"Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest," was God's message to Joshua (Josh. 1:9). It is recorded many times in the Bible that when this command, "Be not afraid," or this one, "Fear not," was obeyed, harmonious solutions of individual problems, as well as national and international difficulties, resulted; and the reward is as available today as it was in those days.
God's commands and His assurances of protection, eliminating fear and destroying evil, were uttered by patriarch, prophet, apostle, and, above all, by the Master, Christ Jesus. Early in the Old Testament, a well-remembered example reveals that Moses, during an episode recorded in Exodus, maintained his trust in the one God and was unafraid. Though the Red Sea was in front of him and the overwhelmingly superior Egyptian army was behind him, he fearlessly voiced to his people God's command: "Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you to day" (Ex. 14:13). With fear overcome, his people went safely through the Red Sea on dry land, while all the pursuing Egyptians, with their horses and chariots, were drowned. In other situations also Moses eliminated fear as a first step in proving God's ever-presence.
About fifteen centuries later, as recorded in the New Testament, Jesus, relying on the all-power of God, was constantly demonstrating God's allness by destroying fear as a preliminary to healing. According to Mark's Gospel, Jesus' powerful pronouncement, "Be not afraid" (5:36), was used with telling effect when he was implored by Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, to come and heal his daughter, who was lying at the point of death. As they were on their way, one from his house informed Jairus that his daughter had died. Yet the Bible records Jesus' authoritative command: "Be not afraid, only believe," and the account goes on to tell us that when Jesus came to the house "he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, . . . Damsel, I say unto thee, arise. And straightway the damsel arose, and walked."
