I was never afraid of the future. I was the kid with her nose in a book about early explorers and her head in the clouds dreaming of adventure ahead. Then, that changed. It started with a phone call from an old friend who had a new job opening for me. It ended with a decision to pack my bags, pick up my life, and move two thousand miles across the country—only days after getting married. This time, I was bringing not only my own excitement (and stress) but also a whole other person with his own mix of feelings toward this change. What could go wrong as we uprooted our entire lives, right? If I’m honest, when I thought about what was ahead, for the first time, I felt fear.

What if I made the wrong decision? What if this is the worst way to start off a new marriage? What if we get there and I regret it? My mind was filled with worry just as quickly as the days toward our departure flew by.

This kind of fear is familiar to many of us. What do we do when our fear seems louder than our hope? We find Christ in the midst of our need as all that we need.

Fear’s Force on our Future

Our fear often leads to worry. As Jesus shares one of His most famous teachings called The Sermon on the Mount, He speaks to much that we face in life, including ten verses about worry and the future. Highlighted pointedly in the middle of this section is a simple but profound callout. He asks: “Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying?” (Matthew 6:27). Although likely rhetorical in nature, the simple answer is no. We cannot add a single hour to our life by worrying, so why do we let our fear of the future force us into almost debilitating worry?

We think our worry shows us how to fix our future’s fears. We think to ourselves, If I can plan, prepare, get it all back in control . . . then I can prevent my fears from coming true. Yet all the security we try to “add” to our lives through this worried control fades. Like Jesus said, worry adds nothing to us. In reality, our fear subtracts from our lives. Our present relationships take a hit—because we are caught up in fear of the future. Our current jobs don’t get the best of us—because we are caught up in fear of what might be. We let worry force us into fear instead of forcing us toward Christ.

How can we refocus on Christ and be free?

God’s Power in the Past

Instead of looking toward the future with fear, we must look to the past with faith. We see this in Scripture. Frequently in the Old Testament, God calls His people to “remember” (Deuteronomy 5:15, Joshua 1:13, Isaiah 46:9, for merely three examples). When they could have looked ahead to the future and its myriad of hypotheticals, they instead look back.

In the book of Joshua, the Israelites had lots of reason to fear the future. They were in the Promised Land, but it seemed like the battles ahead were impossible to win. Amidst this environment, God continues to provide, and He instructs His people to construct something we refer to as “stones of remembrance.” We see these types of stones again several times throughout the Old Testament.

In Joshua 3–4, the Lord makes a way for His people to cross the Jordan River, letting His people pass through on dry ground. This is amazing! It would have been incredibly difficult without the Lord’s work. After the crossing, He calls them to put up stones of remembrance to mark what God did for them. God thereby points to the past instead of answering their questions about the future. We read in Joshua 4:20–24:

Then Joshua set up in Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken from the Jordan, and he said to the Israelites, “In the future, when your children ask their fathers, ‘What is the meaning of these stones?’ you should tell your children, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ For the LORD your God dried up the water of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over . . . This is so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD’s hand is strong, and so that you may always fear the LORD your God.”

God challenged the Israelites to remember all the great works He had done, even when their future felt uncertain. Looking beyond their fear, their eyes were to look into the past—to the work of the strong, faithful Lord they worship in awe. They are to focus on God’s character: a sovereign Lord who provides for them, leads them, and loves them. They are secure because their future belongs to Him.

Yet we must look even deeper into our hearts. Are we secure because we are counting on God to act for us in our future exactly how He has in our past and specifically how we want? Or are we humble enough to know that what our faithful, good God has done is not a guarantor of what God will do? Instead, what God has done is a guarantor of who He is. This is more than enough! We must be disciplined to trust in Him above and beyond what He does. We combat fear-filled worry by fixing our eyes on our faithful God.

How? We identify and name that specific fear. Then we replace the fear with remembering God’s faithfulness. We don’t dwell on the future but dwell on His faithfulness in the past. Then we trust Him, no matter what our future holds. We don’t need a certain outcome for our future as much as we need the peace of His presence to rush into our present.

Christ’s Peace for our Present

We are invited into a rich life in Christ in the surrendered present. In the New Testament, we see that Christ is God’s ultimate provision—twho secures our future, covers all sins in our past, and changes everything about our here and now.

Who is Christ? Christ is the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). And He Himself is our peace (Ephesians 2:14). When we follow Him, His lordship is what takes first place in our lives, our hearts, and our minds. In Colossians, we read how pervasive Christ’s peace is in our lives: “And let the peace of Christ, to which you were also called in one body, rule your hearts. And be thankful” (Colossians 3:15).

Our lives are no longer characterized by fear of the future. When we surrender our fears and fix our minds on Christ, peace rules our lives. Worry no longer plagues our minds, because peace has the final say. And uncertainty no longer sickens our hearts, because Christ is on our heart’s throne.

And when Christ rules, thankfulness flows. Not only once, but moment by moment. Daily, our worry turns to worshipful wonder. Wonder at how God is so gracious to us, to give us Christ—so we praise Him. Wonder at how faithful we’ll get to see Him be in the years to come—so we praise Him. Wonder at how merciful He is to comfort us with His Spirit every step of the way—so we praise Him.

Worry has no rule over us. Fear of the future has no power. We belong to Christ, our Prince of Peace. His faithfulness rules our lives. Each day, we are disciplined to trust Him more and more—no matter what.

May all our fears fade at the feet of Jesus.

Author Bio:

Deborah Spooner is the Director of Next Generation Ministries at Immanuel Nashville. She holds a Master of Arts in Theological Studies from Westminster Theological Seminary and a Certificate in Biblical Counseling from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Passionate about creativity, coaching, and Christ, you can probably find her with a book or pen in hand while trying out a new restaurant with her wonderful husband.

Additional Resources:

It Is Well | Anxiety Bible Study		Peace Under Pressure | Stress Bible Study		When Fear Meets Faith - Men's Bible Study
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