Fear

This is a quote from David Campbell taken from my facebook page:

“We will never be all that we can be in Christ if we fear the opinion of man over the opinion of the Lord.  When we fear the opinion of man we place ourselves in bondage, when we fear the Lord we walk in complete freedom. It is the fear of the Lord that brings wisdom.”

I agree with this so I thought I would put forth my assessment of what I think about this subject.  Fear is a paralyzing factor in any person’s life.  People use fear to control other people and their situations.  Think about what happens in a situation when people are in a crowded building and a few people start hollering, “fire, fire,” most everyone starts to panic and run in all directions to escape the building and the fire.  Think about when you are home alone at night and you hear a strange sound and then you hear it again and then the sound gets a little louder, you start to panic and fear sets in and you become immobilized for a few moments then eventually you realize that it was only the wind blowing something around outside.  When we fear something, the ‘fight-or-flight’ syndrome sets in and we react, depending on our personalities and the situation we are facing at the time.

Fear is not always a bad thing, sometimes it is a positive reaction, and something we learn growing up, like fearing things and people that would harm us, which is wisdom.  But far too often we fear things that never take place and it ends up paralyzing us and it steals our joy and happiness. There are imaginary fears that are brought on by things that we may watch or hear about, and then we relate these things to happening to us; like hearing or knowing that our dad had a heart attack or a stroke.  Some people hear of someone having a disease and dying because of complications so they think the same thing will happen to them and they live in paralyzing fear.  I think everyone is afraid of something, even the biggest, toughest and strongest guys we know, have some kind of fear.  

But one thing far too many people don’t seem to have, which is the most important fear that anyone should have, and that is the fear of the Lord.  I think the only way that a person can eliminate all fear is to have a strong faith and trust in the Lord.  If we fear the Lord the way that we should, we will never transgress against Him and we will walk in perfect peace.  When we walk in perfect love and trust, it will cast out all fear, which is why the Bible says in Psalms 111:10, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments.

His praise endures forever.”  A lot of people have knowledge but wisdom is the ability to put that knowledge into action and that is where a lot of knowledgeable people fail.  I think that the perfect fear of the Lord is not daring to transgress against His commandments, to happily keep His commands and to realize that He is completely sovereign and trustworthy, and so are His promises.

Solomon was the wisest King that ever lived, and where did he get his wisdom?  He got it from the Lord.  He wrote the book of Ecclesiastes.  In this book, Solomon tells us life without God is emptiness, no matter how much we have accomplished in our life.  No matter how smart, accomplished, talented, popular or rich you are, it is all meaningless without a personal relationship with God.  In the end, when it is all said and done, God will judge the living and the dead.  I don’t think you will be judged by how rich you were, how smart or talented you were or by all the friends you had and how popular you were, or what you owned, no, it will be about your relationship with Jesus, God’s beloved Son.

Solomon summed his book up this way in chapter 12 the last two verses 13-14, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all.  For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.”

You must strive to know God and keep His commandments.  Think about King David, Solomon’s father, when he stood before Goliath.  This giant may have been the biggest man David had ever seen, but while everyone else was quaking in their boots, because of Goliath’s threats, David was saying, “let me at him,” just my paraphrase.  David, at the time, was just a boy that was full of faith and trust in his God.  Did you ever hear this saying, “The bigger they are, the harder they fall?”  If David knew this saying, he might have said it at the time.  If you know the story, one thing you know for sure is, David had no fear.  David knew the giant in his life was about to fall, and he did, and then David cut off his head.  

If we fear the Lord, strive to keep His commandments and fully trust in His provisions, the giants in our lives will eventually fall also.  Something to think about, God bless and have a great day!!