I am the smallest one on this farm and I would like to say for the record that this is not a small farm.
The cows are enormous. Deacon Wattles is not actually large but he inflates when he is annoyed, which is most of the time, and he does it right at head height if your head is at my height. Even Rudy is taller than me and Rudy cannot crow. Bucky is taller than me standing on nothing at all, and considerably taller than me standing on a chair, which he does. My dad is the biggest thing in any room he is in and he is on my side, which helps, except that being on the side of the biggest thing is not the same as being big.
There was an evening in November when a lamb got itself stuck in the drainage gap behind the water trough, which is a gap that is exactly the size of a lamb and nothing else. My dad could not reach it. He tried for a while and then he stood up and looked at me, and he did not say anything, and I understood the entire situation immediately and I hated it.
I want to be accurate here. I was not brave. I was extremely frightened and I went in anyway, and those turn out to be two separate facts rather than one fact canceling the other.
What God actually says when He says do not fear
Look carefully at how God gives courage, because He does not do it the way people do.
Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. (Isaiah 41:10)
Count the reasons He gives. Every single one of them is about Him.
He does not say fear not because anybody is stronger than they think. He does not say fear not because it is not as bad as it looks. He says fear not for I am with thee, and then He says it four more ways.
That is the pattern everywhere. Joshua is told to be strong and of a good courage, and the reason attached is not a fact about Joshua:
Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. (Joshua 1:9)
Courage in Scripture is never a quantity you find inside yourself. It is a fact about who is standing there with you, and you have that fact already. Isaiah 41:10 puts every reason on God rather than on the person, and it is His Spirit who makes that a real thing rather than a nice sentence when your hand is actually in the gap.
You have not been asked to produce anything out of your own size. The written word gives five reasons in one verse and not one of them is about the one being spoken to, and the Holy Spirit is what makes that read as being carried rather than as being flattered.
The boy who did not put on the armor
When David goes out to the giant, somebody tries to solve the size problem the obvious way. Saul puts his own armor on him.
And David girded his sword upon his armour, and he assayed to go; for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them. And David put them off him. (1 Samuel 17:39)
He takes it off. He goes out the size he actually is, with the equipment he actually knows how to use, and the reason he gives to Goliath is not that he is secretly formidable:
Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts. (1 Samuel 17:45)
Nobody in that valley thought David was big. David did not think David was big. The size of the boy was never the point of the account, and every retelling that turns it into a story about believing in yourself has removed the only line in it that David actually said.
You are able to go out the size you actually are, and 1 Samuel 17:39 has a boy taking off borrowed equipment on purpose. The Spirit of God is what makes that read as freedom instead of as recklessness.
You have been given a name to come in rather than a size to grow into. 1 Samuel 17:45 answers a sword and a spear with a name, and His Spirit is what makes a name carry more than a measurement.
So here is the true thing for anybody small who is listening, and for the tired adult reading it out.
You are not the opposite of brave for being afraid. Those are two different things and they happily sit in the same person at the same time. Every single person God calls in Scripture is afraid, and Isaiah 41:10 does not remove the fear before it gives the reasons, and it is the Holy Spirit rather than your own nerve who makes that the difference between reading it and standing on it.
You are not too small for this. God is with you and He is not small. That is not a compliment about your character and it is not a prediction about how it will go. Isaiah 41:10 makes it a fact about who is in the drainage gap with you, settled before you got there, and His Spirit is what makes a settled fact hold in a body.
And nothing here is telling a child to be fearless. Fearless is not in the book. You have a promise about company rather than an instruction about nerve, and Joshua 1:9 says whithersoever thou goest, and it is the Spirit of God and not anybody's courage who makes the difference between reading that and standing on it.
Declare this over yourself
Say it out loud. You are in Christ and Christ is in you, so the authority to speak over what frightens you is genuinely yours, delegated and never invented. God says fear not because He is with you, so speak to the size of the thing in front of you: you have standing to address it because He gave His presence as the reason. An ambassador carries the King's word and never his own policy, so say what God has said and leave the outcome to Him. Every line below is Isaiah 41:10 and Joshua 1:9 handed back in your own voice, and it is His Spirit, not your volume, that makes saying it a receiving.
- Room where I am the smallest one, you are not the measure of this. The Word of God says fear thou not, for I am with thee, and He gave His own presence as the reason instead of giving me a reason about myself.
- Feeling that I am too small, you are finished in the name of Jesus. I am able and I am accompanied, because Joshua 1:9 says the LORD my God is with me whithersoever I go.
- Father, You never once asked me to stop being afraid before I moved. I receive Your company today, and I thank You that Your word gives me Yourself rather than a speech about how strong I am.
Isaiah 41:10
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