[Today’s devotional is a shorter version of a post I wrote called “Coronavirus, Fear & Faith.” You can link to the full post below.]

Fear. It’s all around us. And within us.

We fear coronavirus. We fear running out of toilet paper. We fear running out of money, time or gas. We fear people who are different. We fear losing, missing out, failure, or not being prepared. We fear criticism, criminals, wrinkles and rain. Oh, and we fear death too.

In The Report Newsmagazine, Candis McLean reported that “ordinary children today are more fearful than psychiatric patients were in the 1950s.”* And that was in 2001!

The Bible is full of statements to “not fear.” But why? Why shouldn’t we fear?

Because the powerful presence of God is always more significant than the powerful presence of fear.

For followers of Jesus, despite what is happening in the world or in our lives, God is always sovereign, he can bring good out of bad, and hope always wins in the end, even if we have challenges to overcome in this short life. What we see isn’t all there is to see.

Psalm 27:1 captures it well: “The LORD is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?”

I get it. Things like illness, war or famine are concerning. We should pay attention to the authorities, and yes, in this most recent case, wash our hands frequently! But mostly, we should pay attention to God.

The powerful presence of God is always more significant than the powerful presence of fear.

By Matthew Ruttan

–“Coronavirus, Fear & Faith.” Click here to read the post, including three suggestions about how to respond.

–“Up!” is published 5 days a week (Monday-Friday) and returns on March 16.

—This Sunday I’m speaking about the much-discussed topic of “identity” with a sermon called “Who. You. Are.” based on Ephesians 1-2. It springboards from the Overcomer movie.

–“Discipleship Manual – a resource for Lent.” If you’re looking for a new spiritual habit for Lent based on the words of Jesus, click here.

–Bible quotes are from the NIV.