Why Did God Make Us Able to Feel Scared?

Hey Carpool Crew, welcome back to Questions from the Backseat. Today's question flips everything we've been talking about lately. Why did God make us able to feel scared at all? That is a really good question, and it's the one almost nobody thinks to ask. Here's the answer. God gave you an alarm. The question is never whether it went off. It's whether it's telling you something true. Proverbs 22:3 says, "A sensible person sees danger and takes cover, but the inexperienced keep going and are punished." Look at that word. Sees. The smart person in that verse is not the one who feels nothing. He's the one who noticed. Feeling it is not the failure. Feeling nothing would be. Here's the deal. Some fear is doing its job, and some fear is just bossing you around, and you can tell them apart. Fear that keeps you off the roof is doing its job. Fear that keeps you out of the deep end until you can actually swim is doing its job. Fear that won't let you walk down your own hallway to get a drink of water is not protecting you from anything. It's just giving orders. Same feeling. Two completely different jobs. So ask it. Out loud if you want to. "Are you protecting me, or are you bossing me?" A fear that's protecting you will point at something real. A fear that's bossing you just gets louder. Here's your One Thing today. Ask your fear whether it's protecting you or bossing you. Today, the next time that feeling shows up, ask it that one question. Then go do what the true answer says. Remember, no matter where you are or how you're listening, God loves you. And if you've got a question rattling around in your head, ask a grown-up to help you send it to us at carpoolingwithjesus.com slash ask. Yours might be the one we answer next.