Fight Fear with Faith

“Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy and fear is on every side.” (Jer 6:25 AV)

 There are several ways to look at this verse.  Judah was told to stay safe in the city of Jerusalem.  If they tried to leave, then the enemy would kill them.  As long as they were in the center of God’s will, it may have gotten uncomfortable, but it was the safest place to be.  However, something else jumped out at me.  The weapons of our enemies are many.  The wiles of the devil are several.  One of those weapons is listed above.  Fear!  Fear is on every side.  Fear can be debilitating.  Fear can stop us in our tracks.  Fear can cause us to make hasty decisions that only make our situation worse.  Fear is perhaps one of the strongest emotions we possess.  Fear becomes the lens by which we see all that we face as bigger than God.  Fear is a direct criticism of who and what God is.  Fear is a horrible emotion.   We know the Bible says that perfect love casts out fear.  Fear is horrible.  It is captivating.  Fear is a prison that is difficult to escape.  To do so, we need to see that fear is a tool of the enemy.  At least the type of fear mentioned above.

One of my son’s favorite TV shows is Monk.  Adrian Monk is a detective who lost his wife to a violent car bomb.    Monk is a recluse and works as a consultant for the police department.  His detective skills are second to none.  The problem with Monk is he suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder.  He is literally terrified of everything.  He is a germaphobe.  He cannot step on cracks.  Etc.  His whole life is controlled by things that scar him.  He sees a psychologist every week to try to overcome some of these fears.  One of the themes of every episode is how a crisis situation forces Monk to face a certain fear for the greater good.  He usually does so without thinking about it and after his fear is faced, he recedes back into his fear.  There is nothing that can help poor Monk live a normal life.  In one episode, Monk was particularly stressed and couldn’t concentrate on the case.  His friend and boss took Monk to a clean room.  It was a white room that we completely disinfected.  Everything was white including the clothes they wore.  The only non-white surface was their faces.  They held a meeting in that room to discuss the case at hand and because Monk felt completely safe and organized in his mind, solved the case sitting there in that room.  I felt sorry for Monk because he could not function in the world around him because fear held him as a prisoner of his own mind.  Fear can do that.  This kind of fear is not of the LORD.

Paul tells us,  “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (2Ti 1:7 AV)  We know that fear is essential to wisdom.  There must be a fear of and for the LORD.  But the fear which we see above is not that fear.  The fear above is a paralyzing fear that believes what one faces is bigger than God.  This type of fear subjects God to our circumstances rather than the other way around.  Fear can be a good thing.  It can motivate us to avoid danger.  Fear can motivate us is stay in line.  But the wrong kind of fear can keep us from living a life in faith and obedience to the LORD.  The fear above stops all growth.  The fear above ceases all life.  This fear is the fear which the adversary desires us to be captivated without any hope of escape.  This kind of fear is not good for a testimony to the world.  This kind of fear will keep the devil as our master and not the LORD.  The best thing we can do is remain in the center of God’s will and trust Him to get us through our circumstances.  This is what Judah was told to do and this is what they failed to do.  They panicked.  In doing so, many were lost to the sword.  Stay in the center of God’s will and presence.  That is the safest place to be.