When it comes to fear I’ve heard many people
say, “I’m not afraid of anything!” I
myself have said this boastfully to my children to calm their fears of the
dark, monsters in the closets, and bogey men.
But when the chips are down, we all find that we have fears. It may be irrational, like the fear of snakes,
spiders, or of the number thirteen. It
may be the fear of possibilities:
sicknesses, injuries to loved ones, financial downfalls, or death. It may simply be other people.
People?
Who’s afraid of other people?
You are.
Don’t believe me?
Walk up to the next person you meet and tell
them about Jesus.
Now you would probably be able to do it when
put to the test, but I bet the thought of sharing your faith with someone else
brings anxiety to your heart. Edward
Welch refers to that as the Fear of Man and contrasts it with the Fear of the
Lord in his book, When People are Big and
God is Small.
We often obsess about what other people will
think, what they will do, or how they will react to us. The person who is so self-assured or secure
in Christ a to truly not care what others think is rare. The Fear of Man lurks in all our hearts. Sometimes the fear is rational – there are
people in the world who hurt, oppress, and violate others. Other times the fear is irrational. (Sometimes when I experience this irrational
fear I ask myself, “What is he going to do to me; take away my birthday?”)
In Psalm 56 we find David in a situation
where he could legitimately be afraid.
He had fallen into the hands of his enemies, the Philistines. He spent most of his life in open warfare
with these people, and he even killed their champion, the giant Goliath, who
was from Gath. (Note the preface to the
psalm!) They could have killed him –
slowly and painfully. Yet what does he
say?
Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call. This I know, that God is for me. In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise, in
God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What
can man do to me?
God knows our fears and our sorrows. He understands our anxiety and reminds us, “I
am for you.” He keeps count of our nights
of fitful sleep, and collects our tears in a bottle, that is, He pays close
attention to our cares and dreads. He
knows because He made us, and God the Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, became a man
and lived among us and experienced all these things – even being seized by His
enemies!
In Jesus’ death and resurrection, He defeated
everything that can do eternal harm to us.
This is our hope and confidence. “What
can man do to me?” Nothing. “For You have delivered my soul from death,
yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.” For all who believe in Jesus have hope beyond
this life and its troubles. As He
promises in John 6, “I will raise him up.”
Father, You know my fears and my anxious heart. Strengthen my faith that I may trust You in
all things, knowing that You have provided me with eternal life through the
death of your Son. Give me confidence in
Your salvation that I might proclaim what You have done for me. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
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