Chapter 16
The Overcoming of Fear
1. Sometimes we fear that we have not the ability to do a thing we ought to do; we fear that there are obstacles in the way. If there are obstacles, we have made them. God never put anything in the way of progress. When we get rid of our fears, we find that the way is clear for us to go the Lord’s way.
2. David said, “I will fear no evil; for thou art with me.” He spoke these words from a consciousness that was filled with the knowledge and the power of God. As a boy he was a keeper of the sheep. He was fearless when the lions and the wolves came to take the sheep. He had a sling, as many boys have, but he used it defensively instead of aggressively, and he practiced with it until he was efficient and fearless.
3. There came a great emergency, when David’s people stood in fear and trembling—afraid not of the Philistine army but of the great giant who came out and taunted the Israelites—a symbol of the giant that no man, in his own strength, is able to conquer. When the boy David came into the camp of the Israelitish army, he saw the condition of things at once. He saw that there was only one remedy. He went to meet the giant. He said, “I come to thee in the name of Jehovah of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.” With his usual weapon, the sling, he was a laughingstock to the giant who stood there sure of his own power—but the giant fell before David. David was fearless because he relied on the power of God and had something with which he could always hit the mark. What the armies of Israel could not accomplish, he brought about in the name of the Lord.
4. Probably each of us has to face some particular danger, one that is greater than all the rest of the ills that hinder him. If he knows and is faithful to Truth, he need never fear. Whatever troubles may seem to arise, he can meet them with Truth. Nothing can stand before it.
5. If you would overcome all your enemies and find your freedom, you must be true to your one defense. There is only one Power and one Presence—the Good. All scheming and falsity must fall before the consciousness that there is only one power—God. The power of darkness will vanish before it.
6. Let us make these thoughts a part of our consciousness:
I cannot he afraid, for God is omnipresent Good. God is omnipresent protection. “I will fear no evil; for thou art with me.”
