Phobia

Phobia

Bible:Isaiah 51:1-16

Reading

I, even I, am he who comforts you. Who are you that you fear mere mortals,
human beings who are but grass, that you forget the Lord your Maker, who
stretches out the heavens and who lays the foundations of the earth . . . ?
(VV.12-13).

Lots of people have phobias. There are really common ones like claustrophobia (the fear of confined spaces) and arachnophobia (the fear of spiders). But have you heard of some of these more ‘out there’ phobias? Nomophobia (the fear of being without your smartphone), hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia (the fear of long words, ironically!), cyberphobia (the fear of computers), erythrophobia (the fear of blushing) or phobophobia (the fear of phobias!). If we’re seriously affected by our phobias, they can really disrupt our lives. They might lead to things like panic attacks, difficulty breathing, dizziness and paralysing fear. Logically, phobias don’t make much sense. Why are we so affected by such small things? Yet the fear is real. Many of us have another phobia that can be equally paralysing—the fear of other people’s opinions. Sometimes we think and act as if our future and wellbeing rest solely in the hands of our friends, family and classmates. Isaiah told us how it looks to God when we become so worried about what people think of us that we panic and forget to trust Him first. He said that getting worked up over our friends’ opinions is a bad idea because they are just people who have little more real strength and permanency than grass (ISAIAH 51:12). They do not compare to what God thinks of us.
God knows how other people can hurt us (VV.13-14). But He has the last word

WHAT PEOPLE THINK OF US LASTS A MOMENT;
WHAT GOD THINKS OF US LASTS FOREVER.

Youth Edition – Our Daily Bread Ministries