Article January 31, 2000 Issue

Unafraid of their names

The Bible—victor in the battle against fear

By Carol Rockhold Miller

As I arrived at my daughter's nursery school one day, I encountered a mother in a state of near panic. She had just learned that one of our children's classmates was ill with scarlet fever. The fear and helplessness that she and others felt took me by surprise, and soon I also began to feel fearful.

As I turned my thought to God for peace and guidance, the Bible verse "Be not afraid of their faces" came to mind (Jer.1:8). At that moment, I paraphrased it to myself, "Be not afraid of their names."

Throughout the Bible, the message is brought out in countless beautiful verses and wonderful stories that the presence and power of God, divine Love, the Father and Mother of all, are an unfailing help in trouble. I began to see this situation as the temptation to believe that there could be a particular circumstance, a particular disease with a dreaded name, outside of God's ever—presence and not subject to His all—power. This, I knew, was impossible.

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