When I was a young man learning to drive, my parents made it a point to stress to me to never pick up hitchhikers. They assured me that though some hitchhikers could be good people just needing a ride, that a hitchhiker could also be someone out to do harm. Their admonitions to me have paid off, because I have had a driver’s license for more than forty years and I haven’t picked up a hitchhiker yet!
Fear, however, loves to pick up hitchhikers. If you allow fear in your life in any area or for any reason, I can guarantee you that it won’t be coming in the door of your life alone but will be bringing other things along with it. And absolutely everything that fear has tagging along with it is designed to not only hurt you, but to destroy you.
“25 There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, 26 men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” Luke 21:25-26 NASU
In the last days there will be people so filled with fear that their hearts will fail them. Yet even though we are living in the last days and things are happening all around us, we are never to be afraid. In fact, Jesus told us that we were never to yield to fear or allow our hearts to be troubled at all (see Matthew 24:3-6).
Fear is a perverted form of faith. And when you yield to fear, you are actually believing for that bad thing to come upon you. Having no fear of any kind is the way we are supposed to live.
The Word of the Lord tells us that there will be those who reject the counsel of the Lord and choose to do things their own way, living their lives as they see fit (see Proverbs 1:24-32). But instead of things turning out well for these people, everything will fall apart. And in the middle of all this their closest companions will be fear and dread. And then with that fear will come some vicious hitchhikers.
“When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.” Proverbs 1:27 KJV
In this single verse, take a close look at the hitchhikers that are riding along with fear. With fear comes desolation, which results from the destructive storms that rush over your life with the effects of a tsunami, and then causes your life to become a wasteland. And fear brings along destruction, which is oppression, misfortune, calamity and ruin. It brings with it distress, which means that you are always living in a tight place while being tormented with adversity, tribulation, affliction and trouble. And fear will bring anguish into your life. And anguish represents living under great stress and pressure all the time. And again, this is just the hitchhikers we discover riding along with fear in this one single verse.
Each of these things we listed above and many more, are partners with fear. And if you allow fear in your life you are allowing entrance of each of these other things into your life as well.
“For what I fear comes upon me, And what I dread befalls me.” Job 3:25 NASU
Job experienced in his life the very things he feared. And that is because fear is a magnet for destruction. And the Bible tells us that fear if of the wicked (see Proverbs 10:24). We know it has to be, because God sure didn’t give it to us (see 2 Timothy 1:7).
Fear attracts destruction and hurt and harm and evil into your life in the same way that faith in God’s Word attracts the blessings of the Lord into your life.
You must never yield to fear. You must resist fear just as you would resist any other work of the devil. In fact, even in the battles and trials that come against you, you must never allow fear to have any place in your life.
“1 When you go out to battle against your enemies and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, is with you… 8 Then the officers shall speak further to the people and say, ‘Who is the man that is afraid and fainthearted? Let him depart and return to his house, so that he might not make his brothers’ hearts melt like his heart.” Deuteronomy 20:1, 8 NASU
Another thing that fear brings with it is a wicked contagion that works like a plague, spreading its destruction into the hearts of those in fellowship with the fearful. Anyone who has allowed fear into their life will become a negative influence on others, because fearful people are not fit for battle. This means the battle is lost before it begins.
The list of hitchhikers which fear brings with it is rather lengthy. Time and space did not allow us to deal with hitchhikers such as sickness, depression, worry, insomnia, hopelessness and many others. But when fear pulls into your life, you can be sure that all of these other things are in the car too.