THE DANGER OF UNHEALTHY FEAR
Understanding unhealthy fear and how to deal with it.
The Lord has given us all discernment. Without it, we would not last long in this world. We encounter thoughts and circumstances all day, every day. And healthy fear keeps us from trouble. From learning not to play with fire to not playing on a busy street. From not hurting others' feelings unnecessarily to working well with others at our jobs. Discernment and healthy fear are important. However, unhealthy fear is a danger that we need to all be aware of.
Healthy fear keeps us on the wise path but unhealthy fear subtly opens the door to the enemy. When we give more place to fear than to God's ability to help us through our circumstances, it shows at least two things. For one, it is a lack of faith in God and that is really bad. Not only without faith is it impossible to please God but to doubt is a sin. Secondly, when we turn our back on God's provision for our circumstances, we open the door to trouble.
Right choices empower God to work in our circumstances and wrong choices empower the devil and his cohorts to work. It is up to us, who we empower. We cannot give place to the devil and expect to see God move in our circumstances. The sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, has been given to us not only for our defense and but also for our offense; and we must not only stand on His Word, but sometimes we have to apply and wield the Sword. We must pray prayers of faith and eliminate doubt. We must ask the Lord for His wisdom and direction in our challenges. How often do we “have not because we ask not” in our circumstances?
The Lord said if we abide in Him and His word abides in us, that we will ask for what we will and it will be given.
If we let fear guide and drive us, how is that abiding in the Lord and His Word in us? God is not scared of our circumstances, as He is God and knows all and sees all.
Job was a great man, perhaps one of the greatest of all time and yet he made the mistake of opening the door for his fear to become his demise: “For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, and what I dreaded has happened to me” (Job 3:25). By fearing something more than trusting God, we actually open the door to it.
Long ago, the remnant of the children of Israel who were left in the land after Nebuchadnezzar had taken Israel and either killed most there and taken the rest into bondage in Babylon... a remnant that was left came to Jeremiah, the prophet Nebuchadnezzar freed from the dungeon that his own leaders had put him into. And they asked Jeremiah to pray to the Lord to see if they should flee to Egypt or not. So he prayed and the answer was “no and trust the Lord” which of course was not what they wanted to hear. They then chose against God's answer and paid for it with the ultimate price. In the process of these events, the Lord said this to them:
If they would have trusted and obeyed God, putting away their bad habits and worship of idols, the Lord would have taken care of them. But they rejected the Lord and His word for them, so He gave them over to the very things they feared (sword, famine and pestilence, Jeremiah 42:17). How often do we do the same in not truly listening and being obedient to God?
In Proverbs 1, "wisdom" says the following:
When they chose against God and wisdom, they opened the door for their terror to come. Maybe they did not even realize the magnitude of their choices but the end result would still be the same. If we fear anything more than God, it is a bad, bad choice and no good will come from it.
So if we say that we trust the Lord, then let us truly do so and stand firm without being paralyzed by fear or troubles. Let's take a deep breath, slow down and seek His help in our challenges. No fear or challenge is too big for our God. He is able to see us through any circumstance. Whether it might be like Joseph, thrown in a pit by his brothers and sold into slavery (refusing to focus on his fear, pain and loss) and still rose to great power and enough to save thousands and thousands of people with God's wisdom, including those very brothers who horribly wronged him. Or Solomon, who when the crown was passed to him from his father David to become the next leader of God's people and who would build the Temple his father longed for. Solomon's new position seemed very challenging to him to say the least (1 Kings 3:7-9). The Lord asked him what he would want and his answer was discernment and an understanding heart to be able to be a good leader to His people. The Lord knew his fears of inadequacy of doing the job and met him where he was at. What was overwhelming to this man, when given to the Lord, became his greatest achievement. Or like Daniel when his home was invaded by the notorious, evil King Nebuchadnezzar, and most of his family and friends were killed and himself taken into captivity to a strange and far-away land, did not choke or yield to fear but rather stood firm in his faith no matter what the cost. Or his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego also when taken into captivity, their evil king promised death to all who would not bow to and worship him. When these three refused to commit the sin of bowing in worship to another human and deny their faith no matter how horrible or fearful the punishment would be; they were thrown into the burning hot, fiery furnace (whereupon the Lord was with them and refused to allow them to burn). Or later, Peter and Paul when faced with the political correctness to not share the Gospel as the law said they could not, refused to stop at great personal cost, including beatings, jail, being stoned and eventually one crucified and the other decapitated. Fear of pain and suffering would have stopped many but they kept their eyes on the Lord and what He had directed them to do. Or the apostle John, who history books say that when he was faced with renouncing his faith or be thrown in a pot of boiling oil; he stood firm and when thrown in the pot, the oil would not burn him. And yet many Christians, great and small, have died gruesome deaths for their faith; no matter what fear their enemies attempted to put upon them. And in reality, not a hair on their heads were really lost. It might seem so in the physical but Jesus was with them every second of every minute of their demise and they went from this world to the next in a blink of an eye. With God, it is always a win-win situation no matter what circumstances, people, or even the devil, dictate.
