Friend or Foe?

Fear is an emotion. Fear is not something we can touch but, rather something we can feel. Fear can be a good thing. Fear can keep children away from a roaring fire, a busy street or strangers in crowded places. Sometimes fear causes us to make decisions that, ultimately put us in a safer situation. Fear can be a good thing. But fear can also be a bad thing. Fear can paralyze us. Fear can cause us to become irrational and abandon all sense of reason and logic. Fear can cause us to do stupid things and make unwise decisions. Fear can cause our brains, for all practical purposes, to go into ‘full-lock-down’ mode. Yes, fear can be a bad thing.
Fear comes in all shapes and sizes. Children fear thunder storms, the dark, and the ‘boogie’ man. Teenagers fear pimples, pop-quizzes and first dates. When we become adults our fears change drastically. As adults we begin to fear things like rejection, loneliness, failure and embarrassment. Fear is no respecter of persons. Fear is an equal opportunity emotion. Some people do a better job of dealing with the fears of daily life but, at the end of the day, we must all deal with our own share of fear.
Fear can be our best friend or our worst enemy. King Solomon understood the value of healthy fear when he said, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom…” (Proverbs 1:7, 9:10 & 111:10. The word used in these passages for fear is the Hebrew word “yir’ah”. It can mean respect or reverence. To have a fear of God doesn’t mean we have an unhealthy, paralyzing fear or sense of terror toward God, it simply means that we respect God and we show to him, out of our respect, a sense of reverence. King Solomon also knew a little about unhealthy fear – “Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe.” (Proverbs 29:25) Here, I really like the paraphrase used in The Message – “The fear of human opinion disables; trusting in GOD protects you from that.” Here the Hebrew word used for fear is “Haradah” – this literally means panic, fear, terror or horror.
Fear of God is respect for the one who created all things, including each of us. Fear of God means praising God for His greatness and majesty. Fear of God means thanking God for the incredible blessings he bestows on us – those blessings which are seen and those which are unseen – those blessings of the past, of the present and of the future. Fear of God means recognizing, respecting, thanking, praising and standing in awe of one far greater than ourselves – one who gave His son as a sacrifice for us. Fear of God means trusting Him, no matter what, in every situation. Fear of man means we have a chink in our ‘Trust of God’ armor. Fear of man means that we’ve decided to try to correct or solve a particular dilemma or trial on our own; without God’s help. Fear of man means we’re not sure if God can handle this situation. Fear of man means that we think we have a better chance of correcting the problem at hand than God does. Fear of man means trusting in ourselves. Fear of God is healthy. Fear of man is unhealthy. Fear of God is good. Fear of man is bad.
Fear can be one of our greatest friends or it can be one of our most formidable foes. My desire is to experience a far greater fear of God and to eliminate my fear of man. I’ll keep working on that. Pray for me!

Although a wicked man commits a hundred crimes and still lives a long time, I know that it will go better with God-fearing men, who are reverent before God. Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow. (Ecclesiastes 8:12-13)