2 Timothy 1:7
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear,
but of power
and of love
and of a sound mind.”
(NKJ)
TRISKADEKAPHOBIA
Phobias – The things that go bump in the mind
An estimated 18 percent of the U.S. adult population suffers from some kind of phobia. (The Food and Drug Administration)
A phobia is an excessive or unreasonable fear.
EXAMPLES:
Fear of Old People – Gerontophobia.
or maybe you are afraid of Children- Pedophobia
or of your Mother-in-law- Pentheraphobia
Fear of Church – Ecclesiophobia
and those who have this could also have Homilophobia.- fear of Sermons
Some people have cyberphobia (fear of computers), to whom, I say, “Get over it, or go to the extreme and move away from the city, abandon your car, hand build your home, hand pump your water, build your fires, and hunt for your own food!”
Some are afraid of hearing good news- Euphobia. Others just have a great fear of fear - Phobophobia, to whom Franklin Delano Roosevelt would say, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself - nameless, unreasoning, unjustified, terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."
---- Franklin D. Roosevelt - First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1933
Some people deal with the fear of "Santa Claus" - "claus"-trophobia. Others suffer under TRISADEKAPHOBIA - fear of the number 13.
Well, if you are afraid of the number 13, or if you are paralyzed by any type of phobia, let me encourage you to turn to Numbers 13 in the Bible for some help in your hopelessness.
Numbers 13 and 14 tells us the account of how just fifty-one days into the journey to the land of promise, the people of Isreal sealed their destiny.
Num 13:27-33
“They gave Moses this account: "We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan." Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, "We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it." But the men who had gone up with him said, "We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are." And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, "The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”
The Isrealites Focused on Frightening Facts and FEARED what MIGHT happen!
"Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is."
---- German Proverb
How can you tell that your fears have outgrown your God?
- When your fears become larger than your God, you will cry and moan:
(Numbers 14:1) “That night all the people of the community raised their voices and wept aloud.”
- When your fears become larger than your God, you will complain:
(Numbers 14:2) “All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron,...”
- When your fears become larger than your God, you will cling to your old ways:
(Numbers 14:2) “...and the whole assembly said to them, "If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert!”
- When your fears become larger than your God, you will cring, cower, and question:
(Numbers 14:3) “Why is the LORD bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?"
- When your fears become larger than your God, you will make sudden changes:
(Numbers 14:4) “And they said to each other, "We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”
The Isrealites had become crazed!
Num 14:6-9
“Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes and said to the entire Israelite assembly, "The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them."
(NIV)
Numbers 14:10 “But the whole assembly talked about stoning them.”
The Israelites were overwhelmed and overcome by their fears! They had become crazed! The fear of failure had reduced them to a manic-depressive level.
Only one thing can take care of that kind of fear: The God of Perfect Love! I John 4:18 “...perfect love drives out fear!”
GOD CAME DOWN!
Numbers 14:10-11
“Then the glory of the LORD appeared at the Tent of Meeting to all the Israelites. The LORD said to Moses, "How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them?”
The Israelites had chronic amnesia. They FORGOT what the Lord had already done for them.
-God used 10 plagues to afflict the Egyptians and prompt them to Let His People Go.
-Israel rebelled and complained 10 times and God took care of them EACH and EVERY time!
How quickly they FORGOT!
-The Israelites watched God put an interstate highway through the Red Sea, wide enough that over a million people could get across in less than 12 hours. Yet they later complained about not being sure God was big enough to bring home their supper!
-Once the Israelites watched God rain bread all over the whole camp and then swore up and down that He was going to let them die of thrist!
Num 14:22-23
22 not one of the men who saw my glory and the miraculous signs I performed in Egypt and in the desert but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times--
23 not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their forefathers. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it.
(NIV)
Num 14:36-38
36 So the men Moses had sent to explore the land, who returned and made the whole community grumble against him by spreading a bad report about it--
37 these men responsible for spreading the bad report about the land were struck down and died of a plague before the LORD.
38 Of the men who went to explore the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh survived.
(NIV)
How quickly we FORGET! How many times has the Lord proven Himself to us and we denied Him the opportunity to follow through on His plan because we were afraid. What do we have to be afraid of? "If God is for us, WHO can be against us?"
Today, the future lies in the choice you will make today concerning your fears. If God has not given us a spirit of fear, then send that fear back to where it came from and claim God’s power, love and sound mind!
