Acts 5:17-29 – Fear and its Cure
The short sentence at the end of verse nineteen is worthy of careful consideration for it identifies one of the greatest hindrances to the progress of the work of God: ‘Then Tobiah sent letters to frighten me’.
We have no idea what the letters contained or what the nature was of the threats that they obviously contained, but what is absolutely clear is the purpose of the letters. They were sent to cause Nehemiah to become so fearful that he would stop the work. Why Tobiah thought that a threatening letter would have a greater effect than the threats already made is hard to understand, but the important thing to be aware of is that the threat of harm or danger is a constant tactic of the evil one to hinder the work of the gospel.
There are many fears that the devil uses to try to prevent Christians from doing the work of the Lord; there is the fear of rejection, the fear of failure, the fear of opposition or persecution, or the fear of unpopularity. The Scripture is very aware of the paralysing nature of fear, it tells us that ‘the fear of man brings a snare’ Prov. 29:25, but in the same verse it reminds us of the antidote to fear, ‘whoever trust in the Lord will be safe’. Nehemiah had evidently learned the lesson that was to be taught to believers in the New Testament; ‘God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” 2 Timothy 1:7 and ‘There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment’ 1 Jn. 4:18.
It was this trust and love that enabled the apostles to ignore the threats of imprisonment and beatings from the Sanhedrin and boldly declare ‘we must obey God rather than men’. Acts 5:29.
Questions
- What did they try to do to Nehemiah?
- What is the answer to fear?
Prayer Points
- Pray for the preaching and hearing of God’s Word tomorrow.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.