Today's Our Daily Bread began by quoting F.D.R.'s famous statement, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself!” The writer went on to say that we experience fear because we do not trust God. We are unable to rest in the knowledge that He is in control of our wealth, health, reputation, position, safety, family, friends, etc., and that all those things are in "good hands." Our fear of losing any or all of those things, lets us know that God's will is not our priority. That is a good thing. Knowing we have misplaced our priorities can result in our repentance and the realigning of our will with His.
Our fears, in essence, reveal that we are sort of "anti-Jobs." When everything he had was taken away from him, Job's response was "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD" (Job 1:21). Not only are we "anti-Jobs," in reality, when we fail to follow the Lord's example, we are, in essence, "antichrists." The Apostle Paul wrote that Jesus willingly gave up far more than you, I, or the whole world put together for that matter. Jesus "made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Phil 2:7-8).
Here are just a few of the benefits of the fear of the Lord from Psalms and Proverbs: He gives knowledge and wisdom to those who fear Him (Ps. 25:14; 111:10; Prov. 1:7; 9:10; 15:33). He watches over those who fear Him (Ps. 33:18). His angels protect those who fear Him (Ps. 34:7). He shows mercy to those who fear Him (Ps. 103:17). He gives confidence to those who fear Him (Prov. 14:26). He is the source of life to those who fear Him (Prov. 14:27). And perhaps the most important to believers is the fact that it is our fear of Him that causes us to flee from sin (Prov. 16:6). Some say believers avoid sin out of love for God, but that is true of only our spiritual man; our natural man loves only himself (Rom. 7:14 - 8:1).
But ultimately, fear is nothing more than a lack of faith in the Lord. It is our fear which tells us that we have not arrived. It tells us that we still have "miles to go before we sleep." The remedy for fear, of course, is trust Him. It sounds so simple, doesn't it? But as I understand the Word of God, we will not be "all that we can be" until we look into the loving eyes of the One who died for us (1 Jn. 3:2).
Because He lives, all fear is gone.
Because I know He holds my future;
Life is worth the living just because He lives!
Fear brings us to Christ, but faith brings us to salvation!
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