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Monday, January 12, 2015

Pastoral Ponderings ~ The Fear That Delivers From Fear


          In the world-renowned song, Amazing Grace, the author penned a parallel phrase that almost sounds contradictory. He wrote, “’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved.”[1] Growing up in a strong friendship with fear, my early experiences of singing this song left me uncertain what I was singing. How could God’s grace teach me to fear, and relieve my fears at the same time?
          What I learned along the way is that the first phrase refers to the grace of God leading us to feel the fear of the Lord that is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge.[2] While John Newton was living in sin, he had no fear or reverence for God. As God’s grace began working in his heart, and he began feeling the weight of his sin, he felt a fear of God that humbled him, brought him low, and gave him hope.
          The second phrase refers to our fears of other things. We have a fear of death, of bullies, of out of control events. We live in fear of being hurt, rejected, forsaken, and maligned. Life is tough, and many things scare us, including the monstrous fear of death. But God’s grace brings us to understand that in Jesus Christ, we have nothing to fear.[3] The same grace that brings us to fear God, sets us free of every other fear.[4]
          This morning I realized that much of our planning, or our behavior in stressful circumstances, exposes what we fear. People are driven as workaholics that are afraid of living in poverty. People enter abusive relationships because they are fearful of being alone. From a young age, we learn to play roles that fit people’s expectations because we are so afraid of what would happen if we were just ourselves.
          On the other hand, there is a kind of relationship with God in which we can “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,” knowing, “it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”[5]When we know God is working in us, seeking that which matches his good pleasure, we can have a reverent fear of God that sets us free from our fears of people, things, and circumstances. God’s grace teaches us to fear the Lord in order to relieve us of all other fears.
          This constant conflict between our fear of God, and our fears of people and circumstances, exposes that we will always submit to whatever we fear the most. When David visited his brothers and discovered that the whole army of Israel was trembling with fear at Goliath’s challenge, he viewed the situation as one who feared God. He was not afraid of Goliath because his fear of God was greater than his fear of man, no matter how big that man should be. He revered God as God, and knew that God would enable him to do what God had called him to do.[6]
          Over time, I have discovered that one of the most debilitating fears is our fear of losing people. People will leave churches because they don’t like the preaching, the songs, the Bible translation, the programming, and many other likes, interests, or preferences. This threat of people leaving us can sometimes take on Goliath stature.
          What has become clear over the years is that our fear of losing people must be conquered by our fear of God, otherwise we will do what people want, or do what our fear of people demands, rather than uniting to work out our personal obedience to whatever God is working into  us. It is the reverent fear of God that keeps us working out our salvation with fear and trembling, seeking to know what God is working in us to will and work for his good pleasure, no matter whether people are threatening to leave us, or even take our lives. Many people in our world are faced with that ultimate threat of death at the hands of terrorists. In the midst of horrific stories of religious brutality, people are finding that the fear of the Lord sets them free of the fear of man.
          On the other hand, I have seen ministries crumble as people stop working out their salvation with fear and trembling because their fear of losing family members and loved ones was greater than their fear of God. They pull away from seeking God freely in his word and prayer because if they worked out what God was working in, it would mean losing people. When the fear of losing someone is greater than our fear of God, we will always do what people want instead of what God is working in us to will and to work for his good pleasure.
          All of us must examine our own hearts to settle that we are not denying God’s work in us because of fear. We cannot refuse to work out whatever God is working in just because we are afraid of what might happen. Whichever fear determines our actions is the fear we serve. We can idolize our fears of people and circumstances so much that we obey their every prompting, while rejecting the promptings of the Spirit who is moving within us to will and to work according to God’s will.
          While any fear that trumps our fear and reverence for God is an idol, we don’t need to be free of those fears in order to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Instead, with fear and trembling, we can bring even those fears to God, seeking to work out our salvation in the ways God is working our salvation into us.
          While David set that amazing example of fearless fear of the Lord when he took on Goliath, his life continued to demonstrate how his fear of God kept him from giving in to fear of man. In Psalm 27, David started by saying, “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”[7]It was clear that David feared the LORD, not anyone else. He could say this when Goliath’s gigantic size terrorized Israel’s army, and later on when other enemies were against him.
          David was very clear when he declared, “Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.”[1] Again, David knew whom he feared, so he was not afraid of anything. Even if a whole army came against him, he would not be afraid because his confidence was in the Lord.
          However, even though David was confident in God, and would not cave to fear of others, he still prayed his heart out about what people were doing to him. This included praying like this, “Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, O you who have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation!”[8]David would have no hope of standing against his enemies if God was angry with him, or if God rejected him, so he prayed about how he was feeling.
          This is also the Psalm where David wrote, “For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the LORD will take me in.”[9]When David compared his life in relation to who could forsake him, even when his own parents had forsaken him, he still knew God would take him in. God was his refuge at all times, even in those most painful of broken relationships. This is a great comfort where people come to faith in Jesus Christ and are rejected, and even threatened, by parents and other relatives.
          God’s word tells us that, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.”[10]David learned this at a young age and could  defeat Goliath even while his older brothers were part of the army that had more fear of Goliath than they had faith in God. John Newton discovered the amazing grace of God that saved a wretch like him, and in that grace was transformed from a life of fears to a life of fearing the Lord God of heaven.
          Today, God makes himself known to his people in such a personal way that churches can sense how God is working in us to will and to work for his good pleasure, and join together to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, even when people, things, or circumstances threaten us with every other kind of fear.
          “’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved.”


© 2015 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)






[1] © Public Domain, John Newton 1779
[2] Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 1:7; 9:10
[3] The phrase, “fear not,” is used 34 times in the ESV, indicating God’s repeated exhortation to have faith instead of fear. https://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?search=fear+not&version=ESV&searchtype=phrase&resultspp=500
[4] This is true even when God must work in our hearts to transform us from fear of people, things, and events, to a reverent fear of God.
[5] Philippians 2:12-13
[6] I Samuel 17
[7] Psalm 27:1
[8] Psalm 27:9
[9] Psalm 27:10
[10] Proverbs 9:10

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