Long before Franklin Roosevelt, Henry David Thoreau once commented, “Nothing is so much to be feared as fear.” Perhaps that’s why “Fear not” is God’s most frequently repeated instruction (366 verses) in the Bible! John Ortberg believes the reason God gives that instruction so often “is that fear will sink us faster than anything else. Fear disrupts faith and becomes the biggest obstacle to trusting and obeying God.”
Fear is a natural human response to adversity- when a specific ministry has ended, sometimes quite abruptly, and the possibility of a future ministry boggles the imagination. John Ortberg acknowledges this when he adds ( If You Want to Walk on Water . . . ): “There is a place for fear. But I want trust to be stronger. I never want the no of fear to trump the yes of faith.”
