Dear Redeeming Grace,

As we continued our series in Nehemiah last week, we thought about ways to exercise faith over fear. I would suspect you've had some times this week where fear tempted or affected you. I'm led to think that because fear is such a common emotion.

In fact it's so common that the most often repeated command in all of scripture is some form of "Fear not" or "Do not be afraid". And so often those commands are followed by the reason not to fear; God is always present with his people.

Over and over throughout scripture we see the faithfulness of God because he keeps his covenant that he will be our God. Fear can tempt us to believe that God isn't aware, doesn't care or isn't good. Faith is the opposite. Faith believes the promise of Jesus, "I am with you always." Faith believes with the Psalmist, "You are good and do good" (Ps. 119:68 ESV)

The next time fear creeps in, take comfort and strength in the reality that God is with you in that moment and he will be faithful.