The prophet Isaiah wrote during a time of national panic, and understandably so. The regional Assyrian superpower threatened to invade Israel and destroy their way of life. So, the people were obsessed with political, economic, and military conspiracies. Scanning their environment for danger, they were susceptible to believing anything as long as it sounded scary. In this chaotic moment, God interrupts Isaiah "with great power." He doesn't say, "Relax, Assyria won't hurt you." That wouldn't be true; Assyria did have an overwhelming military advantage. Instead, God gives a strange command: Do not fear what they fear. When we fear what everyone else fears, we become destabilized. We're handing the remote control of our souls (and our nervous system) to people who don't care about us. I've stayed up late refreshing websites to see who won an election. I've obsessed over statistical models about a pandemic to win meaningless fights on Facebook. God offers us something better. He says, "Regard only the LORD of Armies as holy." It sounds strange to fear God, but it's better than the alternative. Fear is a form of worship. Whatever you fear most is what you revere most. Instead of living in dread of what someone might do to us, God invites us to be freed of this panic. The solution is to behold his greatness and worship him with reverence. Why? Because God is not only powerful, but he is good. He promises to "be a sanctuary" to everyone who trusts him. But he's only safe after he becomes our dread. As long as we're terrified of everyone else, we'll never be able to relax in the presence of God.