Morning Devotional

August 13, 2003

“Fear" (Part 1)  

by Don Emmitte

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Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my victorious right hand. (Isaiah 41:10 NLT). 

Just the other day, Lisa Black sent me her “thought for the day.” It centered on the subject of fear. I was prompted to return to this subject for the next few days. H. L. Mencken, author of "Prejudices," has this to say on fear: "The one permanent emotion of the inferior man is fear, fear of the unknown, the complex, the inexplicable. What he wants beyond everything else is safety."

Fear is an emotion all of us share. We were created with the ability to sense danger and to thereby protect ourselves by allowing this emotion to direct us to safety. For example, it is good and natural to have the feeling of fear when one is standing near a steep cliff. Fear of falling and injuring one's self, or worse, causes us to step back to safety. So too, is fear a mechanism to scare a person away from immoral behavior. For fear of losing one's family, a man tempted to stray from his marriage may reconsider his potentially adulterous actions.

Fear is not of itself a bad thing. When it is allowed to become irrational and without basis, then fear becomes an enemy. Whether it's fear of poverty, fear of failure or inadequacy, fear of disease, aging, or death, irrational fears can pull us down emotionally and rob our lives of joy.

It is not God’s desire for us to live in fear. While a fear of spiders or snakes might not hinder one's life too much, those who experience deeper fears, which reach into every day aspects of their life such as fear of social situations or of growing old, are being slowly robbed of the joy and peace God promises us. Most of our fears never happen and of the rest, we can often make these come true ourselves! They become self-fulfilling. In fact, many fears are simply the products of our own imaginations and, as we know, the mind can be greatly influenced by our pasts, traumatic circumstances, or some sort of personal issue we have not fully come to grips with. The sooner we realize the basis for irrational fears, the quicker healing is on its way! People who have such fears tend to not want to reveal these publicly, since they fear it will make them appear insecure, weak, and perhaps "abnormal." Like irrational fears, this feeling of going into hiding with one's weaknesses is just one more form of emotional bondage and entrapment that robs us of the zest for life we could have! Fear can turn into a vicious cycle.

There is a promise in today’s reading for those in the grip of irrational fear. Our heavenly Father promises strength and help to those who turn to Him. While God wants us to live in peace and comfort, the devil tries to replace these with darkness, deception, and irrational fear. God wants our joy and freedom and the enemy wants to keep us in bondage. Do you fear? Then call out to the Father and let Him comfort you as only a loving Father can. Let Him fill you with the love He has for all His children. Reach out, take His hand, and let His truth guide you.