Fear - A stumbling block to a relationship with God
We see it everyday. Fear.
A New Year should be a time to look forward in hope. For too many people, I’m afraid the approaching year is over-shadowed by fear. We fear we might lose our job. We fear we might not find a job. We fear we won’t be able to make ends meet. We fear we won’t be able to keep paying for the health insurance plan. This economy has a lot of people on edge with fear. So how do we handle it?
There is, of course, a healthy fear…that fear that motivates us to move, to make changes. This fear causes us to look around for help and grab it by the horns, dropping our selfish attitude that we can muddle through our problems on our own.
Un-healthy fear is a relationship blocker. It puts distance between the people who care about us and ourselves. It puts distance between the God who will always provide for us and our scared self, too absorbed in our fear to trust in the promises of The Provider of all that we need. When we wallow in fear, we block out those who offer hope and help. We forget to TRUST.
Look at Noah. He had to have a healthy fear and respect for the Lord to embark upon such a crazy plan to build an ark. If he had feared the laughter of his neighbors, the difficulties of getting lions to lay down with lambs in confined quarters, or the prospect of the whole earth being swallowed up by water, he would have drowned in in-action or disobedience to God. We would all be lost if Noah had let his fear get the best of him.
Look at Abraham. In his healthy fear of the Lord (he is the Almighty after all), Abraham offers hospitality to three strangers in his midst and receives the long awaited news that his wife will finally bear a son. In respect and fear for the Lord, he takes his long promised heir to the mountain to sacrifice his only son as commanded by God. Because of his faithfulness, God provides the ram as an alternative sacrifice. If Abraham had been so consumed with fear about Isaac’s safety, he could not have trusted God to provide the solution. The covenant of generations as multitudinous as the stars would not have been realized.
Look at Moses. A healthy fear of, and respect for, the Lord God, the Almighty, made Moses turn his face from the burning bush and remove his sandals on holy ground. His irrational fear of public speaking nearly lost him the job of thorn in Pharoah’s side, leader of a disgruntled people, and bearer of God’s law. But his trust in God to be with him and provide for his safety enabled him to stand before the region’s most powerful man and call down the wrath of God. Not once, but mulitple times. Then he stood with his back to a sea while the Pharoah’s army pursued them. Fearing, and yet trusting in God, Moses was given the power to part the sea and usher the Israelites to safety. Entrusted with God’s promise and law, Moses sees the face of God and receives the 10 Commandments to give to God’s people, so that they might live together in peace and in respectful worship of the God, “I Am.” Where would we be if Moses had chickened out on any of the things God had called him to do?
Look at the disciples. People must have thought them crazy to abandon their professions and follow a carpenter’s son on a 3-year preaching tour. Had they feared the public and family ridicule, they would have lost out on the relationship of a lifetime. In fear, they all turned and ran at the hour of trial. But even though they turned their backs on Jesus, He did not turn His back on us.
Look at Jesus. God Immortal saddled with human flesh and suffering. Imagine the discomfort of being limited by our finiteness. Imagine the fear that the part of him that was human must have felt at the moment of death, that ultimate time of loneliness and separation from God. Had Jesus, in His human skin, feared the darkness so much to as cry “Uncle!” and beg for respite, where would we be? Jesus conquered not only the darkness and death, but fear.
We need not fear anything. God will provide for all our needs. Jesus has conquered death. The Holy Spirit lives within us and will guide us on the path that God has planned for us. And that means weathering the economic uncertainty of this new year, 2011, too.
We see it everyday. Fear.
A New Year should be a time to look forward in hope. For too many people, I’m afraid the approaching year is over-shadowed by fear. We fear we might lose our job. We fear we might not find a job. We fear we won’t be able to make ends meet. We fear we won’t be able to keep paying for the health insurance plan. This economy has a lot of people on edge with fear. So how do we handle it?
There is, of course, a healthy fear…that fear that motivates us to move, to make changes. This fear causes us to look around for help and grab it by the horns, dropping our selfish attitude that we can muddle through our problems on our own.
Un-healthy fear is a relationship blocker. It puts distance between the people who care about us and ourselves. It puts distance between the God who will always provide for us and our scared self, too absorbed in our fear to trust in the promises of The Provider of all that we need. When we wallow in fear, we block out those who offer hope and help. We forget to TRUST.
Look at Noah. He had to have a healthy fear and respect for the Lord to embark upon such a crazy plan to build an ark. If he had feared the laughter of his neighbors, the difficulties of getting lions to lay down with lambs in confined quarters, or the prospect of the whole earth being swallowed up by water, he would have drowned in in-action or disobedience to God. We would all be lost if Noah had let his fear get the best of him.
Look at Abraham. In his healthy fear of the Lord (he is the Almighty after all), Abraham offers hospitality to three strangers in his midst and receives the long awaited news that his wife will finally bear a son. In respect and fear for the Lord, he takes his long promised heir to the mountain to sacrifice his only son as commanded by God. Because of his faithfulness, God provides the ram as an alternative sacrifice. If Abraham had been so consumed with fear about Isaac’s safety, he could not have trusted God to provide the solution. The covenant of generations as multitudinous as the stars would not have been realized.
Look at Moses. A healthy fear of, and respect for, the Lord God, the Almighty, made Moses turn his face from the burning bush and remove his sandals on holy ground. His irrational fear of public speaking nearly lost him the job of thorn in Pharoah’s side, leader of a disgruntled people, and bearer of God’s law. But his trust in God to be with him and provide for his safety enabled him to stand before the region’s most powerful man and call down the wrath of God. Not once, but mulitple times. Then he stood with his back to a sea while the Pharoah’s army pursued them. Fearing, and yet trusting in God, Moses was given the power to part the sea and usher the Israelites to safety. Entrusted with God’s promise and law, Moses sees the face of God and receives the 10 Commandments to give to God’s people, so that they might live together in peace and in respectful worship of the God, “I Am.” Where would we be if Moses had chickened out on any of the things God had called him to do?
Look at the disciples. People must have thought them crazy to abandon their professions and follow a carpenter’s son on a 3-year preaching tour. Had they feared the public and family ridicule, they would have lost out on the relationship of a lifetime. In fear, they all turned and ran at the hour of trial. But even though they turned their backs on Jesus, He did not turn His back on us.
Look at Jesus. God Immortal saddled with human flesh and suffering. Imagine the discomfort of being limited by our finiteness. Imagine the fear that the part of him that was human must have felt at the moment of death, that ultimate time of loneliness and separation from God. Had Jesus, in His human skin, feared the darkness so much to as cry “Uncle!” and beg for respite, where would we be? Jesus conquered not only the darkness and death, but fear.
We need not fear anything. God will provide for all our needs. Jesus has conquered death. The Holy Spirit lives within us and will guide us on the path that God has planned for us. And that means weathering the economic uncertainty of this new year, 2011, too.
