Fear Part #1 —Introduction + The Fear of Missing Out

Introduction

Ever since the Rebellion in Eden, God has spoken through His Word a single, consistent message to scads of people over several millennia: “Don’t be afraid!” This command is recorded hundreds of times in Scripture. Someone claims to have accurately counted 365 such verses. This means we literally have 1 for each day of the year.

This seems also to be the single hardest command for mankind to assimilate and obey. While some may contest that claim, stating that idolatry is the hardest. Actually we’d both be right! Why can I say this? Because we worship whatever we fear (more on that later!).

From my perspective, I can see basically 5 categories or types of fear:

Let’s address each of them in turn and see what God’s Word has to say about them. We’ll start with the fear of missing out.

The Fear of Missing Out

This fear (hereafter FOMO) drives much of the sinful behavior exhibited both inside and outside the Body of Christ. This has been the case for literally millennia. It was the original lie in its original form from the dawn of time and has not changed one iota since. Here’s what I mean by that: the very first folks to fall into the FOMO trap were Adam and Eve themselves. The satan convinced them to be afraid they were missing out on discerning good from evil for themselves rather than trusting God.

Things have only gotten worse since.

LIE: God is holding out on us — He hates to see us enjoy ourselves and loves depriving us of what we deeply desire. He stands on the balconies of heaven and is looking for an excuse to keep us from the people and/or things and/or behaviors which would “fulfill” us and make us “happy.”

TRUTH: God is a good God — He indeed has an awesome plan for our lives, plans for good and not evil so we can have hope for our future despite our external circumstances at any given moment. He promises to both hear our prayers and find Him if we seek Him with our whole heart. (see Jeremiah 29:11-13). Please note that passage was written to the Jewish exiles in Babylon during their 70-year captivity there, not during a time of peace, prosperity, and tranquility.

Surrendering to that salient truth is one of the most difficult things we can ever do, especially when we desperately want something so bad we can taste it — and He says, “Not yet.” Or even worse, “No.” It takes faith and God’s grace to “give thanks to the Lord for He is good and His mercy endures forever.” (see Psalm 118:1 and elsewhere) while facing crushing disappointment.

Trust me, I speak from hard, cold, bitter experience.here. I can honestly say the vast majority of the trouble I’ve experienced over the last 70+ years arose from my own personal FOMO.

I’ve gone into great detail about such an experience in one of my articles: The 4 ‘Ds’ of the Devil. If FOMO is a major issue for you (and for many, it is!), you might want to read it. I’ve also indirectly dealt with FOMO in my article entitled, “Growing Up Spiritually.”

Thanks for reading!

AUTHOR’S NOTE: This was originally a single article. That article was updated on July 27, 2026 to include the section on FOMO and split the original article into a series.

Thanks for reading!

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