After a 6 month break I am moving forward again on my thrilling expedition through the pages of God's word. Just one or two things to say about fear, faith and God being our shield before pressing on. I am reading again a great book by David Carr called "Staying Sane in a crazy world":
"Fear came to occupy the place in Adam's mind where God had been shut out. That is why we can take comfort in the promise of the bible that the perfect love of Jesus casts out all fear. Fear and God cannot inhabit the same place. Fear is the absence of God's presence and sin reflects the thoughts of a man whose mind is void of life and does not hear the voice of God." David Carr. Staying Sane in a crazy world. p47.
There is a good fear which is a fear of God. It's a healthy, helpful fear, a bit like being concerned about falling when you are high up or a wary of drowning when you are near deep water. The bible says it's the basis for wisdom (Prov 9:10), and meaning (Eccl 12:13) but what about "perfect love casts out fear" (1 John 4:18)? Is there a contradiction here? No, I think there are two kinds of fear. A good godly fear and a counterfeit fear.
Once fear of God is gone and with it his protecting presence, then a host of counterfeit fears take its place. While fear of God leads to love, freedom and life, counterfeit fears lead to loneliness, slavery and death. If I fear what people think of me more than what God thinks of me then he is no longer directing my path and since he loves me more than anyone, I loose out. Fear has worked in the opposite way in which it is designed to, ie to protect me from danger and keep me in God's love. That is always the way the counterfeits work. They promise more and deliver less.
Take getting drunk for example. It's a counterfeit of enjoying the presence of God (Eph 5:18). Getting drunk promises boldness and freedom from fear, better relationships, joy, peace etc but usually leaves you worse off in every respect.
Here is David Carr again:
"Why do people seek after such sensations (escapism and highs from drugs) when we all know that they are temporal in effect and in long term are highly damaging to our health? I believe is it man's attempt to recapture the rush of the Holy Spirit flowing through his being. Escapism through substance abuse is a feeble attempt at counterfeiting the vivid realties of life in the awesome power of the Spirit...people are trying to simulate what only the Holy Spirit can give, which is the pure peace of God, the pure purpose of God, the pure presence of God. When the Holy Spirit comes upon a person it causes a massive rush of adrenaline and well-being, and the world desperately wants to experience that." David Carr. Staying Sane in a Crazy World. p47.
"Why is it that man tries to invent things that will replace the Holy Spirit? It is simply man's attempt to create a substitute for the presence of God. It is the world's way of trying to sooth the brain outside of the Holy Spirit - an impossible task". David Carr. Staying Sane in a Crazy World. p53
After these insightful remarks the very next chapter in his book is called "Don't worry!" and coincidently the first verse is the one I have just memorised this morning. Matthew 6:25. Let me see if I can remember it:
"Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will wear. You life is more than food and the body more than clothes". Matthew 6:25
Ah, forgot the begging bit "Therefore I tell you". That's a really important bit. And Jesus posed the second half of the verse as more of a question "Is not life more than food?"
Just thought though, is "worry" different to "fear"? Let's go check the Greek (I am still learning it but progress is even slower than my blogging through the bible!). Worries/anxious has more of the sense of "distracted" (like Martha in Luke 10:41). Fear has more of a sense of wanting to avoid something that looks to be dangerous. I guess the two are related. We might fear looking silly in front of people so we worry about what we put on in the morning. We worry about money because we fear not having enough. I wonder if they are always related somehow? Not sure... Ah Piper has something helpful to say here:
"Anxiety seems to be an intense desire for something, accompanied by a fear of the consequences of not receiving it. We do not say we are anxious when we desire a tool box for Christmas because we don't fear the consequences of not getting one. But we do say we are anxious about our wife not arriving home on time because our desire for her to come home is accompanied by the fear of a car accident and a telephone call from the police....anxiety implies that we think there may well be some sorrow and anguish around the corner."
Anyway, this subject is massive and I'm going to get swept away again if I'm not careful so let me pull it back to Abram again. God is giving himself as a shield to Abram to protect him from the counterfeit fears that are pressing in. As Abram takes hold of God, and his shielding presence, the fear of people, death, failure, and rejection can be batted away. Having God as a shield, strapped to your arm, held closely to your body, moving forward into battle with you is so much better than everything just begin fixed at a distance. God doesn't want to stay at arm's length, he wants to be held on our arm as a shield.
PS. Check out my main blog in a few days as I will be continuing some of these trains of thought. Just think that for now through I need to press onto the next verse to avoid getting bogged down again!
