However, if we are honest with ourselves, we realize our life is governed by fear. Fear that we will never get married, or never have children, or that our babies will die, or our husband will stop loving us, or our children will not repent, or that the pain in our back will not go away, or that we will not have any friends, or that God will require too much of us. The list goes on and on.

From the time we are little girls, we are fed lies that we can conquer our fears on our own, or maybe with a little help from a medical professional. We are taught to think we are invincible, powerful, strong, independent, and fearless. (What is independence, though, than a fear of depending on others?) If our fear is heights, we should “face that fear” until it is gone. True, we may be able to get over some fears in this way, but what about the big ones? Well, with the big ones we rely on idols to save us. We rely on our education or our job to replace the family we do not have. We rely on medicine to relieve the fear that our babies will die. We rely on baptism or the sinner’s prayer to ease our fear for our child’s salvation. We rely on entertainment to pacify us into a stupor where our fears do not exist. Or we keep our life so busy that we don’t have time for fear. There are as many fear conquering idols as there are women.

How are those idols working out for you? Do your fears still come creeping back in the wee hours of the morning when you can’t fall asleep for the third night in a row? When life suddenly does a big upheaval of all you hold dear, do you find yourself fearless? My educated guess is no. It is no because scripture tells us what we are.

“As for man, his days are like grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.” Psalm 103:15

“For the sun rises with a scorching wind, and withers the grass; and its flower falls off, and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away.” James 1:11

“All go to the same place. All came from the dust and all return to the dust.” Ecclesiastes 3:20

We are weak and helpless as grass and dust, so it makes sense that we are fearful. We should, ultimately, fear God; the one who can create and destroy, who holds the power in all our other fears. Matthew 10:28 “And do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Only when we have a true fear of God and trust the promises made in scripture, will our earthly fears fade. The apostle Peter says we will be Sarah’s children if we “do what is right without being frightened by any fear.” (1 Peter 3:6) Christians do not conquer their fears themselves. They allow their fears to take them to God, humbly and with faith.