Fear Not

In the past week I've heard three messages from three different people all touching on fear.

Sunday, June 14th - Wm Paul Young

Tuesday, June 16th - Josh Lopez

Wednesday, June 17th - Pastor Earl McClellan

Gee, maybe I should pay attention!



The truth is that I have some fears I have been battling lately so these messages are very timely for me. I typed up my notes and decided to carry them around for a while. Thought maybe I'd share some thoughts.



Fear is a powerful emotion, I remember as a young girl dealing with various fears. I heard this verse from Job 3:25: What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me. It was presented in a way that made me feel like if I was afraid of something I would make it happen to me! Holy Cow! Now, I'm not just afraid of stuff, I'm afraid of being afraid! How many of us have been slapped around with this scripture? Last night when I was mulling it over, I wondered is fear really THAT powerful? Was Job's fear the catalyst for his calamity? I'm just not sure. Perhaps if the story was about Job's fear, the introduction in chapter one would read more like this: Job was a scardey cat, anxious and nervous about loss, because of that, all this terrible trouble came upon him. In actuality God's introduction of Job reads like this: "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil." God drew attention to Job's reverential fear of the Lord, not his worries.



There are hundreds of references to fear in the Bible. Why do you suppose? I think its because fear is a natural human response to life on the planet. God knows are frame, remember? He sees our propensity for fear. His response to us is beautifully reassuring:



Be strong, do not fear; your God will come Is 35:4


So do not fear, O Jacob my servant; do not be dismayed, O Israel,' declares the LORD. 'I will surely save you Jer 30:10



When I think back to the message I heard years ago about that verse in Job, it sounded like God would be more apt to say something like this..."Stop being scared you silly little girl! Just quit it! You're ridiculous!" But He doesn't, he says: Do not fear..... for I AM with you! (Jer 46:28) It is the presence of a powerful loving God in our lives that disarms our fear. If God is for us, who can be against us?

To fear is human...to Fear Not requires the Divine!