Sunday, August 9, 2026

Scripture: Numbers 13:26-14:4

Sermon Title: Fear and Anxiety

This week we have a major milestone in our family. Our youngest Isla is starting Kindergarten. So if my eyes look a little weepy on Tuesday morning, you’ll know why. I know we have a few kids and youth in the congregation experiencing some major milestones like Kindergarten, we also have some starting middle school, and some starting high school as well. Milestones are fun to document in our lives.

One milestone that stands out to me is that I remember the first movie we ever took our kids to see in the movie theater. It was Inside Out 2, the sequel to Inside Out. For those who are not familiar with the movies, Inside Out and Inside Out 2 are Disney/Pixar movies that follow the life of a little girl named Riley and her emotions are all characters in the movie as well.

In Inside Out the emotions are joy, sadness, fear, disgust, and anger. Inside Out 2 has Riley getting older and introduces more emotions that she is experiencing as she is becoming a teenager. Emotions such as anxiety, envy, Ennui, embarrassment, and nostalgia. And for those of you like me, if you have never heard of Ennui before, it’s a French word that is defined by indifference, boredom, annoyance.

Inspired by Inside Out, these next few weeks we’ll be in a series looking at emotions. We won’t cover all of the emotions in the movies, and some weeks like this week we’ll combine a couple of emotions together. But we’ll be looking at emotions and seeing what we can learn about emotions from scripture. Some of our scriptures will be just regular people in the Bible experiencing these emotions, and some weeks we’ll even see Jesus experiencing some of these emotions himself.

First, emotions are not a bad thing. God created us with emotions to experience the world. As people made in the image of God, many of the emotions we experience, God experiences as well. I believe God experiences joy, sadness, disgust, and anger just to name a few.

This week we’re looking at two emotions together, fear and anxiety, because these emotions tend to overlap.

And the reason we’re starting with fear and anxiety today is because with tomorrow being the first day of school for Volusia County, I know our kids might be feeling fearful and anxious about a new year. New teachers, new classrooms, new learning concepts, new classmates, and new routines. Especially those starting at a new school like starting elementary, middle school, high school, or college. Some of us parents and grandparents might be feeling fearful and anxious about what the new school year will bring as well. We might be anxious about how our child or grandchild will adjust and do this year. Especially for those with children who have any behavioral issues, struggle with academics or making friends, or are neurodivergent in any way, it can be scary starting a new school year.

Throughout scripture we hear the phrase, “Do not be afraid.” Because of this, we tend to think of fear as a bad thing. It’s something God tells us not to do. But the emotion of fear is not bad in and of itself. Healthy fear is a good thing. Fear was given to us by God to keep us safe.

In Inside Out, the character of fear has this to say, “We did not die today! I call that an unqualified success.” This shows us how fear is meant to keep us safe; it keeps us from doing things that will put us in danger.

Examples of this would be fear of heights keeps us from jumping or falling off something high.Yesterday we took the youth boating and tubing for a lake day, and there was some healthy fear involved. Fear of alligators, fear of falling off a tube, fear of the boat going too fast. These fears are natural.

It’s interesting, there was a psychological experiment conducted in 1960 in babies to look at depth perception. It’s called The Visual Cliff. It uses a glass table to give the perception that there is a cliff, but there really isn’t. It is perfectly safe. Babies are put on the table and their care giver is on the other side encouraging them to crawl across.

“When Gibson and Walk tested human infants (ranging from about 6 to 14 months old), most refused to crawl across the deep side, even when their mothers called to them from the other end. The conclusion from the 1960 paper was that infants can perceive depth by the time they learn to crawl. “

Now this experiment was specifically about depth perception, but it shows us how fear is important. Fear is meant to keep us safe; it keeps us from doing things that are dangerous. And it shows how babies experienced this age from a young age to keep them safe.

Fear in and of itself is not a bad thing. But when fear consumes us or keeps us from experiencing all that God calls us to, then it becomes a problem. It can even lead to anxiety that can become debilitating.

In our scripture today, we see fear and anxiety affecting the Israelites.

Numbers isn’t a book that many of us read too often. It’s not usually a book listed as a favorite book of the Bible. Maybe it’s a favorite book of the Bible for accountants, I’m not sure. Numbers begins with the Israelites at the base of Mount Sinai. It begins with a Census to see how many men are fit for miliary service, hence the title Numbers.

The Israelites have escaped slavery in Egypt and now they are heading toward the promised land of Canaan. In today’s scripture, Moses has sent out explorers to go see what they can learn about the land of Canaan.

And when they first come back and report to Moses and the rest of the Israelites, they have good news. They say, “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit.” (Numbers 13:27, NIV)

But then they quickly turn to fear and anxiety. They say, “But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large.” (Numbers 13:28, NIV)

Although the land they have explored flows with milk and honey, they are fearful of the power of the people who live there.

Caleb wants them to go and take possession of the land, but the men respond with fear. They say,“We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” (Numbers 13:31-33, NIV)

Not only are they personally afraid, but they also start spreading fear and doubt and worry among the rest of the Israelites. They compare themselves to grasshoppers compared to the great size of the people living in Canaan.

Now as I said, fear is natural, fear in and of itself is not wrong. Fear is even given to us by God to keep us safe. However, there is something that we should really pay attention to here in the story. This story begins with these words from God, “Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites.” (Numbers 13:1, NIV)

God is the one who has instructed them to go into Canaan. God has already told them he is giving them this land. God has promised them this land. And yet, they are afraid. They don’t trust God’s goodness and God’s gifts. They don’t trust that God will be true to God’s word.

Where in your life have you doubted God’s promises?

