Isaiah 8:9-15: in context

In a time when Judah is terrified by conspiracies and the threat of invading armies, God gives Isaiah a different orientation. Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, he says; do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. Instead, the LORD of Armies, him you shall regard as holy; let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. The fear of God is set against the fear of man; and God promises that to those who fear him rightly, he will be a sanctuary, though to others a stone of stumbling.

God's counsel to Isaiah is to replace the fear of man with the fear of God. The people around him were consumed with fear of conspiracies, threats, invading armies, the dangers of their day. And God tells Isaiah not to fear what they fear, not to be swept into the dread that grips everyone else, but to fear God instead: let the LORD be your fear and your dread. The fear of God, the holy reverence and awe of him, is set against the fear of man and circumstances; and the one who rightly fears God is freed from being terrorized by the threats that terrify others. This is a liberating exchange. The fear of man and circumstances is a heavy and constant burden: we are afraid of what people can do to us, of the threats and dangers around us, of the conspiracies real or imagined, and this fear grips and controls us. God's counsel is to fear him instead, and in that fear to be freed from the others. For if we hold God in holy reverence, fearing him above all, then the threats that terrify others lose their power over us; what can man do to us, if God is the one we fear? Do not fear those who kill the body, Jesus says, but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body. The fear of God, rightly held, casts out the fear of man. And to those who fear God, he promises to be a sanctuary, a refuge, a safe place, even amid the threats that terrify others. This searches what we actually fear. Are we swept into the fears that grip everyone around us, terrorized by threats, dangers, and conspiracies, consumed with the fear of what people and circumstances can do to us? Or do we fear God, holding him in holy reverence above all, and so find ourselves freed from the fears that control others? Who are you, God asks, that you are afraid of man who dies, and forget the LORD your Maker? The fear of God frees us from the fear of man. This calls us to fear God rather than being ruled by the fears around us. God told Isaiah not to fear what the people feared, but to make the LORD his fear and his dread, and to find in him a sanctuary. And we too are called to let the fear of God replace the fear of man and circumstances, holding God in holy reverence above all, and finding in him a refuge, freed from the threats that terrify those who do not fear him.

Am I swept into the fears that grip everyone around me, terrorized by threats, dangers, and the fear of what people and circumstances can do to me, and can God's counsel to Isaiah, do not fear what they fear, but let the LORD of Armies be your fear and your dread, move me to replace the fear of man with the fear of God, holding him in holy reverence above all, so that I am freed from the fears that control others and find in him a sanctuary?