Daily Devotional For Friday, September 5, 2025
Fears and phobias – we all have them but we all don’t have all the same ones. Which of these phobias do you have?
- Cynophobia – fear of dogs, wolves and canines in general
- Agoraphobia – fear of certain environments that seem to have no escape
- Tonitrophobia – fear of thunder
- Arachnophobia – fear of spiders
- Ophidiophobia – fear of snakes
- Claustrophobia – fear of tight or confining places
- Mysophobia – fear of germs
- Aerophobia – fear of being in an airplane
- Geroscophobia – fear of aging and getting older
- Galeophobia – fear of sharks
- Acrophobia – fear of heights
On March 4, 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt said this, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Depending on the situation that might be true, but there are logical and understandable reasons to have valid fear — you’re being stalked, being trapped in a fire or accident, being in a battle or facing a terminal illness. In 2016, contemporary Christian artist Zach Williams released a song with this lyric, “Fear is a liar.” It can be but not always.
The song is about having faith in God no matter what, which is why, if our faith is genuinely in God, then fear is lying to us about having faith in God. It is amazing how many times in the Bible God has to say to someone or His people, “Fear not.” We read these amazing stories in the Bible and ask, “How could these people have fear since God was for them?” The same reason we do. When we read the Bible we are looking back with the eyes of today into the fears of the past of biblical characters.
In Numbers 14:9, we read this by Joshua, “Do not rebel against the Lord, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land. They are only helpless prey to us! They have no protection, but the Lord is with us! Don’t be afraid of them!” (NLT). This passage sits in the context of Moses sending out the 12 spies into the Promised Land. Ten of the spies came back with a bad and fearful report and 2 spies, Joshua and Caleb, came back with a believing and fearless report. The people listened to the 10 and we all know how that played out.
If you remember, God struck those 10 spies with a plague that killed them. Now that would be a valid fear. The Bible says this in Proverbs 9:10a, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (NASB). Hey Zach Williams – fear is not always a liar but the beginning of wisdom. These 12 spies returned with different but similar reports. There was a majority report and a minority report. All agreed the land was fertile and “flowing with milk and honey.” Both agreed that the people living there would be a powerful force. Archeological evidence from this area suggests that the walls around the cities were 30-50 feet high and 15 feet thick. Worse, the people living there look like giants, similar to the Nephilim of old in Genesis 6:4.
To 10 of these scouts, the Israelites looked like shrimps or dwarfs in comparison. Caleb felt they should go take the land and gave a summarized version of why in Numbers 13:30 and Joshua felt they should take the land and expressed this in a more expanded report in Numbers 14:6-9. Why two different reports? The 10 spies saw the land differently in Numbers 13:27 as the land Moses was giving them. Joshua and Caleb saw the land God was giving them in Numbers 13:2. The 10 spies looked at the obvious odds stacked against them and Caleb and Joshua looked at God who had been and was still with them.
Joshua’s Hebrew name [הוֹשֵׁעַ, Yehoshua]. His name means more than “the Lord saves.” We read this in Numbers 13:16, “These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land; but Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun, Joshua” (NASB). There is a difference in these two names and Old Testament scholar I.M. Douglas writes this:
“It is one thing to have faith in salvation. That may simply represent the generic hope expressed in a thousand Hollywood movies that if you only believe strongly enough, something will turn up at the crucial moment. It may simply be faith in faith, belief in the power of believing. The name Yehoshua, however, expressed the specific hope that at the crucial moment someone would turn up. Joshua had faith in the saving presence of the Lord, Israel’s God.
That specific faith in the Lord’s presence and favor with his people was what drove Joshua and Caleb’s interpretation of the facts in front of them. They saw the same warriors as the majority did, protected by the same city walls, and yet concluded that those pagan nations not only could be but must be defeated. Like David facing Goliath, they saw their opponents according to a true scale. The difference between the majority and the minority reports was simply that the minority included God in their calculation” (Source: I. M. Douglas, Preach The Word Bible Commentary, “Numbers,” p. 170).
We are talking about the same God who had sent 10 plagues on Egypt – sound familiar – with each of the 10 spies, God inflicted a plague on them. Most scholars think it was the same type of plague God had brought against Egypt. We are talking about the same God who parted the Red Sea, who led the people by a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. These 10 spies did not hear about this – they were witnesses to them. We see a young shepherd boy, David facing Goliath with total fatih and confidence in God and we all know how that ended. Goliath lost his head – literally.
Assignment: What fear or fears do you have today? Giants may seem enormous compared to shrimp, but when we compare them to the power of the Almighty God, they get cut down to size quickly. If you fear the Lord, you will be free from your fears. If you forget the Lord, you will be enslaved by your fears. Which is it for you and what do you need to do immediately?
Scripture To Mediate On: Proverbs 19:23, “The fear of the Lord leads to life, So that one may sleep satisfied” (NASB).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Father, please forgive me when I did not trust in You and let fear overtake me. There are times I am just like those 10 spies looking at how big a problem or fear is and I let that stack the odds against me. I want to be like Caleb, Joshua, and the shepherd boy David. I know I can face those fearing giants and You will bring them down. Give me faith to trust in You, Your word, Your promises and in Your presence with me. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly