Love and Fear

I have been thinking a lot about fear. What causes it and how do we overcome it?

I suppose the idea first struck me after Houston flooded last week. My sister told us that her two boys asked her why God did this. My sister explained that God did not cause the rain, but allowed it to happen. It is simply a part of life, and in times like these, we have to turn to God, friends, and family to give us strength to get us through it.  

My first reaction whenever anyone questions why God did something evil, is to immediately jump to His defense and explain the realities of sin and evil and love and God. I knew what my nephews felt and I knew what my sister meant. However, even here, my knee-jerk reaction was to defend God.

Almost immediately, God whispered in my ear and reminded me that He did not need defending. I pictured Him smiling at me and gently reprimanding me, redirecting my good intentions. “I do not need your defense. I need your love.”

I responded by rephrasing what my sister already said in her own way, “What Satan intends for evil, God uses for good.”

The boys learned this in a glorious way almost immediately. My brother-in-law, who had been out of state, came back home early. His employees and several of their friends came by to help them clean and repair his shop.

The school my youngest nephew attends brought aid to the families affected by the flood.

Local businesses donated food and supplies.

A community came together to help one another put the pieces of their lives back together.

Love in action.

A beautiful testament to the love of God. “I don’t need your defense. I need your love.”

So, how did this story of love get me to thinking about fear?

My sister made the comment that after experiencing this flood, she is afraid of the rain. Will it flood again? Will it be worse next time?

All the stories from the flooding made me think about my own fears. What is it I fear and why do I fear it? Are there things I used to fear that I no longer fear? What can I do to overcome the fears I have now?

When I was a kid, I used to fear dying and growing old alone. After facing my own mortality when I got cancer, I no longer fear death. After going through divorce and being alone for the first time in my life, I don’t fear being alone. Even if I outlive everyone I care about, I will never be alone. God will always be with me.

I used to be deathly afraid of heights until I started remodeling the house I lived in after my divorce. I grew quite comfortable on ladders. Although I still don’t like heights, I don’t have that paralyzing fear I once had.

I fear snakes.

I fear speaking to strangers without an agenda.

I fear missing the mark somehow.

I fear someone I love needing me and me not being able to help them.

What terrifies me most is the thought of losing my Bailey.

Is all fear bad? I mean, having a healthy fear of snakes ensures I will stay clear of them. If they leave me alone, I’ll leave them alone. Being afraid of heights will ensure that I take appropriate safety measures into consideration when facing heights.

But what about those things I can’t control like not being at the right place at the right time or losing someone I love dearly? I suppose I fear them precisely because I cannot control those potential circumstances.

God tells us not to fear. “Fear not” is supposedly the most repeated phrase in the Bible.

That’s easy to say, but how do I really go about fearing not?

In Psalm 56 David says:

When I am afraid,

I will trust in you.

In God, whose word I praise,

In God I trust; I will not be afraid.

That’s all well and good, but this doesn’t exactly give me the step-by-step playbook on how to overcome fear.

Then again, maybe it does.

When I am afraid, I will trust in you. Trust is not an easy thing, but think of this. Who does a child turn to when she wakes up in the middle of the night from a bad dream? She finds comfort from Mom and Dad.

We, too, can find comfort from our Daddy. All we have to do is call His name.  

In God, whose word I praise. We are taught that Jesus is the living word.  Call on the name of Jesus.

We can also look at “word” literally. Read the Bible.

When we are afraid, we can open the pages of the Bible and read until the fear subsides. We can talk to God, open up and be honest. Tell Him everything that’s in our heart and on our mind.

When I am truly able to shift my focus from the fear in front of me onto my Daddy, all fear seems to wash away, like storm waters after a clear and sunny day.