Welcome to 10 minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work.

I'm Jensen Holt McNair and right now we're going through exodus.

In second grade being called a scaredy cat is a major social setback.

We grow up thinking that being afraid of something, the dark, spiders, heights, that that's

something that we should be embarrassed by. So we learn to conquer our fears. Although, I have to admit, I haven't done a great job at this.

When I turn off the lights in the living room at night, I quickly run as fast as I can back to my bedroom.

A couple summers ago when we had a spider problem,

I called my husband to take care of the problem each time I found one. And tall buildings, elevators,

and airplanes are still my least favorite things.

You might say that being afraid of these things is hampering my ability to live a normal functioning

life at times.

If you did, you would sound a lot like my husband.

And you might be right. But I think that our adverse reaction to being afraid misses the

fact that there are good things in life to have a healthy fear of.

As a kid, developing fear of things like a hot oven or a busy street can keep us safe.

As an adult, fear lets us know when we need to tread lightly. It helps signal that what

we're about to encounter is potentially more powerful than us or out of our control. Our fears change our desires and our actions. At times, fear can keep

us safe. But at other times, fear can lead us to make poor decisions. The problem comes when we fear the wrong

things. The Israelites had a tendency to do just this. In chapter 14 of the Book of Exodus, the Israelites have left Egypt.

Pharaoh has sent them away, and they've been following where God has led them, even when that path has taken them in an unexpected way.

And now God has purposefully led them to a place in the wilderness where they're camping by the red sea.

Now when Pharaoh learns that the Israelites had fled

...