Fearfulness

Revelation 21:8 lists the reprobates, and strikingly, the first two are not murderers or the openly vile, but “the fearful and unbelieving” two qualities that Scripture treats as essentially the same. To be fearful is to distrust God’s promises and to treat the threats and promises of men as more real than the Word of the Lord. It is to live by the power of the world rather than the power of God. Our generation is marked by this unbelief: afraid where we should trust, indifferent where we should tremble. True faith says Amen to God placing every part of life, waking and sleeping, work and rest, worship and play, under His authority. But if we refuse to believe God, we inevitably believe in something else man, the state, ourselves and become governed by fear rather than by the Lord. Fearlessness does not require greatness in us, only faith in a great God who is our shield and defender (Ps. 33:20). For this reason, God allows no excuses for fearfulness.