How Not to Fear the World

Isaiah 8:11–22 (NLT)

The fear of the Lord is a complex topic, and as you will see, we have not exhausted it yet. The proper fear of the Lord is the starting point of our faith, the way we continue on in our faith, and the key to a proper theology about God. Not only is the fear of the Lord foundational to all those things, but there is one more aspect I want to look at today. Last week, I said that people who don’t believe the Creation account of Genesis seem to fear man more than God’s Word, and I got to thinking that there are a lot of areas of our lives in which we fear man over God. Today I want to press further into that, and explore the idea that if we properly fear the Lord, we won’t be afraid of anything else.

In Matthew 10:28, Jesus says, “Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Jesus, of course, is correct. Do we really need to fear anything but God? Nothing that happens to us can “touch” our soul.

Not only should we not fear anything but God, look at what King David says in Psalm 27:1–3. He says:

1 The Lord is my light and my salvation— so why should I be afraid?The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble?

2 When evil people come to devour me, when my enemies and foes attack me, they will stumble and fall.

3 Though a mighty army surrounds me, my heart will not be afraid.Even if I am attacked, I will remain confident.

What was David confident of? He knew the Lord was with Him. David knew the truth of what Jesus later says: that all he really needs to fear is God. If God is with him, then nothing else truly matters. God will help him.

We see this theme throughout the Bible. Repeatedly, God commands us not to fear or worry, but to trust in Him. We will only be able to do this, though, if we have a proper fear of the Lord rooted in place. David was able to say confidently, “Though a mighty army surrounds me, my heart will not be afraid,” because he had a proper fear of the Lord. He knew who God was, so no other fears were able to penetrate his heart.

To maintain this state of trust in the Lord, even in the midst of trouble, is sometimes difficult to do, isn’t it? It’s something that we must consistently work at. So many things are amiss in the world that it’s hard not to be afraid. Thankfully, the Bible tells us how to combat fear.

The particular passage I want us to look at today is Isaiah 8:11–22. It shows us how not to fear the world. Let’s read it:

11 The Lord has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does. He said,

12 “Don’t call everything a conspiracy, like they do,    and don’t live in dread of what frightens them.13 Make the Lord of Heaven’s Armies holy in your life.    He is the one you should fear.He is the one who should make you tremble.14 He will keep you safe.But to Israel and Judah    he will be a stone that makes people stumble,    a rock that makes them fall.And for the people of Jerusalem    he will be a trap and a snare.15 Many will stumble and fall,    never to rise again.    They will be snared and captured.”

16 Preserve the teaching of God;    entrust his instructions to those who follow me.17 I will wait for the Lord,    who has turned away from the descendants of Jacob.    I will put my hope in him.

18 I and the children the Lord has given me serve as signs and warnings to Israel from the Lord of Heaven’s Armies who dwells in his Temple on Mount Zion.

19 Someone may say to you, “Let’s ask the mediums and those who consult the spirits of the dead. With their whisperings and mutterings, they will tell us what to do.” But shouldn’t people ask God for guidance? Should the living seek guidance from the dead?

20 Look to God’s instructions and teachings! People who contradict his word are completely in the dark. 

21 They will go from one place to another, weary and hungry. And because they are hungry, they will rage and curse their king and their God. They will look up to heaven 

22 and down at the earth, but wherever they look, there will be trouble and anguish and dark despair. They will be thrown out into the darkness.

This passage is rich, so we will look at it section by section. First, let’s note what verse 11 starts off by saying: “The Lord has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does.”

I think that is a warning we all need to heed. In fact, if you are anything like me, you probably need to hear this reminder every day: Don’t think like everyone else thinks!

This is difficult to do. Last week, I gave an example of Christians who change God’s Word about creation to reflect what everyone else thinks. Some do this because they want to fit into their culture. In their effort to conform to the world—and because they fear man more than God—they accept scientific theories over God’s Word. The fear of the Lord, though, causes us to take God’s Word seriously. If we fear the Lord, we won’t change or dishonor His Word.

Look at what Psalm 33:6-9 says: “The Lord merely spoke, and the heavens were created. He breathed the word, and all the stars were born. He assigned the sea its boundaries and locked the oceans in vast reservoirs. Let the whole world fear the Lord, and let everyone stand in awe of him. For when he spoke, the world began! It appeared at his command.” I came across this passage after last week’s sermon, or I would have included it then. But it’s perfect for today. Why should we fear the Lord? He spoke and created the world! That should fill us with awe and reverent fear! If we don’t take God’s Word seriously, though, or if we want to fit in with the world, then we diminish His power, and lose our rightful fear of Him. If we have a proper fear of the Lord, that fear of the Lord will displace our fear of man.

