Our world is filled with fear. Even in fairly stable and secure countries, people are afraid. According to a USA Today article, “We panic over pesticides and cellular phones, ozone holes and mercury fillings.”

Science, government, and psychiatry can deal with some of these fears, but there are other fear-producing circumstances that even the world’s most powerful military force can’t prevent—an earthquake, a tornado, a flood, a fatal disease.

One fear, however, overshadows all others—the fear of our inescapable appointment with death and God’s judgment (Heb. 2:14-15; 9:27). The only antidote for this anxiety, and ultimately all others, is found in gaining confidence that we are in God’s protective care.

That assurance begins to grow when we put our trust in Jesus as our Savior. He is the One who took the sting out of death (1 Cor. 15:55-57). Once we receive Him as our Savior, our faith grows as we learn more about the wisdom, love, and power of God, and our fears diminish as we choose to focus on Christ instead.

Today, declare with the psalmist: “I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust’” (Ps. 91:2).