Is feeling fear a sin?
I sat through a fascinating church discussion one time about this concept.
“If you feel any fear, it means you’ve lost your faith. If you had perfect faith in God, you’d never feel fear.”
One person made this comment and some agreed.
Another said:
“I’ve had to deal with some truly terrifying things in my life, and I have felt fear. But I feel like it was a natural response to what I was facing.”
Others agreed with this.
I feel like “fear” can often be a loaded word at church.
We’ve been told to fear not, and yet here we are feeling fear from time to time.
Which is why this verse from Moses jumped out to me so much:
“Moses began to fear exceedingly; and as he began to fear, he saw the bitterness of hell.
“Nevertheless, calling upon God, he received strength”. (Moses 1:20)
That word: NEVERTHELESS.
Moses felt fear.
And for great reason too— the adversary was literally yelling at Moses to worship him.
It was a scary situation.
So Moses felt fear.
NEVERTHELESS Moses still called upon God and received strength to know what to do next to conquer his trial.
It sure doesn’t sound like Moses waited for all the fear to leave before he started calling on God.
The fear and the faith-filled pleading to God happened at the same time.
And it resulted in great strength.
I think we can feel fear in our life from time to time and nevertheless, still choose to pray to God for strength to know the next step to take.
I’ve had some terrifying moments where I’ve felt some fear at the same time that I’ve been filled with faith that God could give me the answer.
And truthfully, those moments have given me some of the most powerful experiences in my life.
I don’t think Moses dwelt in fear. I think he felt the fear and then got rid of it pretty soon after.
But his fear didn’t negate the fact that he also had faith in that moment, knowing exactly who to call on to be delivered from that fear.
Happy Studying!
-Cali Black
