The Fear Factor
God isn’t scared of the dark, but I am. I’m guessing you are too.
As children, we don’t have to be taught to fear the dark. In fact, as soon as children develop a sense of imagination – typically around the age of 2 or 3 – psychologists say they begin to be afraid of the dark. This fear is heightened because children are quite capable of imagining, but not yet able to discern fantasy from fiction. They begin imagining the creature in the closet or the monster under the bed and the what-if scenario game, which will be a life-long companion, starts to play out in their heads.
Before we know it, our minds have found other things to fear: being bullied at school, disappointing our parents, or being picked last for a team in PE. We evolve into young adults and become anxious about everything from the car we drive to the food we eat and the grade on an exam or the promotion we didn’t get. By the time adulthood hits us, it’s our young children, our ailing parents, our rocky marriage and our insufficient bank accounts.
We are lucky, by this point in life, if the darkness hasn’t jolted our reality, robbed us of our innocence and forever left us scared of what is next. The fear of the dark remains, but the definition of the darkness simply evolves.
Based on the repeated discussion of fear in the Bible, God knew the destruction it would bring to our lives. This is why the Bible talks extensively about two distinct types of fear: fear of God and fear of everything else. God knew we were going to fear something - which is why he provides an antidote to the fear of everything else by telling us to fear him instead.
Fear the LORD? What does this even mean? At first, it sounds counter-intuitive at the least and like Christianese bull at the worst. But in telling us to fear Him, God isn’t adding one more worry to our lists. Instead, he’s telling us to live in awe of the power that spoke the world into existence, and now provides a safe harbor for our lives. He’s telling us that we should find his endless love that sent his son to die for us breathtaking. He is saying, that as the One who has written every day of our lives into existence, he deserves to be revered and lifted high in our hearts and minds. He is saying to let this good fear reign in our lives - then we can let go of the worry of everything else.
Proverbs 19:23 speaks of this when it says, “The fear of the Lord leads to life; and he who has it rests satisfied.” I hope you’ll consider this today as you navigate life, reminding yourself that we no longer have to fear the darkness because our God has overcome it for us.