My greatest fear is that of entertaining fear.
I was haunted by lots of fears when I was younger. Fear of failure, fear of not being good enough, fear of not being attractive enough, fear of rejection. When I got married and had children, my fears were all for them. Would they come through the birth all right? Would they be healthy? Would they be safe? And so on ad infinitum.
I read the Bible a lot when I was younger, but I read it without understanding. When I got older and more discerning, I started noting what the Bible said about fear. My daughter was worried going to school one morning and we looked up the Bible for some guidance and we found the following verse in Psalm 34:
I prayed to the LORD, and he answered me. He freed me from all my fears.(Psalm 34:4, NLT).
Whenever fear and worry knocks on my door, I remember the following verse:
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7, NIV).
The Bible tells us one interesting thing about fear:
For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. (2 Timothy, 1:7, NLT).
This means that there is actually a 'spirit of fear', an evil spirit which troubles and torments. You don't want to go getting involved with this spirit. Get away from it, as far as possible and don't entertain it.
One more interesting thing the Bible has to tell us.We can read in the book of Proverbs, Chapter 9, verse 10:
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, (Proverbs 9:10,NIV)
Fear of the Lord is, we were taught, one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, God's active personality working in this world. Fear of the Lord is the fear of doing something that would offend God and it's quite a positive thing. It helps us to keep away from sin and therefore, death. Which is always good.
So that's why I never allow myself to experience fear. And if I accidentally slip and get nervous about something, I remember:
God is our refuge and strength,an ever-present help in trouble. (Psalm 46:1, NIV)
When I was able to reassure and convince myself to believe in these words, I knew I need never fear anything again.
So I suppose that aside from the fear of the Lord, my biggest fear would be losing my faith. Or entertaining fear, as I phrased it earlier. That would be a huge disaster.
This is my weekly post for the Loose Bloggers Consortium, a diverse, worldwide group of bloggers who post weekly on the same topic. I have left links to other LBC bloggers in the actual post and have put the names and links to fellow LBC bloggers in the sidebar. Not all our LBC bloggers post every week, but if you're looking for some interesting blogs to read, you are most welcome to visit my friends. You may even find some alternative takes on the current topic of MY GREATEST FEAR, suggested by a wonderful blogger by the name of DELIRIOUS.
I was haunted by lots of fears when I was younger. Fear of failure, fear of not being good enough, fear of not being attractive enough, fear of rejection. When I got married and had children, my fears were all for them. Would they come through the birth all right? Would they be healthy? Would they be safe? And so on ad infinitum.
I read the Bible a lot when I was younger, but I read it without understanding. When I got older and more discerning, I started noting what the Bible said about fear. My daughter was worried going to school one morning and we looked up the Bible for some guidance and we found the following verse in Psalm 34:
I prayed to the LORD, and he answered me. He freed me from all my fears.(Psalm 34:4, NLT).
Whenever fear and worry knocks on my door, I remember the following verse:
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7, NIV).
The Bible tells us one interesting thing about fear:
For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. (2 Timothy, 1:7, NLT).
This means that there is actually a 'spirit of fear', an evil spirit which troubles and torments. You don't want to go getting involved with this spirit. Get away from it, as far as possible and don't entertain it.
One more interesting thing the Bible has to tell us.We can read in the book of Proverbs, Chapter 9, verse 10:
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, (Proverbs 9:10,NIV)
Fear of the Lord is, we were taught, one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, God's active personality working in this world. Fear of the Lord is the fear of doing something that would offend God and it's quite a positive thing. It helps us to keep away from sin and therefore, death. Which is always good.
So that's why I never allow myself to experience fear. And if I accidentally slip and get nervous about something, I remember:
God is our refuge and strength,an ever-present help in trouble. (Psalm 46:1, NIV)
When I was able to reassure and convince myself to believe in these words, I knew I need never fear anything again.
So I suppose that aside from the fear of the Lord, my biggest fear would be losing my faith. Or entertaining fear, as I phrased it earlier. That would be a huge disaster.
This is my weekly post for the Loose Bloggers Consortium, a diverse, worldwide group of bloggers who post weekly on the same topic. I have left links to other LBC bloggers in the actual post and have put the names and links to fellow LBC bloggers in the sidebar. Not all our LBC bloggers post every week, but if you're looking for some interesting blogs to read, you are most welcome to visit my friends. You may even find some alternative takes on the current topic of MY GREATEST FEAR, suggested by a wonderful blogger by the name of DELIRIOUS.
I never could reconcile being taught to fear god - too oxymoronic to me. But I am in the minority - and do not begrudge anyone their faith, especially if it helps them as yours clearly does. Nicely said!
ReplyDeleteI pray that your faith remains strong and helps you in navigating the rest of your life.
ReplyDeleteAnd to show off a bit, “Fear not what is not real, never was and never will be. What is real, always was and cannot be destroyed.”
BG
Thanks for the bible study lesson. I am pleased you find such comfort in The Good Book.
ReplyDeleteI had a rather long comment written but decided to delete it. Thoughts better kept to myself!
Hi Shackman,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, thank you for coming over and commenting.
The fear of God just means loving a lot and wishing not to displease him. It's not fear in the negative sense. thanks for your kind words. :)
Mx
Hi Rummuser,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the quote from the BG. Another great source of inspiration. I've enjoyed reading it too.
Mx
Hi Grannymar,
ReplyDeleteIt's always nice to see you and read your comments. You know, I wasn't so much trying to preach or teach a Bible lesson. I was just trying to share. You can get everything and anything on this blog, from life experiences to fiction. But this is the truth.
Over the last two decades I've faced some very big challenges and had a lot of problems. As I love to write, I found blogging anonymously about my problems very cathartic initially, but when I started sharing my identity, I had to get all discreet and hide some of my older posts. I closed my old 'gaelikaa' blog some time back because if certain people read it and put two and two together, there could be repercussions.
I am very happy that I've found solace in the Bible, it has been an enormous comfort to me. But I'm far from being in a position where I can teach anyone about it. I do like sharing what brings me joy, though, as it might help someone else.
I'm a bit curious about the thoughts best kept to yourself, but I've often written long, emotional comments and just deleted them and replaced them with something short and sweet. Sometimes, less is more.
Mx
Good post Maria. We need to be reminded that fear of God is healthy.
ReplyDeleteblessings ~ maxi
I sometimes write long - brilliant, erudite, useful - comments. I know, I know - why hasn't anyone ever seen them?
ReplyDeleteI haven't deleted them like GM - the please prove you're not a robot monster keeps eating them. (Don't mean your blog in particular Maria.)
Only my less sparkling contributions survive.
But back to your post. Good Bible guide. Whatever provides strength and solace...
Terrific post- and so true. My daughter and I were just talking about fear last night and discussing some of the scriptures you mentioned.
ReplyDeleteWe have a scripture that says, "If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear". I think that is really true!
ReplyDelete