So, don’t think like the world thinks. Don’t go along with their faulty view of the world. Which is what the next verses, 12-13, are saying: “Don’t call everything a conspiracy, like they do, and don’t live in dread of what frightens them. Make the Lord of Heaven’s Armies holy in your life. He is the one you should fear. He is the one who should make you tremble.”

The world lives in constant dread. If we think like the world thinks, then we too will live in fear of what frightens them. Isaiah is telling us: Don’t fear what they fear; fear the Lord. He is showing us that the fear of the Lord will release us from worldly fears.

In a culture driven by panic, the godly response isn’t to fear, but to anchor ourselves in the truth of God’s Word. We don’t need to panic. We don’t need to join in the fear. We don’t need to call everything a conspiracy and live in dread.

That doesn’t mean that we should never question authority. It doesn’t mean that we should believe everything that we’re told. It means we should not go along with the crowd. In Matthew 24:24, Jesus warns us, saying, “For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform great signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones.” That means we should be discerning so we are not misled.

So, this verse is telling us not to be consumed by fear and paranoia, especially when others are panicking about everything. Worldly fear spreads like a contagion. We must look to God’s Word to lead us, then we will be better able to withstand all the fear-mongering and propaganda. All day long, we are bombarded by news cycles that try to get our attention. Fear sells papers, as they say. We must seek the truth prayerfully and carefully, using the wisdom and discernment the Holy Spirit gives us. We shouldn’t let fear be our guide. God’s Word must be our guide.

Again, as verse 13 tells us, “Make the Lord of Heaven’s Armies holy in your life. He is the one you should fear. He is the one who should make you tremble.” That tells us that the remedy to the fear of the world is a proper fear of the Lord.

This fear of the Lord is greater than a simple acknowledgement that the Lord is to be respected. The Hebrew words that Isaiah uses are nothing short of actual fear. It says, “Let Him be your fear, let Him be your dread.”

In a song I wrote a while ago, one of my lines about God is, “We are right to be afraid.” A friend of mine, who is not a Christian, asked me about that line. He said he had never heard that before. I explained to him that God is all-powerful, and so we should be fearful of Him, for God holds our very souls in His hands. My friend had only ever heard that God is love. And of course, just knowing that God loves him was not enough to convert him. He did not know anything about God being holy and just and loving us enough to die for our sins so we could be in His holy presence. We must, as I’ve said before, tell people the whole story. We must explain to people that God is so great we are right to be afraid of Him. He is the one we should fear and dread. His love for us becomes so much more incredible and valuable if we start by explaining that first.

So, if we fear the Lord, then we won’t fear the world. If we fear the Lord, then we won’t be swept up in the fears or conspiracies of our culture. As 2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.”

God’s Word is an anchor for us when the world is shaking. Look at what the next verses tell us. Isaiah 8:14-15 says, “He will keep you safe. But to Israel and Judah he will be a stone that makes people stumble, a rock that makes them fall. And for the people of Jerusalem he will be a trap and a snare. Many will stumble and fall, never to rise again. They will be snared and captured.”

That tells us that God is either a safe place or a stumbling stone. This is similar to what 1 Peter 2:7–8 says: “Yes, you who trust him recognize the honor God has given him. But for those who reject him, ‘The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’ And, ‘He is the stone that makes people stumble, the rock that makes them fall.’ They stumble because they do not obey God’s word, and so they meet the fate that was planned for them.”

Those of us who believe in Jesus, find refuge. Those who reject Jesus, stumble.

True disciples cling to God’s Word and wait on Him. We do what verses 16-17 instruct us to do. It says, “Preserve the teaching of God; entrust his instructions to those who follow me. I will wait for the Lord, who has turned away from the descendants of Jacob. I will put my hope in him.”

This reminds me of what David says at the end of Psalm 27. He says, “Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord” (Psalm 27:14).

Rather than being fearful of the trouble of this world, we should wait patiently for the Lord to help us. We should not lose hope and give in to despair. If we know who God is, we can have faith in His infinite power to help us.

If we don’t wait for the Lord and we let go of the teachings of God’s Word, we will find ourselves influenced by the world and will easily be overcome by the fears of this world. We see in the next passage of our scripture for today that rejecting God’s Word not only leads to fear of man, but it leads to darkness. 