Their fear, worry, and anxiety has gotten such control of them that they start saying they should have stayed in Egypt and that they should go back to Egypt. You know fear and anxiety are getting the best of you when you think you should go back to the land where you were once enslaved.

You have to remember, the Israelites had seen miracles that many of us only ever dream about seeing. They saw God send plagues and deliver them from slavery in Egypt. They saw the parting of the Red Sea, they saw manna and quail come from heaven, they saw water come from a rock, and even experienced God lead them by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

You would think that after witnessing so many miracles of God, they would have no problem trusting God. You would think they would not experience fear and anxiety, especially when God says that God is going to give them the land of Canaan. And yet, they still are afraid, they still struggle.

And while we can be quick to judge the Israelites about their fears, their worries, and anxieties even though they have witnessed God do so much in their lives, the truth is we’re not too different from the Israelites. No, we maybe haven’t seen the parting of seas, manna from heaven, or plagues, but we’ve all experienced miracles in some shape or form. And yet we still doubt. We still struggle to trust.

When I think over my own life and miracles, the first miracle that comes to mind is my heart. When I was about a week old, I went into heart failure and had my first heart surgery at 10 days old. When I first went into heart failure, my parents were told I most likely would not make it through the night. But I did. Then at age 3 I had my second heart surgery. At the time my heart surgery was experimental, and my parents were told if we can keep her alive until she is 5 years old, maybe technology will improve and she can have more surgeries. That experimental surgery at 3 years old was so successful that it has lasted 33 years, and I have not had surgery since.

This is a miracle. And yet, even though I have experienced this amazing miracle of God, like the Israelites I still experience fear, anxiety, and worry. I still struggle to trust God. I still doubt God’s goodness.

As an adult I experienced miracles in another way. The miracle of the birth of my two little girls after infertility and pregnancy loss. What a miracle of God.

You would think after so many miracles I would never doubt, I would always trust, and I would never experience fear and anxiety. But that is not the case for me.

I’m not too different from the Israelites. And I’m guessing you all aren’t too different either. We are quick to forget God’s miracles when facing new uncertainties. But remembering God’s goodness and faithfulness in our past can help us to trust in God’s goodness and faithfulness in our future.

In Inside Out 2, the emotion of anxiety plays a major role in Riley’s life. At one point the character of anxiety says, “My job is to protect her from the scary stuff she can’t see. I plan for the future.” (Inside Out 2) What an accurate description of anxiety planning for all the worst things that could possibly go wrong.

At one point when we were in the movie theater watching the movie, my daughter Ellie said, “anxiety is messing everything up!” And that is so true. Anxiety can be debilitating and keep us from living the lives God is calling us to live. Anxiety can mess everything up in our lives.

Now I’ve said before on this topic and I want to say again, overcoming anxiety isn’t as simple as “don’t worry, trust God.” Overcoming anxiety involves a lot of prayer, sometime even counseling, and medication. And there is nothing wrong with you if you need this help in your life.

The Israelites are so overcome by fear and anxiety, they think they would be better off back in Egypt. They want to get a new leader and go back to Egypt. You see, fear can be good, it can keep us safe. But when it wants to take us backwards instead of forwards, it’s not a good thing.

Sometimes in church and in our personal lives, we can be like the Israelites. We are so overcome by fear and anxiety that we are frozen. We are so overcome by fear and anxiety that we even sometimes want to go back to bad situations, like the Israelites wanting to go back to Egypt,instead of moving forward into the land that God has promised them.

Where might we experience this in the church today? Maybe its God calling us to start a new ministry, but we’re fearful. Like the Israelites we only see ways in which it won’t work. Maybe you felt this way about starting Dinner Church, or us starting a youth group this summer. Maybe you felt this way about us hosting VBS. And like the Israelites, we must be careful not to spread our fear to others like the Israelites did. They made everyone else afraid of Canaan because of what they had seen. But as followers of God, we are not called to spread fear, worry, and anxiety. We are called to spread trust, faithfulness, and peace.

Or maybe in your personal life God is calling you to something new, and you’re feeling fearful, you’re feeling anxious, you can only see lists of all the ways it will go wrong. Maybe God is calling you to start a new ministry, or move to a new job, or invite a friend to worship and you are fearful.

Maybe your fears are a lot deeper. Maybe you’re fearful about overcoming an illness that you or a loved one are facing. Maybe you’re fearful that your marriage is headed toward divorce. Maybe you are fearful that your child is struggling with an addiction. It is only natural to feel fearful if you are experiencing any of these situations. But we can’t let our fear and anxiety consume us, freeze us from moving forward, or force us backward to whatever our version of Egypt is.

One of my favorite verses about anxiety is 1 Peter 5:7, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” (NIV)

Maybe we all need to be reminded this morning that the God of the universe cares for us. Do you know that? Truly know that? Not just with your head, but with your heart? The God of the Universe intimately cares about you and your fears, your worries, your anxieties, your family, your job, your struggles.

God cares about you. God cares about what is best for you.

We can cast our anxiety on the God of the universe, so we don’t have to be imprisoned by anxiety. We don’t have to live our lives in constant fear, worry, and anxiety.

So this week, whether your or your kids or your grandkids are starting a new school year, or whether you are just fearful and anxious about a completely different situation, I want you to entrust your fears, your worries, and your anxieties to the God of the universe, the God who cares for you. Take some time this week, praying over whatever is causing you fear, doubt, worry, and anxiety.

We are not alone. The God of the Universe goes behind us, beside us, and ahead of us. Even in our fears, even in our anxieties. So let’s share our fears, worries, and anxieties with God. But let’s leave them with God, trust God, and move forward together with God.

Amen