As David recorded in his victory psalm, after avoiding being killed by King Saul who hounded and hunted him for many years; who hung on to the faith that he was anointed to be king of Israel one day; this man who refused to yield to fear and trusted God, said this:
So let us “gird ourselves up” like David, and so many others who have gone before us, and put fear and terror in its place. The choice to do so is up to us. And as our Lord Jesus (who never bowed to fear either, even unto death), commanded us to have our fear in the Lord, the One who can destroy both body and soul in hell (Matthew 10:28) and not of anything the devil can attempt to do (or be allowed to do) to us here on earth. Our God is supreme and knows all we will ever need. And Hallelujah, through Jesus Christ and His Word, fear has no hold on us and no place in our hearts or lives.
Healthy fear keeps us on the wise path but unhealthy fear subtly opens the door to the enemy. When we give more place to fear than to God's ability to help us through our circumstances, it shows at least two things. For one, it is a lack of faith in God and that is really bad. Not only without faith is it impossible to please God but to doubt is a sin. Secondly, when we turn our back on God's provision for our circumstances, we open the door to trouble.
Right choices empower God to work in our circumstances and wrong choices empower the devil and his cohorts to work. It is up to us, who we empower. We cannot give place to the devil and expect to see God move in our circumstances. The sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, has been given to us not only for our defense and but also for our offense; and we must not only stand on His Word, but sometimes we have to apply and wield the Sword. We must pray prayers of faith and eliminate doubt. We must ask the Lord for His wisdom and direction in our challenges. How often do we “have not because we ask not” in our circumstances?
- James 4:2 Yet you do not have because you do not ask.
The Lord said if we abide in Him and His word abides in us, that we will ask for what we will and it will be given.
- John 15:7-8 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.”
If we let fear guide and drive us, how is that abiding in the Lord and His Word in us? God is not scared of our circumstances, as He is God and knows all and sees all.
Job was a great man, perhaps one of the greatest of all time and yet he made the mistake of opening the door for his fear to become his demise: “For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, and what I dreaded has happened to me” (Job 3:25). By fearing something more than trusting God, we actually open the door to it.
Long ago, the remnant of the children of Israel who were left in the land after Nebuchadnezzar had taken Israel and either killed most there and taken the rest into bondage in Babylon... a remnant that was left came to Jeremiah, the prophet Nebuchadnezzar freed from the dungeon that his own leaders had put him into. And they asked Jeremiah to pray to the Lord to see if they should flee to Egypt or not. So he prayed and the answer was “no and trust the Lord” which of course was not what they wanted to hear. They then chose against God's answer and paid for it with the ultimate price. In the process of these events, the Lord said this to them:
- Jeremiah 42:15-16 Then hear now the word of the Lord, O remnant of Judah! Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: "If you wholly set your faces to enter Egypt, and go to dwell there, then it shall be that the sword which you feared shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt; the famine of which you were afraid shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there you shall die.”
