“I love you. I’ll never leave you.” Julia saved her husband’s text message so she could read it whenever she was afraid. A troubled childhood had left her with a fear of loved ones abandoning her. She’d often ask for reassurance from her husband, and she would wait anxiously for him to come home from work.
Prayer and counseling helped Julia respond to her fear in healthier ways. “I’d look at my fear in the light of my husband’s loving promises to me,” she says. “I’d think, His promises are true! and behave accordingly.”
King Jeroboam also had unfounded fears. Because of Solomon’s apostasy, God had already promised Jeroboam, “I will take the kingdom from [David’s] son’s hands and give you ten tribes” (1 Kings 11:35). God assured him that if he obeyed Him, He would “give Israel to [him]” (v. 38).
Yet Jeroboam was afraid. “If these people . . . offer sacrifices at the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem,” he thought, “they will . . . return to King Rehoboam” (12:27). His fear drove him to set up nearby sites of idol worship to prevent his subjects from turning to Solomon’s son (vv. 26-33). As a result, Jeroboam faced God’s judgment (14:7-16). If only he’d trusted God’s promises!
We don’t have to deal with unfounded fears on our own. God has given us the safety of His promises in Scripture. Let’s allow His loving truths to illuminate our mind and steps.
What unfounded fears do you have? What does Scripture say about them?
Dear God, please teach me how to respond to my fears and help me obey You.
Jeroboam wasn’t the first (or last) Israelite king who succumbed to fear rather than trust in God (see 1 Kings 12:26-33). Saul was afraid of a Philistine assault and presumptuously offered a sacrifice. By doing so, he gave up a “kingdom over Israel for all time” (1 Samuel 13:13). Saul later failed again to obey God because he “was afraid of the men and so [he] gave in to them” (15:24) and Samuel repeats the verdict on Saul’s dynasty (v. 23). Likewise, other kings throughout Israel’s history were judged on whether they acted out of compromising fear of others or a healthy fear of God, otherwise known as faith.
