In God, whose word I praise, In God I have put my trust;
I shall not be afraid. What can mere man do to me?

Psalm 56: 4

In his book, When People Are Big and God is Small: Overcoming Peer Pressure, Codependency, and the Fear of Man, Edward T. Welch presents three primary reasons why many of us struggle with the fear of man.

• “We fear people because they can expose and humiliate us.
•  We fear people because they can reject, ridicule, or despise us.
• We fear people because they can attack, oppress, or threaten us.

“These three reasons have one thing in common: they see people as “bigger” (that is, more powerful and significant) than God, and, out of the fear that creates in us, we give other people the power and right to tell us what to feel, think, and do.”

If you’ve ever felt the inner conflict of peer pressure (and I believe all of us have), you’ll understand the failure of well known characters from the Old and New Testaments who struggled with trying to please others for the moment instead of living to honor God no matter what.

Consider the words of Jesus from Luke 12:4

“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do.”

and from Proverbs 29:5

“The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe.’

Relying on Scripture is easy on Sunday, but what about the rest of the week?