When Fear Keeps Repeating Itself
What to Remember When You’re Afraid
Fear is repetitive.
Have you noticed that?
It rarely gives you one frightening thought and then politely moves on.
It circles back.
What if this happens?
What if it doesn’t work out?
What if I mess this up?
What if they leave?
What if the answer is bad?
What if I’m not ready?
And then, just in case you somehow missed it the first twelve times, your brain brings the whole playlist back around again.
Fear rehearses.
That may be one reason God repeats Himself so much in Isaiah.
Listen to what the Lord says:
“Fear thou not; for I am with thee.”
“I will strengthen thee.”
“I will help thee.”
“I will uphold thee.”
—Isaiah 41:10
A few verses later:
“I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.”
—Isaiah 41:13
Then again:
“Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.”
—Isaiah 43:1
God repeats Himself too.
Maybe because He knows we need Him to.
When I was little—probably six or seven years old—I was downstairs watching television during a thunderstorm.
Our basement did not have any windows.
Then the power went out.
Complete darkness.
I could not see where to go, and I was too afraid to move.
So I sat there.
Eventually I prayed and asked Heavenly Father to help me.
Not long after I finished, I heard my mom’s voice calling for me.
I answered from the basement.
Just hearing her helped.
But then I saw something else.
A faint glow appeared in the darkness.
My mom was coming toward me with a candle.
I still remember that light.
The power had not come back on.
The basement was still dark.
The storm was still outside.
But suddenly I knew where to go.
I could move toward the light and toward the voice of someone I trusted.
I think that is sometimes what God does for us.
We often want Him to turn every light back on immediately.
Fix the problem.
Answer the question.
Remove the uncertainty.
End the storm.
And sometimes He does.
But listen carefully to what He promises in Isaiah:
“When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee.”
—Isaiah 43:2
Notice what He does not say.
He does not say:
You will never have to go through water.
He says:
When you do, I will be with you.
He continues:
“When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned.”
The promise is not always escape from the difficult thing.
Sometimes the promise is His presence inside it.
That matters because there will be moments when the thing you are praying about does not immediately change.
The test result still has not come.
Your parents are still struggling.
The friendship is still complicated.
You still do not know what happens next.
You are still waiting for an answer.
The lights have not come back on yet.
But that does not mean God has left you sitting alone in the basement.
Sometimes His answer begins with:
I’m here.
Listen for My voice.
Move toward the light I have given you.
Give Me your hand.
One of my favorite images in Isaiah is not God standing at a distance shouting instructions.
It is God saying:
“I… will hold thy right hand.”
That is different.
A little child crossing a frightening street does not need an explanation of traffic engineering.
He needs a hand.
And sometimes we do too.
Faith is not pretending you are never afraid.
Faith is deciding whom you will trust while you are afraid.
There is an important difference.
Sometimes we accidentally make fear sound like a spiritual failure.
If I really had faith, I wouldn’t feel this way.
If I trusted God more, I wouldn’t be nervous.
If my testimony were stronger, this would not scare me.
But some of the greatest people in scripture were afraid.
Joshua was told repeatedly to be strong and courageous, which probably means there were moments when courage was exactly what he needed.
The disciples experienced fear.
Prophets experienced fear.
Jesus Himself understood anguish in Gethsemane.
The goal is not to become a person who never feels fear.
The goal is to become someone who knows where to turn when fear arrives.
President George Q. Cannon taught:
“No matter how serious the trial, how deep the distress, how great the affliction, [God] will never desert us. He never has, and He never will.”
I love that.
Not:
Nothing frightening will ever happen.
Not:
Every story will immediately turn out exactly the way you hoped.
But:
He will never desert us.
So maybe when fear becomes repetitive, our faith needs to become repetitive too.
Fear says:
What if?
Faith answers:
He is with me.
Fear says:
I cannot do this.
Faith answers:
He will strengthen me.
Fear says:
I am alone.
Faith answers:
He will hold my hand.
Fear says:
I cannot see what happens next.
Faith answers:
I may not need to see everything yet.
I may only need enough light for the next step.
That night in the basement, the candle did not light the whole house.
It did not need to.
It gave me enough light to move.
Sometimes God does the same.
Scripture
“Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God.”
—Isaiah 41:10
“I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.”
—Isaiah 41:13
“When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee.”
—Isaiah 43:2
Reflection
What fear has been repeating itself in your mind lately?
What do you tend to forget about God when you become afraid?
Which promise in Isaiah 41–43 do you most need right now?
Can you remember a time when God did not immediately remove a problem but gave you enough strength, peace, or direction to keep moving?
What might His help look like in your situation before the situation itself changes?
Today’s Challenge
Choose one sentence from Isaiah and make it the sentence you rehearse today.
Maybe:
“I am with thee.”
Or:
“I will help thee.”
Or:
“I will hold thy right hand.”
Every time your mind starts rehearsing the fear, deliberately rehearse the promise.
You do not have to pretend the problem is small.
Just remember that your God is bigger.
Christ-Centered Thought
Jesus Christ never promised that discipleship would mean avoiding every storm.
He promised something better.
His presence.
His strength.
His help.
His hand.
There may be moments when you wish He would simply turn every light back on.
Sometimes He will.
But sometimes He comes toward you in the darkness with just enough light to help you take another step.
And maybe that is enough for today.
You do not have to see the whole way home.
Listen for His voice.
Look for His light.
And give Him your hand.
Fear may keep repeating itself.
Let faith repeat itself too.
“Fear thou not; for I am with thee.”
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