What a surprise to see fear mentioned in Hebrews 11—the faith chapter! Verse 7 in the King James Version says, “Noah moved with fear.” Well, this just means Noah had proper respect, reverence and awe for God and accordingly built the ark as commanded, right?

Indeed, the New King James says “moved with godly fear.” But a closer look is a lot more interesting for those of us who want to labor in the Word and rightly discern it. The Greek word for this fear (eulabeomai, pronounced you-lab-eh’-om-ahee) is only used twice in the New Testament. You would rightly conclude that these two verses show what this specific Greek word means and therefore how “Noah moved with fear.”

In the other instance: “The commander, fearing lest Paul might be pulled to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him by force from among them, and bring him into the barracks” (Acts 23:10). Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible says, “The verb properly means ‘to act with caution, to be circumspect,’ and then ‘to fear, to be afraid.'" Looking (spect) around (circum), the commander saw that the Pharisees and Saducees in the Sanhedrin were getting agitated about Paul, and he moved with fear!

Was the commander just being a good watchman—like we should be (Ezekiel 33:3)—and properly observing and assessing? Was he worried that a riot was breaking out under his responsibility, which Rome would not take kindly to, and he might lose his job? This was what apparently motivated Pontius Pilate to act as he did with Jesus. Was the commander genuinely concerned for Paul’s safety? All of the above? Nothing was said about the commander acting in awe and respect of God.

What did Noah see?

- God asking him to build an ark right out in the middle of dry land where it hadn’t rained for so long.

- Crowds of gawkers, jeerers, critics, scorners and mockers.

- Maybe family thinking he was going off the deep end.

- 120 years of wielding hammer and saw when maybe he had other plans.

So what do we—who find ourselves living somewhere between faith and fear, hopefully more toward the faith end—take away from this surprise verse of Hebrews 11:7? “We must walk by faith not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). Noah moved with fear when he was “divinely warned of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:7). Verse 1 concurs that faith is the “evidence of things not seen.” Verse 8 honors Abraham for “not knowing where he was going.” Verse 13 commends all those who “having seen them [the promises] afar off.”

Shouldn’t we who live “as in the days of Noah” (Matthew 24:37) do likewise? Whatever our level of fear, the bottom line is: We must keep moving. Never removing hand from the plow. Never burying our talent. Never neglecting so great a salvation. Be found so doing!