Are you a Daredevil?

Daredevil is the title character of a 2003 American superhero movie. In the movie, Daredevil is presented as a person who does not fear anything.

Cosplay of Daredevil

Well, unless you are a blind attorney named Matt Murdock, you are probably not fearless.

So, what is your biggest earthly fear? I don't mean a fear that would involve another person who is important to you. I mean a fear that would affect you alone. 

If you are like movie character Indiana Jones, then your biggest earthy fear is the fear of snakes. If you are like the father of Indiana Jones, then your biggest earthly fear is the fear of rats.

If you are like me, then your biggest earthly fear is the fear of public speaking. 

That's right. The last thing that I ever want to do is to stand in front of an audience, speak into a microphone and give a sermon.

For the sake of argument, suppose that your biggest earthly fear were the fear of heights. If that were your biggest fear, then would you want to go skydiving? I'm guessing that you wouldn't want to. 

However, what if God told you to do just that? Suppose that God told you to exit an airplane that is flying 3 miles above sea level. What would be your reaction to receiving such instructions? 

If you were to feel afraid, then you would be just like Moses when he first met God at the burning bush. God gave Moses an assignment that Moses was not happy with. 

You might have watched the Cecil B. DeMille movie The Ten Commandments, but that movie doesn't reveal all that happened.  So, I will quote from Exodus 4:10-13.

“Moses said to the Lord, 'Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.' The Lord said to him, 'Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.' But Moses said, 'Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.'”

"Please send someone else." That's right. Moses was afraid to do what God told him to do. Moses was afraid because he didn't know how he could possibly succeed with that assignment. It was as if Moses had a fear of heights and God had told him to exit an airplane that was flying 3 miles above the ground. 

How about you? Suppose you are Moses on the airplane. What are you expecting to happen to you? What do you think you must do to survive exiting the airplane? Would you have to wear one parachute or two parachutes?

Well, God might not tell you to exit a flying airplane, but he might tell you to do something else that would be scary to you. God might tell you to move outside of your comfort zone and do something that you have never done before. If God were to do that, then how would you succeed?

Answer: You would succeed the same way that you would succeed if you didn't wear a parachute while exiting a plane that is 3 miles above ground.

You would first attach yourself to someone who is wearing a parachute.

Earlier in this post, I provide you with this statement: "Suppose that God told you to exit an airplane that is flying 3 miles above sea level."

That statement does NOT say that you must exit the airplane by yourself, and the statement does NOT forbid you from making a tandem jump with a professional skydiver.

Earlier in this post, I mention that my biggest earthly fear is the fear of public speaking. Yet, in November of Year 2025, I became a United Methodist Church Certified Lay Speaker, a position in which I may be called upon to give sermons to United Methodist congregations. Indeed, I gave a sermon on the first Sunday morning of Year 2026, and I did so after I asked for permission to do so.

When I interviewed for the position, I was not confident that I should become a Lay Speaker. 

Then, I sensed God telling me, “Relax. I got this. We are making a tandem jump. You are attached to me, and I am the parachute.” 

That's the way it is whenever God gives any of us an assignment. We might have certain experiences and abilities that give us an advantage, or we might not. Either way, success depends on us being attached to God as if we were making a tandem jump. We will have a safe landing because God is the parachute. 

So, when God gives you any kind of assignment, keep in mind what Jesus says in John 15:4-5 :

“Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”