Studio52Seven

Understanding the Fear of God and Overcoming Others

Each time I look into the mirror, a scar reminds me of a childhood experience. While playing, I fell and got a deep cut beside my eyebrow. For the gazelle, the fear of becoming prey outweighs the fear of injuring its limbs as it makes the most frantic leaps of its life. I had so much endorphin in my system from the fear of another consequence that I never felt any pain from my split forehead. My friends and I put our “medical knowledge” to work. We worked so hard to stop the gushing blood by stuffing someone’s backyard dirt in the wound. When our expertise failed to deliver, we agreed it was time to go home. My friends disappeared in a puff, and I could not see clearly for the rest of the way home. The fear of meeting my father in that condition took away the sting from what should have been a pain.

Understanding Fear

The Cambridge Dictionary defines fear as

“an unpleasant emotion or thought that you have when you are frightened or worried by something dangerous, painful, or bad that is happening or might happen.”

Besides those who may have Urbach-Wiethe disease or other disorder that prevents them from having fear—much like leprosy and the inability to experience pain in infected tissues—we all have our share of fear. Even the “fearless” is only wearing a façade, serving as his or her first line of defense against a perceived threat. Fear is good. It is a psychoneurological response that helps us decide either to fight or to flee in the face of a threat. So we can embrace an otherwise painful situation to avoid what we consider a bigger pain.

Overcoming Fear

We can do all things, Paul tells us (Philippians 4:13). All we need is enough motivation—fear—to escape a particular situation. If we “fear” that thing or situation enough, we will do anything otherwise thought impossible to escape. The cheetah can outrun the gazelle by 18 miles per hour (29 km/h). One would assume that every hunt will land a kill. Not so. For the gazelle, the fear of becoming prey outweighs the fear of injuring its limbs as it makes the most frantic leaps of its life. Indeed, the Bible admonishes: “Save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the hand of the fowler” (Prov. 6:5).

Living as a Christian can seem difficult.

• Resisting to escalate that misunderstanding with your spouse
• Resisting those tormenting seductions
• Resisting that unholy opportunity to make some dirty money
• Resisting the excuses not to lift a finger in the face of crushing need
• Resisting the urge to serve that ten-year-old, cold revenge

Temptations flood our lives every day, and we have to fight each of them off.

Joseph did not consent to Potiphar’s wife’s demand, and it was not so much because of Potiphar. As his response, he asked the woman, “How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” (Gen. 39:9).
David did not agree to kill Saul when he had the opportunity to do so in a cave, though his friends believed God gave his enemy into his hands. He declares: “The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, or lay my hand on him; for he is the anointed of the Lord” (1 Sam 24. 5-7).

Spiritual Resilience and the Fear of God

In every situation, some motivation to keep our moral fortitude is needed to reap big in the long run. For Joseph and David, that motivation was God. For David, what was suggested did not make the shortlist. “The Lord forbid,” he said, and Joseph said, “How then could I… sin against God?”

The Bible urges us not to fear, offering this advice an average of once per day throughout the year. Proverbs 9:10 is one of the few times where something positive is associated with that word. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” the verse declares. Choosing to fear God will dull other fears out of relevance. When I am mindful of the gravest cost of not fearing God—the cost of nondiscipleship, as Dallas Willard calls it in his book, The Spirit of the Disciplines—I will grow in resilience and rise above other pain points and the fears of them. And this fear of God is not the same as being afraid of God. There are no ill feelings, no sense of dread, shame, guilt, or endangerment.

Our reverence and respect for God give rise to the fear of God. It brings us in awe of Him and stirs our utmost for His highest. Unlike other fears, there’s warmth and a sense of safety. There’s the confidence in my strides, knowing I’m an ambassador of God. The fear is in my displeasure of whatever will cause me to come short of His pleasure. The fear is my healthy sense of responsibility knowing who I represent.

Saul’s fear and disobedience

Of course, our position is that everyone fears something. Compare David and Joseph with Saul, for instance. Saul confessed, “I have sinned. I violated the Lord’s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the men, and so I gave in to them.” (1 Sam. 15:24). Like Saul, we will obey who we fear. And we all do have who we fear. Some fear lacks. Some people fear that others will look down on them. Others fear discomfort. Some fear that their youth and beauty will fade, and others fear that their power and control will be taken by another. Some fear men: people that they believe must be appeased; otherwise, they will lose their relevance, prestige, or whatever else they fear they will lose.

Our reverence and respect for God give rise to the fear of Him. It brings us in awe of Him and stirs our utmost for His highest. Unlike other fears, there’s warmth and a sense of safety… The fear is in my displeasure of whatever will cause me to come short of His pleasure. The fear is my healthy sense of responsibility knowing who I represent.

The Christian perspective on fear and temptation is such that as long as there is something that we fear, more than our fear of the Lord or the consequences of disobeying God, we will obey that other thing and disobey God. That temptation will win. Paul (Rom. 6) calls such our true master.

As a young boy, the split on my brow must have been painful, but my fear of what might happen when I got home to my soon-to-be very disappointed dad masked the pain. Not “noticing” the pain was an indication that I no longer feared missing the excitement from my earlier behavior. If time was rewound but I retained my new frame of mind, I would say no to the event that led to the split head. Not so much because of the pain (which I did not feel), but because I would not want to disappoint my dad and risk some dire consequences.

When our fear and reverence of God take center stage, our fear of what we might lose if we do not yield to a particular behavior loses its attraction. The big question, therefore, is: who or what are you afraid of? Like me, I hope you’re making room only for one: the fear of God.