When Fear Gets Loud
Whose Voice Matters Most?
There are a lot of things teenagers can be afraid of, and most of them probably have nothing to do with the kinds of things we normally picture when we hear the word fear.
You might be afraid of being embarrassed, rejected, left out, talked about, or disappointing somebody you care about. Maybe you are afraid you won’t be good enough, that you will fail, or that your future won’t work out the way you hope.
The problem with fear is not simply that it makes us uncomfortable.
If we aren’t careful, eventually fear can start making decisions for us.
You know something isn’t right, but you go along with it because you are afraid of what your friends will think. You feel a prompting to say or do something, but you ignore it because you don’t want to look weird. You change something about yourself because approval from someone else starts feeling more important than being the person you know God wants you to be.
That is one reason a phrase repeated throughout Proverbs is so interesting:
“The fear of the Lord.”
At first, that can sound a little strange.
Why would God use fear to help us overcome fear?
The kind of fear Proverbs is talking about is very different from being terrified of Heavenly Father.
To fear the Lord means to reverence Him, love Him, trust Him, respect Him, and care deeply about what He thinks. It means that His voice begins to matter more than all the other voices competing for our attention.
Think about it like a volume knob.
Friends have a voice. Parents have a voice. Social media has a voice. Teachers, coaches, people you want to impress, and the culture around you all have voices.
And then there is the voice of the Spirit and the voice of the Lord.
Fear has an interesting way of turning certain voices way up.
Suddenly someone else’s opinion feels enormous. What if they laugh at me? What if they leave me out? What if they think I’m strange? What if I have to stand alone?
The fear of the Lord does not necessarily turn every other voice off.
It helps us turn His voice up until it matters most.
There is a great example of this in the Book of Mormon.
Alma and his people saw a Lamanite army approaching them, and the scriptures tell us they were frightened. Their fear was real because the danger was real.
Alma did not tell them to pretend nothing was happening.
Instead, he told them to remember the Lord.
Then scripture says:
“Therefore they hushed their fears.”
—Mosiah 23:28
Notice what happened first.
The army had not disappeared. Their circumstances had not changed. God had not yet removed the thing they were afraid of.
Something changed inside them.
They remembered God, and somehow what they remembered about Him became greater than the fear in front of them.
I think that is one of the most important lessons we can learn about fear.
Sometimes we pray for God to remove whatever frightens us, and sometimes He does. But there may also be times when His first answer is not to remove the situation but to strengthen us enough to face it.
Joseph Smith learned something similar through a painful experience.
After repeatedly asking the Lord if Martin Harris could take the 116 manuscript pages, Joseph eventually allowed him to take them, and the pages were lost.
Later the Lord told Joseph:
“You should not have feared man more than God.”
Think about that.
Joseph knew what the Lord had already told him, but eventually pressure from another person became greater than his confidence in God.
I wonder how often that happens to us in smaller ways.
How many choices get changed because we fear what somebody else will say? How many promptings get ignored because we fear looking different? How many standards get pushed aside because, in that moment, another person’s approval feels more important than God’s?
Maybe courage does not mean you stop feeling afraid.
Maybe courage is remembering enough about Jesus Christ that fear no longer gets to make the decision.
You may already have evidence in your own life that this works.
Think of a time you were nervous or afraid to do something right but chose to do it anyway. Maybe you stood up for somebody, told the truth, walked away from something, followed a prompting, or made a choice you knew would not be popular.
What helped you do it?
And afterward, what did you learn about God?
Those experiences matter because every time you choose the Lord over fear, you learn a little more about who He is and what happens when you trust Him.
Scripture
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.”
—Proverbs 1:7
“But Alma went forth and stood among them, and exhorted them that they should not be frightened, but that they should remember the Lord their God and he would deliver them. Therefore they hushed their fears.”
—Mosiah 23:27–28
Reflection
What fears have the greatest influence on people your age?
Can you remember a time when you were afraid to do something right but chose to do it anyway?
What helped you make that choice, and what did the experience teach you about Jesus Christ?
Today’s Challenge
Identify one fear that has been getting louder than it should.
Then ask yourself:
What do I already know about Jesus Christ that can make this fear smaller?
Maybe you know He will strengthen you when you stand alone. Maybe you know your worth does not change because somebody rejects you. Maybe you know doing what is right matters more than being popular. Maybe you have already experienced His help when you were afraid before.
Write down one truth you know about Him and return to it when fear gets loud.
You may not be able to immediately change the situation.
But you can decide whose voice will matter most.
Christ-Centered Thought
Jesus Christ understands what it means to face fear, rejection, pressure, suffering, and uncertainty.
He was mocked, falsely accused, and abandoned by friends. He knew what awaited Him in Gethsemane and on the cross, and yet He continued to do the Father’s will.
Because of Him, courage does not have to mean that you never feel afraid.
It can mean that your trust in Christ becomes greater than your fear.
Sometimes the situation may not immediately change, but as you remember who Jesus Christ is, something inside of you can.
Like Alma’s people, you may discover that faith can help you hush your fears.
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