Run Toward Your Fears
Scripture: Judges 7:13–18
Elena had reached a crossroad in her life that many of us know well. She was competent, faithful, dependable, the person who everyone else leaned on. But for Elena, there was one area of her life that she avoided at all costs, and that was stepping into something new, that required her voice.
For years, Elena felt a pull to be a leader. To speak, to mentor, to step into deeper influence, but fear wrapped itself around that calling, causing Elena to be rooted and not move herself forward. “What if I fail?” she would ask herself. “What if I’m exposed, or people see I’m not enough?” And with these thoughts, Elena continue to hold back, instead busying herself in other things. Helpful always. Safe and hidden. Comfortable in her zone.
But there was one quiet morning, during her regular prayer time, Elena sensed God pressing on her heart. “Apply Elena. Speak up Elena. Step forward!” The very things she feared the most. Like Gideon, Elena didn’t feel bold at all, but she took one step toward the fear and had the conversation she’d been avoiding for so long. She showed up when she wanted to hide. And in that vulnerable place, she overheard something unexpected. An affirmation, opportunity, and clarity she could never have gained from a distance. Her confidence didn’t come from suddenly feeling fearless. It came from discovering that God had already gone ahead of her.
Many of us can relate to knowing this place too. The avoided conversation, the delayed obedience, the calling postponed because fear feels much louder than faith. But what if the breakthrough you’re praying for is waiting on the other side of your obedience? What if? What if!
Fear has a way of convincing us to retreat. It whispers that we are not ready, not strong enough, not qualified. Yet again and again in Scripture, God does something unexpected! He invites His people not to run away from fear, but to run toward it, because that is often where His voice becomes clearest.
In Judges 7, Gideon is standing on the edge of his calling. His army has been reduced to a fraction of its size and logic says, “This is where you pull back!” Gideon is still so afraid and God knows it. But God does not ridicule or embarrass Gideon because of his fear. Instead, God gives him an assignment right in the middle of it! “Go down to the camp,” God says. Not after you feel brave. Not after you feel confident. Not after you’re put together. But now!
And when Gideon obeys, he overhears in a dream, spoken by the enemy, declaring his victory. Courage doesn’t rise from Gideon’s strength, it rises from the revelation. And that revelation only comes because Gideon moved toward the place he feared the most.
Gideon’s story teaches us something profound. God does not require fearlessness but He invites faith-filled movement. Courage often follows obedience, not the other way around and sometimes the confirmation we need is hidden in the very place we’re afraid to go. The enemy’s camp was already speaking Gideon’s victory before the battle ever began. Fear told Gideon he was outnumbered but God revealed he was already victorious.
In this time of fasting ask yourself, what fear has been narrating your story recently? And what might God be saying that you haven’t heard yet, because you haven’t moved close enough to listen? What fear have you been avoiding instead of facing? Where might God be asking you to take a step, not in confidence, but in obedience? And what would it look like to trust that God has already gone before you?
Go ahead. Ask yourself.
God Bless You
