SOLUTION TO FEAR: IS FEAR

Proverbs 14:26 "In the fear of the LORD there is strong confidence.”

This is very strange. It says that the solution to fear is fear. The solution to uncertainty is fear. The solution to doubt is fear.

How can this be?

Part of the answer is that the “fear of the LORD” means fearing to dishonor the Lord. Which means fearing to distrust the Lord. Which means fearing to fear anything that the Lord has promised to help you overcome. [pause: think on that]

In other words, the fear of the Lord is the great fear destroyer.

If the Lord says, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you” (Isaiah 41:10), then “it is a (more) *fearful thing* to worry about the problem He says He will help you with.

Fearing that problem when He says, “Fear not, I will help you,” is a vote of NO CONFIDENCE against God’s Word, and that is a GREAT dishonor to God. [and evidence of faithlessness].
And a person who fears the Lord trembles to dishonor God like that!

The Lord says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’” (Hebrews 13:5–6).

If the Lord says that to you, then not to be confident in the Lord’s promised presence and help is prideful. It puts *our* reckoning of the trouble above God’s.

That is why we read the amazing words of the Lord in Isaiah 51:12, I am he who comforts you; who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, of the son of man who is made like grass? Who are you to fear man, when God has promised to help you? So it is pride to fear man. And pride is the exact opposite of the fear of God.

So, yes, the Proverb is true and a great help to us. Fear God! Fear God! Fear dishonoring Him. Fear distrusting Him. Fear putting your assessment of the problem above His. He says He can help. He is smarter. He is stronger. He is
more generous. Trust Him. Fear NOT trusting Him.

Why?

He works for those who wait for Him (Isaiah 64:4). He will solve the problem. He will rescue the family. He will take care of the little ones. He will meet your needs.

Fear distrusting that promise.