Thanks for joining me for today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

Our reading titled In Aaw of God was written by Kenneth Peterson.

A phobia is defined as the irrational fear of certain things or situations.

Aachnophobia is a fear of spiders, though some might argue that's a perfectly rational thing

to be afraid of.

Then there's globophobia and chocolatophobia.

These and some 400 other phobias are real and documented.

It seems we can become afraid of most anything. The Bible, in Exodus

chapter 20, tells of the Israelites fear after receiving the Ten Commandments. When the people

saw the thunder and lightning, they trembled with fear. Moses comforted them, offering this most

interesting statement. Do not be afraid. God has come to test you

so that the fear of God will be with you. Moses seems to contradict himself. Don't be afraid,

but be afraid. In fact, the Hebrew word for fear contains at least two meanings, a trembling terror of something or a

reverent awe of God.

We may laugh to learn that globophobia is the fear of balloons, and chocolatophobia is a fear

of chocolate.

The more serious bottom line about phobias is that we can be afraid of all kinds of things.

Fears creep into our lives like spiders and the world can be a scary place.

As we struggle with phobias and fears, we do well to be reminded that our God is an awesome God,

offering us his present comfort in the midst of darkness.

The scripture reading for today's devotional from Our Daily Bread is Exodus chapter 20, verses 18 through 21.

When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain

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