If they would have trusted and obeyed God, putting away their bad habits and worship of idols, the Lord would have taken care of them. But they rejected the Lord and His word for them, so He gave them over to the very things they feared (sword, famine and pestilence, Jeremiah 42:17). How often do we do the same in not truly listening and being obedient to God?
In Proverbs 1, "wisdom" says the following:
- Proverbs 1:25-28 "Because you disdained all my counsel, and would have none of my rebuke, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes, when your terror comes like a storm, and your destruction comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. "Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently, but they will not find me.”
When they chose against God and wisdom, they opened the door for their terror to come. Maybe they did not even realize the magnitude of their choices but the end result would still be the same. If we fear anything more than God, it is a bad, bad choice and no good will come from it.
So if we say that we trust the Lord, then let us truly do so and stand firm without being paralyzed by fear or troubles. Let's take a deep breath, slow down and seek His help in our challenges. No fear or challenge is too big for our God. He is able to see us through any circumstance. Whether it might be like Joseph, thrown in a pit by his brothers and sold into slavery (refusing to focus on his fear, pain and loss) and still rose to great power and enough to save thousands and thousands of people with God's wisdom, including those very brothers who horribly wronged him. Or Solomon, who when the crown was passed to him from his father David to become the next leader of God's people and who would build the Temple his father longed for. Solomon's new position seemed very challenging to him to say the least (1 Kings 3:7-9). The Lord asked him what he would want and his answer was discernment and an understanding heart to be able to be a good leader to His people. The Lord knew his fears of inadequacy of doing the job and met him where he was at. What was overwhelming to this man, when given to the Lord, became his greatest achievement. Or like Daniel when his home was invaded by the notorious, evil King Nebuchadnezzar, and most of his family and friends were killed and himself taken into captivity to a strange and far-away land, did not choke or yield to fear but rather stood firm in his faith no matter what the cost. Or his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego also when taken into captivity, their evil king promised death to all who would not bow to and worship him. When these three refused to commit the sin of bowing in worship to another human and deny their faith no matter how horrible or fearful the punishment would be; they were thrown into the burning hot, fiery furnace (whereupon the Lord was with them and refused to allow them to burn). Or later, Peter and Paul when faced with the political correctness to not share the Gospel as the law said they could not, refused to stop at great personal cost, including beatings, jail, being stoned and eventually one crucified and the other decapitated. Fear of pain and suffering would have stopped many but they kept their eyes on the Lord and what He had directed them to do. Or the apostle John, who history books say that when he was faced with renouncing his faith or be thrown in a pot of boiling oil; he stood firm and when thrown in the pot, the oil would not burn him. And yet many Christians, great and small, have died gruesome deaths for their faith; no matter what fear their enemies attempted to put upon them. And in reality, not a hair on their heads were really lost. It might seem so in the physical but Jesus was with them every second of every minute of their demise and they went from this world to the next in a blink of an eye. With God, it is always a win-win situation no matter what circumstances, people, or even the devil, dictate.
As David recorded in his victory psalm, after avoiding being killed by King Saul who hounded and hunted him for many years; who hung on to the faith that he was anointed to be king of Israel one day; this man who refused to yield to fear and trusted God, said this:
- Psalms 18:29-37 For by You I can run against a troop, by my God I can leap over a wall. As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him. For who is God, except the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God? It is God who arms me with strength, and makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of deer, and sets me on my high places. He teaches my hands to make war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You have also given me the shield of Your salvation; Your right hand has held me up, Your gentleness has made me great. You enlarged my path under me, so my feet did not slip. I have pursued my enemies and overtaken them; neither did I turn back again till they were destroyed.
So let us “gird ourselves up” like David, and so many others who have gone before us, and put fear and terror in its place. The choice to do so is up to us. And as our Lord Jesus (who never bowed to fear either, even unto death), commanded us to have our fear in the Lord, the One who can destroy both body and soul in hell (Matthew 10:28) and not of anything the devil can attempt to do (or be allowed to do) to us here on earth. Our God is supreme and knows all we will ever need. And Hallelujah, through Jesus Christ and His Word, fear has no hold on us and no place in our hearts or lives.