What you
ARE AFRAID OF
Text: Job 3:25-26; 2 Timothy 1:7 and Psalm
27:1
Job 3:25-26
25
For the alarm I am afraid of, it arrives for me, And that which I shrink from
comes to me.
26 I have no ease, and I am not quiet; I have no rest, and disturbance keeps
coming.
2 Timothy 1:7
7 for
God gives us, not a spirit of timidity, but of power and of love and of sanity.
Psalm 27:1
1 Yahweh is my
Light and my Salvation; Whom should I fear? Yahweh is the stronghold of my
life; Of whom should I be afraid?
It is human
nature to fear things but in most places in the scripture, it was recorded that
Yahweh and his messengers would tell people not to be afraid. The world’s
events may make you develop fear of future. Being afraid of what you fear most
may attract what you do not want in your life. It is good to take what we fear
most to the Lord in prayers to give us grace, mercy and wisdom to overcome them.
Sometimes, fear and being afraid may be alternatively used but they are not the
same.
Fear is useful in
some areas. It would enable us to avoid rushing ourselves into danger. To fear
Yahweh is the first step of being wise (paraphrased Proverbs 9:10 and Psalm 111:10)
does not depict to be afraid of Yahweh. It enables us to reference Yahweh and
be in awe of him. Being undaunted sometimes may result to getting hurt. So, fear is
useful but it needs to be properly managed. When you are in the habit of
exhibiting fear, it demoralizes you from attaining your potentials. This is why
you need to understand what Paul said in 2 Timothy 1:7. This would be explained
briefly below.
Ø Yahweh gives us his spirit not to be timid. Being timid means, one is easily frightened and live in perpetual
lack of confidence. When you are engrossed with negative things you consume on
the internet, places of worship, family, friends, colleagues and past
experiences, you lose confidence and starve yourself the courage to overcome
your challenges.
Ø Instead of spirit of timidity, Yahweh
gives us his power. Power is the ability to enforce your will as willed for you
by Yahweh according to his plan for your life. Yahweh informed Joshua in
chapter 1 that Joshua would take the Israelites to the promised land and divide
it for them. This is power. To take the land from those who were residing there
before would require applying force . This is why spirit of timidity is not of Yahweh. It
does not result to achieving success.
Ø Yahweh gives us love. Love is the direct
opposite of hate. Love is not jealous. It is patient, kind, not bragging, not
puffed up, not indecent, not self-seeking, not
incensed, not taking account of evil, not rejoicing in injustice, yet is
rejoicing together with the truth. Love is forgoing all, believing all, expecting
all and enduring all (1 Corinthians 4:4-7 paraphrased). People who lack these
traits are more often looking beyond their shoulders to avoid attack from oppositions.
Why? It is because they cannot sleep in comfort. When you love, you would lie
down and not be afraid because whenever you lie down, your sleep will be
congenial (Proverbs 3:24).
Ø Yahweh also gives us sanity. Sanity
enables you to think straight. Inquire from Yahweh for directives, get the
understanding of the situation you are, and find solution to your problems.
Most of the times, solutions are always close to the challenges we may be
experiencing but we do not perceive these solutions because of the grip of fear
in our minds that cloud us from thinking straight. With the help of Yahweh,
sanity helps us to gain control over our fear.
Job initially
demonstrated timidity which resulted to down-tooling Yahweh’s given power, love
and sanity because of the grip of fear that resulted from his ordeals. His wife
and associates did not help him either. However, with Yahweh’s mercy, he was
able to overcome his fear.
In conclusion,
fear should not be misplaced with being afraid. Fear may be useful but should
not be embraced as a reason to down-tool our Yahweh’s given power, love and
sanity. Fear can enable us not to do what Yahweh does not plan for us in
relative sense when we misplace it with being afraid. You can trace this to
Genesis 16:1-13. Being afraid of future pushed Sarah to make Abraham sleep with
Hagar for lack of child. However, Yahweh was merciful to her in the long run.
Remember that Yahweh is you Light, Salvation and Stronghold. You should not be
afraid. Do not attract what you fear.
Thanks for taking
time to read this week’s blog post.
Grace and Peace!
References:
https://www.concordant.org/version/read-concordant-old-testament-online
https://www.concordant.org/version/read-concordant-new-testament-online
https://www.google.com/search?
Fear of Yahweh is good but being afraid of him is not.
ReplyDelete