I Believe, Help Thou My Unbelief: Bible Verses For People’s Worries & Fears (Numbers 14:27-34)

“I believe, help Thou my unbelief. I walk into the unknown, trusting all the while.” – Gaither Vocal Band 🦶

Dear seditious skeptic,

You saw a great problem, and you forgot God is greater. You chose not to trust. In black and white, that makes you a hater.

The fact is that we’re imperfect people. We do not always love God. There are times we fail. We’re definitely not haters all the time, but at that specific moment when we choose to doubt, it’s like we’re saying, “I don’t agree God can __________.” You fill in the blank with an example of what you’ve worried about before.

Because of such false beliefs, we might choose to disobey God. Let’s see how God punishes the Israelites because their doubt grew into a decision to rebel.

Numbers 14:27-34 (NASB)

²⁷ “How long shall I put up with this evil congregation who are grumbling against Me? I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel which they are voicing against Me. ²⁸ Say to them, ‘As I live,’ declares the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you; ²⁹ your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness, all your numbered men according to your complete number from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against Me. ³⁰ By no means will you come into the land where I swore to settle you, except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. ³¹ Your children, however, whom you said would become plunder—I will bring them in, and they will know the land which you have rejected. ³² But as for you, your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness. ³³ Also, your sons will be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years, and they will suffer for your unfaithfulness, until your bodies perish in the wilderness. ³⁴ In accordance with the number of days that you spied out the land, forty days, for every day you shall suffer the punishment for your guilt a year, that is, forty years, and you will know My opposition.

What led to this was the pessimistic report of the spies Moses sent out. They said, “The land through which we have gone to spy out is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are people of great stature. We also saw the Nephilim there; and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight. (Numbers 13:32-33)”

Because of this, the Israelites decided they should appoint a new leader and go back to Egypt. This wasn’t what God planned for them. He promised them a prosperous land, which is Canaan. They had to trust that God would fulfill that, but they chose to make plans of their own. Joshua and Caleb tried to convince the people not to rebel, but they then planned to stone the two. All of these were just plans, the plan to rebel and the plan to stone, but God already got angry. God punished them by making them wander in the wilderness for 40 years.

This happened because of unbelief and disobedience. They didn’t believe God would enable them to conquer the land, and they made their own plan of going back to Egypt. I see that unbelief is actually the root cause because you wouldn’t disobey if you believe God’s way is the best. It proves that action is the evidence of faith; otherwise, it’s dead (James 2:17).

What causes us to doubt is our worries and fears. The Israelites worried they wouldn’t win against the people living in the Promised Land, and they feared those people because of the spies’ false report. In the New Testament, Jesus Christ always called His disciples “you of little faith” when they were afraid or anxious.

What are people’s worries and fears? What does the Bible say about them?

The list is most likely to be endless, but let’s look at the topnotchers of the world’s worries and fears, and let’s also look at what God says about them through Scripture. (All verses are from the New American Standard Bible version, unless indicated.)

Bible Verses for the Top Worries of the World

Ipsos’ What Worries the World survey for July 2022 has inflation, poverty, unemployment, financial corruption, and taxes in its top ten (Ipsos, 2022). These are all worries about money, so I’m going to generalize the 18 worries on the survey into 5 concerns.

1. Money

“And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

- Philippians 4:19

2. Inequality

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

- Galatians 3:28

3. Violence

Violence will not be heard again in your land,

Nor devastation or destruction within your borders;

But you will call your walls salvation, and your gates praise.

- Isaiah 60:18

4. Health

However, it was our sicknesses that He Himself bore,

And our pains that He carried;

Yet we ourselves assumed that He had been afflicted,

Struck down by God, and humiliated.

But He was pierced for our offenses,

He was crushed for our wrongdoings;

The punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him,

And by His wounds we are healed.

- Isaiah 53:4-5

5. Environment

You alone are the Lord;

You have made heaven,

The heaven of heavens, with all their host,

The earth and everything on it,

The seas and all that is in them,

And You preserve them all.

The host of heaven worships You.

- Nehemiah 9:6, NKJV

Bible Verses for the Top Fears that Hold People Back

Psychotherapist Amy Morin (2019) lists the top 10 fears that hold people back in life. Let’s look at the top 5.

1. Change

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, and forever.

- Hebrews 13:8

2. Loneliness

…and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

- Matthew 28:20

3. Failure

The steps of a man are established by the Lord,

And He delights in his way.

When he falls, he will not be hurled down,

Because the Lord is the One who holds his hand.

- Psalm 37:23-24

4. Rejection

For the sake of his great name the LORD will not reject his people, because the LORD was pleased to make you his own.

- 1 Samuel 12:22, NIV

5. Uncertainty

God is our refuge and strength,

A very present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear,

Even though the earth be removed,

And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea

- Psalm 46:1-2, NKJV

May the verses above help us not to be bothered by these things anymore. If you’re looking for one verse for either worry or fear in general, I suggest this quote from Jesus Himself:

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

- John 14:27, NKJV

Jesus is the solution to every problem, no matter how small or big a mayhem. Our sins–past, present, and future–He fully paid for. Our fears, He kicks out the door. Our sicknesses, He heals. Our burdens, He steals. It’s the grave He conquered, so that eternal life is delivered. Surrender to Him your concerns. Let your adoration for Him burn.

With love,

Celina <3

References

Ipsos. (2022, July 21). What Worries the World – July 2022. From Ipsos.com: https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2022-07/Global%20Report%20-%20What%20Worries%20the%20World%20July%2022_0.pdf

Morin, A. (2019, November 4). The Top 10 Fears That Hold People Back in Life, According to a Psychotherapist. From Inc.com: https://www.inc.com/amy-morin/the-top-10-fears-that-hold-people-back-in-life-according-to-a-psychotherapist.html

Next: Who Am I: The Nature of Life (Psalm 90:3-10)

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