#FEARLESS365 is a yearlong study of God’s commandment to us to live without fear. For 365 days, we will focus on one scripture and volunteers from all over the world will share their personal thoughts and what God has shared with them on the specific verse. For more info… go here.

Then I perceived that surely God had not sent him, but he uttered his prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. He was hired for this reason, that I might become frightened and act accordingly and sin, so that they might have an evil report in order that they could reproach me.

Nehemiah 6:12-13

“I realized that God had not sent him, but that he had prophesied against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.”

In this exact moment, the world seems so uncertain and the worst case scenario seems to greet me at every turn. Everything feels so very loud, we are so connected to all that is happening, bad news can seem to be everywhere. We can feel attacked by those we don’t know and those that we know intimately. Leaders in our churches seem to have let us down, how can we find God in this broken world?

Yet, this verse seems to be hand picked to tell me that God has not sent an enemy here to harm us. That is never his plan. It is so easy to get caught up in all that is going on around us and forget to look for God. Yet, he gave us his word so many years ago, and part of that miracle is that his word is still true and good and relevant all these years later.

Life can sometimes feel so hard and fear can so easily settle into our souls. I see my friends calling each other names, acting in hate, ready to throw ugliness at each other in the name of being right. I see so many ready to blame everyone around them for the pain of the world. I see so many ready to believe they have all of the answers and so their eyes and ears are closed to those around them. So often this all comes from a place of fear in our hearts about what is happening in the world.

But God does not want us to be afraid. With him we can be fearless. He has given us free will and because of this gift the world does not always follow the plan that he would want for us. But he has promised that He will always be with us, that we will inherit his kingdom, and we need to rest in this. Even when those in our human family hurt us or seem to side with hate, we do not act out of fear. We do not succumb to hate or to violence or words or actions. We rise above this as we rest in his love and his promises. This lets us be his light right here in the world no matter what our circumstances or who seems to be against us. And in the end, it can all be used for his glory.

Amy Betters-Midtvedt is an Educator, Writer at hidingintheclosetwithcoffee.com who lives in Appleton, WI. She blogs with her best friend and former teaching partner about their parenting journeys.