Over the last few days, Selwyn has been writing about the emotion of fear. In certain dangerous situations it is perfectly normal to experience fear – however, the crippling nature of fear is that sometimes it can become a chronic, on-going emotion that hinders our daily life.
I agree with Selwyn – the best way to deal with fear – is to tell ourselves not to be afraid. We should remind ourselves of the many verses in Scripture, which tell us not to fear things of this world, because God is with us.
It comes to the core issue – just how much do you trust in God’s control, of everything in His universe? It is a matter of faith, Selwyn mentions Matthew 8:26, in support of his statement about this issue (Matthew 8:23-27, NIV): ‘Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”
He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!” ‘
Selwyn’s conclusion is excellent, if you gain an insight (with God’s help) into these words, and apply the understanding gained, to your life; I think you will have richer experiences in serving our wonderful Lord.
He writes: “Over and over again Scripture exhorts us to fear God. Jesus said, ‘ … do not be afraid of those who can kill the body … I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him [God] … ‘ (Luke 12:4-5). What does it mean to fear God? It does not mean being afraid of Him, but standing in awe of the fact that a God who could bring a universe like this into existence and maintain it could remove all difficulties from us if He wanted to. The fact that He does not shows there is some good purposes in them. Faith is trusting that purpose. Fear of God (being in awe of God) strips away all other fears and compels us to deal with a God who has everything under His control.”
The sentence, I’ve highlighted above, has resulted in many desperate moments for God’s people over thousands of years. For example, the dead of a young child in some horrible way, of course, does not suggest that our God thinks lightly of such events. On the contrary, I believe that He feels the death of ‘innocent’ [I'm not using the word innocent, outside of a fallen world, context.] children, much more than we can ever, possibly realise.
It is the belief, that He uses all of life’s experiences, from the very worst to the very best, to help us mature and be transformed into the likeness of our suffering Jesus. Do you agree?
The remedy for fear
Over the last few days, Selwyn has been writing about the emotion of fear. In certain dangerous situations it is perfectly normal to experience fear – however, the crippling nature of fear is that sometimes it can become a chronic, on-going emotion that hinders our daily life.
I agree with Selwyn – the best way to deal with fear – is to tell ourselves not to be afraid. We should remind ourselves of the many verses in Scripture, which tell us not to fear things of this world, because God is with us.
It comes to the core issue – just how much do you trust in God’s control, of everything in His universe? It is a matter of faith, Selwyn mentions Matthew 8:26, in support of his statement about this issue (Matthew 8:23-27, NIV): ‘Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”
He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!” ‘
Selwyn’s conclusion is excellent, if you gain an insight (with God’s help) into these words, and apply the understanding gained, to your life; I think you will have richer experiences in serving our wonderful Lord.
He writes: “Over and over again Scripture exhorts us to fear God. Jesus said, ‘ … do not be afraid of those who can kill the body … I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him [God] … ‘ (Luke 12:4-5). What does it mean to fear God? It does not mean being afraid of Him, but standing in awe of the fact that a God who could bring a universe like this into existence and maintain it could remove all difficulties from us if He wanted to. The fact that He does not shows there is some good purposes in them. Faith is trusting that purpose. Fear of God (being in awe of God) strips away all other fears and compels us to deal with a God who has everything under His control.”
The sentence, I’ve highlighted above, has resulted in many desperate moments for God’s people over thousands of years. For example, the dead of a young child in some horrible way, of course, does not suggest that our God thinks lightly of such events. On the contrary, I believe that He feels the death of ‘innocent’ [I'm not using the word innocent, outside of a fallen world, context.] children, much more than we can ever, possibly realise.
It is the belief, that He uses all of life’s experiences, from the very worst to the very best, to help us mature and be transformed into the likeness of our suffering Jesus. Do you agree?