What Do You Fear?

“The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”  Psalm 27:1

Life is filled with fear.  There are the “major” fears like death, the process of dying, extreme illness or injury, or losing a loved one.  One or more of these are either inevitable or likely probable during a person’s lifetime, but there is nothing one can do to stop these events from happening.  Then there are other things we fear about, like losing a job, a home, or dealing with a wayward teenager.  These things may or may not be out of our control.  Society worries about war, attack, poverty, and crime.  In this day and age, some folks have conjured up fears of things that need not be feared, for instance, climate change, being offended, and law and order, while other things that should be feared, like lawlessness, socialism, and lies from those in authority, are actually embraced and promoted.

As the world keeps spinning on its axis, our problems multiply and fear grows.  Jesus said in Luke 21:26 that in the last days “men’s hearts (will be) failing them for fear”.  David had plenty to fear.  King Saul sought to kill him (I Samuel 19:2) and so did his son Absalom.  Israel’s surrounding enemies pursued him and he was constantly on the run.  But he had a real confidence in the LORD.  He knew that every victory and every success was because the LORD was with him.  He had no need to fear because God provided for him.

I remember one of the things that one of my uncles always mentioned in his prayers to God was the thankfulness that God had protected us from dangers both seen and unseen.  We have no idea at the vast number of times that God has kept us from injury, sickness, embarrassment, or any number of incidents that possibly could have had devastating results on our lives.  However, we know by experience that there are and will be times when we go through trials.  I suppose the fear of the unknown is the greatest fear that we have.  But think about this:  what if we knew ahead of time what would occur in our families to upset our lives?  Would we not be even more fearful?  Or live with dread every single day?

God does not desire for us to live in fear.  His desire is that we trust Him with every facet of our lives.  If we fear anything, we are to fear God.  My definition concerning the fear of God is that He can do whatever He desires, whenever He desires, to whomever He desires and is perfectly justified in doing so.  But remember this, God never allows us to go through anything unless it has been filtered through the loving fingers of His hands.  As the old song says, “He’s got the whole world in His hands”, then why should we fear?  However, like worry and doubt, casting aside fear is easier said than done, but it is certainly a worthy goal.