. In that same way, we can face life’s challenges with confidence, knowing that our ABBA Father is holding our hand telling us “Fear Not, I am with you”.