Fear
“One of His trembling ones” – that’s probably the way that I should have been introducing myself for most of my life as a believer. “Hi, I’m Chanel and I’m one of those trembling saints…trembling and shaking with fear that is.” For years I’ve struggled with fear of the God that I know (at least mentally) loves me.
“I’m no longer a slave to fear, I am a child of God” – perhaps you’ve heard this song and its refrain, it is one I’ve struggled to sing and believe. However, the notion that God’s love displaces fear is a powerful and true one.
What place does fear have in our lives? Good question.
Did you come to Christ in fear? Were you brought to one of those “Heaven’s Gates, Hell’s Flames” productions? Did you read a Gospel tract or attend a church known for those fiery sermons and emotional alter calls? I’m not necessarily pro or against any of those – not really sure where they stand in the grand scheme of God’s story for humanity.
Fear is a valid reaction and emotion, one that cannot be swept away or easily extinguished. Its roots often go deep and far beyond our ability to perceive.
As a person who’s often struggled with fear of all kinds, it’s often comforting to see how often Scripture addresses fear. Whether it’s saying, “fear not”, or instructing on what a Godly and even healthy fear looks like (And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. – Matthew 10:28).
I like to think that “fear” is a gateway or pathway into Christ’s kindness. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom…” Prov. 9:10. Of course, “fear” – as in terror, is not ultimately how God wants His children to relate to Him. What loving parent would want to know that their child is afraid of them? I mean, like really afraid of them? But in that same vein what parent who discovered that their child was afraid of them or anything else for that matter, wouldn’t take that opportunity to pick them up, and pity and love them and show them compassion?
13 As a father pities his children,
So the Lord pities those who fear Him.
14 For He knows our frame;
He remembers that we are dust.
Psalm 103: 13-14
The Psalms are riddled with examples of God pitying or showing compassion those who fear Him. Like the above psalm says, He’s not caught off-guard or offended by our fear or human foibles. He knows what we’re made of, that we’re only dust, just trembley (I think I just made that word up) old dust molecules. But thank goodness we’re dust that He gently cups in His hands and takes pity on. That’s really good news for someone who’s had a lot of fear, especially fear of God. Fear of God sending me to hell, fear of falling out of favor with God or offending Him. Fear of screwing things up or messing up the will of God for my life (that’s a whole other blog for a whole other day- but think about it, if His will could get messed up is He really God?).
The Proverbs even say there’s wisdom in fear… or at least that it’s the starting place for knowledge and I would thereby say wisdom, which is where I get the notion that it’s a gateway or an entrance. But like any gate, you usually don’t want to hang out there. You want to go through, you want to “go in and out and find pasture” (ref. to John 10:9). God will not just leave us to our fears, He will calm them by letting us come close to know Him more. Seeing His character towards His little ones begins to calm those fears.
“But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.” – Malachi 4:2. See here in Malachi how it starts and ends? Starts with fear, ends with healing and leaping. God is so kind and gracious to those who fear Him.
Again, by God’s good grace we won’t just stop at fear. The demons fear and tremble, but they don’t serve God from a heart of love. If we only begrudgingly serve, we’re no better than demons. God certainly doesn’t want that kind of “service” from us. No, somehow God begins to nudge us along past our fears, through our fears. This fear ultimately, will lead us to the heart of God, where His perfect Love will cast out all fear (1 John 4:18).
That verse makes me think of a simple grade school science experiment to prove the concept of “displacement”. Maybe you did something like this when you were in school: In one beaker you have dark, murky water (for the sake of this illustration will represent the obscurity and darkness that fear brings). In another and perhaps an even more abundant container, you have crystal clear water (let’s let that represent God’s love which is an abundant, never ending source). Now to show the example of displacement we begin to pour that clean water into the murky beaker, a slow steady pour. Slowly yet surely, the murky water runs out and begins to be replaced by the fresh clean water. The two will not occupy the same space for long. If you continue to pour, soon that vessel that was once filled with dark murky water will now be filled with the clean, clear water.
So it is with God’s love. It begins to replace the fear that is pre-extant in our hearts due to sin (the two are undoubtedly tied together – think Adam and Eve in the garden, their sin produced fear and so they hid from a God they had loved). It may seem like a slow process, a lifelong one I’d wager, but steadily God sheds His love abroad in our hearts – or conveniently “poured” as the ESV translates it (Romans 5:5). He’s pouring His refreshing love into those murky waters of fear, and as He does, fear has no more place to stay. We have no more need of it to lead us, His love is a far greater teacher. In its place is the pure confidence that God’s love brings which casts out fear.
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.
1 John 4:18