Isaiah 8:18-22 says, “I and the children the Lord has given me serve as signs and warnings to Israel from the Lord of Heaven’s Armies who dwells in his Temple on Mount Zion. Someone may say to you, ‘Let’s ask the mediums and those who consult the spirits of the dead. With their whisperings and mutterings, they will tell us what to do.’ But shouldn’t people ask God for guidance? Should the living seek guidance from the dead? Look to God’s instructions and teachings! People who contradict his word are completely in the dark. They will go from one place to another, weary and hungry. And because they are hungry, they will rage and curse their king and their God. They will look up to heaven and down at the earth, but wherever they look, there will be trouble and anguish and dark despair. They will be thrown out into the darkness.”

This is a very stark warning. If we abandon God and seek other things for guidance, we will find ourselves lost in the dark. That reminds me of what Hosea 4:12 says: “They ask a piece of wood for advice! They think a stick can tell them the future! Longing after idols has made them foolish.”

I think that is happening today. Have you noticed how many people are asking “a piece of wood for advice”? So many people are asking AI language models for advice, but they might as well be asking a piece of wood. People are literally treating the AI models as their therapist or friend. They are asking it for advice on everything from relationships to theology. I think it’s one thing to use those things as a search engine, but woe to the people who want them to run their lives. I think it’s only a matter of time before people worship them like gods.

Look again at what Isaiah tells us: “But shouldn’t people ask God for guidance? Should the living seek guidance from the dead? Look to God’s instructions and teachings! People who contradict his word are completely in the dark.”

Those computer programs are not alive; they are dead. They cannot help us. Why should we ask them for advice or inspiration when we can talk to the living God? He is here, and He is not silent. He waits to speak to us.

But this is why we need to be in God’s Word every day. The world and its programed computers do not have the truth. As verse 20 said, “people who contradict his word are completely in the dark.” If people have rejected or altered God’s Word, then they have descended into darkness.

I really like how the ESV translates this verse: “To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.” We must run to the Word of God. We must be careful to speak according to God’s Word.

When we encounter conspiracies and rumors, war or danger, trouble or worry, what should our response be? To the teaching and to the testimony! Let us run to God’s Word. Let us see what God would have us do and believe. If you read the news and it’s all doom and gloom, quick, run to the word! If you hear a bad report at the doctor, quick, run to the Word! If you feel depressed or anxious, quick, run to the word! We should run to the word because it’s there that we will see the dawn break across our hearts and minds.

I think this is what Hosea 6:3 is talking about: “Oh, that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know Him. He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring.”

When we know the Lord and we search Scripture to hear what He would say to us, then we will no longer be in the dark, filled with fear or worry. Like a new day dawning, the truth of God will shine into our hearts and fill us with peace, assuring us that the same God who moved throughout all of Scripture is the same God who is present and ready to help us today.

How much of our anxiety results from fearing man instead of God? Who is stronger? Who is able to help us? Who should we fear but God? If cultural “conspiracies” or panics are driving you away from God’s peace, run to the Word of God. Seek refuge in His strength and power. Remind yourself that there is nothing to fear if God is with you.

If we know who God is, and that knowledge produces proper fear of His greatness, then we will not fear the world. The fear of the Lord displaces our fear of man. We also will no longer fear what the world fears. Rejecting God’s Word leads only to darkness, but instead of being a stumbling block, God will be our safe place. As we cling to His word and wait on Him, faith will dawn in our hearts and minds, and we will not fear.

Let us do what those instructions to the kings told us to do in Deuteronomy: read God’s word each day, copy it down, memorize it, and hold it in your mind. Let’s not think like everyone else does. Let’s not call everything a conspiracy, like they do. We don’t need to live in dread of what frightens them. We regard the Lord of Heaven’s Armies as holy. He is the only one we should fear. He is the only one who should make us tremble. And His Word promises that He will keep us safe. So, let’s run to the Word and seek shelter in God’s promises. If we properly fear God, nothing can touch us, for God is with us.

Pray: Heavenly Father, thank You for giving us Your Holy Scriptures, where we learn who You are and all that You have done for us. Thank You for loving us so deeply that You sent Jesus to die for our sins, so we could be with You. Lord, help us not to think like the world thinks. Help us to remember who You are, so that we trust You more than we fear the world around us. Help us to live in awe of You, with hearts that are fully Yours. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.