Lamentations 3:55-57 (ESV Strong's)
55 “I called on your name, O LORD,
from the depths of the pit;
56 you heard my plea, ‘Do not close
your ear to my cry for help!’
57 You came near when I called on you;
you said, ‘Do not fear!’
Do Not Fear!
The phrase “do not fear” is stated multiple times in the Old and New Testament. It is often followed by the words “believe” and “faith.” In the above passage, Jeremiah continues his lament about the fall of Jerusalem and the captivity of Israel and Judah. This funeral dredge is a heart-broken song of the bad that has happened to this disobedient people. God has sent their enemies to overtake Judah and to destroy Jerusalem. Those who rejected Jeremiah’s prophecy to repent and to give into God’s discipline, made Jeremiah’s life horrible. In the midst of the song we see Jeremiah’s plea for help and God’s response: Do not fear!! God wants us to be in awe and fear Him, but He does not want us to be in awe and fear of other things. When we are in fear of something we give it honor in our lives. We give it purpose. We give it prestige. It becomes the focal point for our lives. Giving fear is giving honor to something. In once sense, when we fear others and when we fear something in life we are idol worshipping that thing. God is saying to us, “do not fear” those things, because He is bigger than all things. Our “fear” (honor) ought to be solely for Him and Him alone. That is why were are told, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” When we “fear” the Lord, we give Him ultimate honor in our lives. God is saying “don’t fear those things, but rather, fear me.” When we put God before those things in our lives that cause us to fear, we give him honor. We properly worship when our fear is toward Him, instead of toward the thing that is capturing our worship via fear.
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