Fear!

Fear is one of the most powerful of all our emotions.  It can generate the release of powerful hormones or melt us into quivering masses of utter incapacity.  It can compel us to act in ways we would not normally act whether it is bad or good.  It is a weapon used by many powerful institutions to intimidate and rule over the masses under them.   It can have both positive and negative outcomes in our life.

The first time we find fear in the Bible is in the Garden of Eden.  Things are no longer perfect as they had been.  Eve has been deceived and Adam has chosen to sin.  Now it is the cool of the day and they hear God coming for His afternoon visit.  Hide! They run in fear away from their best Friend.  Adam says, “I heard Your voice and was afraid.” 

Fear of God has been a part of the human condition ever since.  It is true that there are some who have become so callous that the Scripture says of them, “There is no fear of God before their eyes”, but that was not always their condition.  Even Adolf Hitler as a Catholic school boy had a fear of God.  But why fear God?

We fear God because we are sinners.  Paul told the Romans that even Gentiles who had no law were a law unto themselves.  They show the law written on their own hearts and are directed by a conscience.  Pagan worship is a cheap set up to learn how to appease an angry god.  If gods who do not exist can be viewed as angry for our insolence and sin against them, how much more the Creator God of all?  Indeed Psalm 7 says that God is angry with the wicked every day.  When someone who is bigger and more powerful than you is angry with you, you are afraid.

But what did God say to Adam and Eve on that fateful day?  Did He crush them and walk away laughing?  No, He spoke grace.  “I will send a Redeemer who will take away the curse of your sin.”  And He did.  He sent Jesus Christ so that we could be reconciled to God and have the joy of His love and not the fear of His anger.  In Christ, God is not angry.  We must rejoice in this great message.  It is the message of the Gospel. 

Oh, blessed hope the God of Love, His angry face has turned aside

And through the blood of His Dear Son, in peace can now with man reside

The fear of God is thus removed; the Judgment Day has been passed o’er

In Christ we find His grace is sweet; abide in peace forever more. 

 

 

Visit my website at www.davidccraig.net for inspiring Christian books.  Coming this month is my newest book Taking Care of Joe.  This is the story of a caregiver for an Alzheimer’s patient.  See how God adds His grace in the face of this horrible disease and how living a life of love is living a life NOT interrupted.  You may also find some of my selected daily devotions at FEBC.org.  FEBC is a vital missionary outreach to many countries that are closed to traditional missionary work.