All through the Scriptures, God encourages us not to be afraid or anxious because as His children, we have no basis for fear. Of course, there are reasons for us to be very, very cautious about what we do and where we go, but God’s people are not to live in a state of fear and anxiety.

If you think about it, you can identify at least six fears that are basic to all mankind. They are fear of criticism, illness, old age, death, poverty, and losing a loved one. Although these are universal worries, they are in reality symptoms of something deep inside that feeds our fears.

Some of the root causes are:

** A basic sense of inadequacy. Because of distorted thinking, we often feel incompetent to tackle some challenges or incapable of accomplishing certain tasks.

** The tendency to set unrealistic standards for ourselves. We can go through life trying to measure up to lofty expectations that are self-imposed rather than ones set by God.

** An innate sense of unworthiness. It’s amazing how many people will not succeed in life because they just don’t feel they deserve it.

In the midst of all our fears, we need to remember God’s promise. He says, “Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10). We need to look up at Him and not around at our circumstances.

Most likely, you know exactly how it feels to be lonely. We have all been in that situation at one time or another. It may be a matter of feeling rejected by someone, or it could be the sense of loss brought on by a substantial geographical distance between you and a loved one. Or, it may even be that you have honestly never felt a deep, abiding intimacy with someone else. Loneliness strikes us in many forms.

Despite the reason, loneliness seems to settle into our lives like a thick fog; no matter where we turn, everything seems dark, gray, and terribly empty. And yet, although we sense it “out there,” loneliness is actually an internal problem. Sometimes, it seems inescapable because it is so firmly rooted in our own hearts.

Loneliness is a serious problem. God does not desire that His children be isolated and alone. In fact, the first thing in all of Creation that God deemed “not good” was Adam’s “aloneness.” (Genesis 2:18)

Sometimes our friends may disappear for a while, and we end up feeling alone. However, there is one relationship that we can count on, above all others, as lasting, pure, and true: that is, of course, our relationship with Jesus Christ. Scripture assures us that He will never leave us, and in Him, we will never be alone. (Hebrews 13:5)

Jesus desires to be your closest companion, and He has made it possible for this relationship to last an eternity. Thank God today for His Son, your Friend forever.

On His way to Jerusalem, Jesus stopped in Bethany to spend time with friends He loved—Lazarus and his two sisters. Martha was rushing around preparing a meal while Mary sat listening to Jesus. In those days, culture dictated that a woman served the men in the house. By resting at Jesus’ feet, Mary was defying her society’s conventions. But this was a woman who cared more for her Lord than for doing what was culturally appropriate. When Martha complained, Jesus gently explained that her sister was making the right choice. The number one priority was to spend time with Him.

What was true for Mary and Martha is true for us today. Every believer needs to carve out personal time with God. There are many Christians who think that they prove their love for God by going to church, tithing their income, and witnessing. All of those things are important, but actions are empty unless we are connecting with God personally on a regular basis. Doing so demonstrates how much we value our relationship with Him because the people we spend time with are those we love most.

Many believers rationalize by saying they are too busy. We tell ourselves, If I could just finish a few things then I can pray and read the Bible, but each finished task is replaced by a new duty. We must choose to make time for God. Changing our schedule to give the Lord His rightful place can be difficult. But no relationship in life equals what God allows us to have with Him if we make Him our number one priority.

¹Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.

²Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment:

³Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause.

⁴If thou meet thine enemy’s ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again.

⁵If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him.

⁶Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause.

⁷Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked.

⁸And thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.

⁹Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

¹⁰And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof:

¹¹But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard.

¹²Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.

¹³And in all things that I have said unto you be circumspect: and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth.

¹⁴Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.

¹⁵Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:)

¹⁶And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.

¹⁷Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the LORD God.

¹⁸Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning.

¹⁹The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk.

²⁰Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.

²¹Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him.

²²But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries.

²³For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off.

²⁴Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images.

²⁵And ye shall serve the LORD your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.

²⁶There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil.

²⁷I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee.

²⁸And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.

²⁹I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee.

³⁰By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.

³¹And I will set thy bounds from the Red sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee.

³²Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.

³³They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me: for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee.

1Then the LORD said to Moses,(A) “Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says(B) the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. 2For if you refuse to let them go and still hold them, 3behold,(C) the hand of the LORD will fall with a very severe plague upon your livestock that are in the field, the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds, and the flocks. 4(D) But the LORD will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that nothing of all that belongs to the people of Israel shall die.”‘” 5And the LORD set a time, saying, “Tomorrow the LORD will do this thing in the land.” 6And the next day the LORD did this thing.(E) All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one of the livestock of the people of Israel died. 7And Pharaoh sent, and behold, not one of the livestock of Israel was dead. But(F) the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.

The Sixth Plague: Boils

8And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot from the kiln, and let Moses throw them in the air in the sight of Pharaoh. 9It shall become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and become(G) boils breaking out in sores on man and beast throughout all the land of Egypt.” 10So they took soot from the kiln and stood before Pharaoh. And Moses threw it in the air, and it became boils breaking out in sores on man and beast. 11And(H) the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils came upon the magicians and upon all the Egyptians. 12(I) But the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not listen to them, as(J) the LORD had spoken to Moses.

The Seventh Plague: Hail

13Then the LORD said to Moses,(K) “Rise up early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. 14For this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself,[a] and on your servants and your people, so(L) that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth. 15For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. 16(M) But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so(N) that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. 17(O) You are still exalting yourself against my people and will not let them go. 18Behold, about this time tomorrow I will cause very heavy hail to fall, such as never has been in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. 19Now therefore send,(P) get your livestock and all that you have in the field into safe shelter, for every man and beast that is in the field and is not brought home will die when the hail falls on them.”‘” 20Then whoever feared the word of the LORD among the servants of Pharaoh hurried his slaves and his livestock into the houses, 21but whoever did not pay attention to the word of the LORD left his slaves and his livestock in the field.

22Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that there may be(Q) hail in all the land of Egypt, on man and beast and every plant of the field, in the land of Egypt.” 23Then Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and the(R) LORD sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth. And the LORD rained hail upon the land of Egypt. 24There was hail and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very heavy hail, such as had never been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. 25The hail struck down everything that was in the field in all the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And the hail(S) struck down every plant of the field and broke every tree of the field. 26(T) Only in the land of Goshen, where the people of Israel were, was there no hail.

27Then Pharaoh sent and called Moses and Aaron and said to them, “This time(U) I have sinned; the(V) LORD is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. 28(W) Plead with the LORD, for there has been enough of God’s thunder and hail. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.” 29Moses said to him, “As soon as I have gone out of the city,(X) I will stretch out my hands to the LORD. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that(Y) the earth is the LORD’s. 30But as for you and your servants,(Z) I know that you do not yet fear the LORD God.” 31(The flax and the barley were struck down, for the barley was in the ear and the flax was in bud. 32But the wheat and the emmer[b] were not struck down, for they are late in coming up.) 33So Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh and(AA) stretched out his hands to the LORD, and the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain no longer poured upon the earth. 34But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet again and(AB) hardened his heart,(AC) he and his servants. 35So(AD) the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people of Israel go, just as the LORD had spoken through Moses.