"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked came up against me to eat up my flesh, My enemies and foes, They stumbled and fell. Though an army may encamp against me, My heart shall not fear: though war may rise against me, In this I will be confident. One thing I have desired of the Lord, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple."
My best friend and I were talking about fear. Dumb, stupid, annoying Fear. Fear is so interesting. It really is so weird and vague, and incredibly evil, most of the time. Sometimes, I guess, fear can serve as a good thing: a little bit of Godly fear keeps you on your toes and wanting to do the right thing. Or perhaps, in some situations, it serves as a warning signal within a relationship, for example, that makes you aware of a possible "situation" and therefore you can take the proper precautions to prevent something bad happening to something good.
But, we all know the type of fear that comes to our minds and hearts directly from the pit of hell. Satan takes great pleasure as the lies grip the very core of who we are, and we are plagued with worry and torment. It's as if someone overtakes us and we suddenly behave in a way that is the opposite of who we really are. Then, to make it worse, we are beside ourselves because we have let ourselves become this wreck of a person.
Thank the Lord we are not alone in our fears. Every human, at some point of the day, is scared of something. From catching the flu, to getting hit by a car, to getting left by a spouse, to, as King David experienced, actually having armies run toward him to kill and slaughter (no, it wasn't just a metaphor for him). There is something in all of us that allows fear the power to completely unglue us, and it's scary. It's Evil with a capital E.
In one of my favorite psalms, David pours out the truth about God as his light and salvation. Fear is so dark and evil that it covers up the light of God in a situation, and in your heart. In the psalm, David relates to the dark and wicked nature of fear, and then opposes it with the light and protective One who is God, the hope of our lives. He acknowledges the reality that there is literally no thing or no one of whom we should be afraid in light of the perfect love and nature of God. The exciting answer to fear comes in the last verse I have highlighted: "One thing I have desired... to behold the beauty of the Lord." It's as if the opposite to this gripping fear, despite the reality of the circumstances, is to look into the beautiful and perfect face of the Lord; it is to keep company with Him, in His presence forever. That is the opposite of fear. His perfect love and beauty and presence. And Satan, with all his dumb, ridiculous fear tactics does all he can to move our eyes from Him, on to the reality or the impending made up "what if?" reality we have created. We must keep our eyes on Him, the perfect One who is, through the Father, immune to the evil fear that fills our world, tormenting our hearts and minds.
Maybe when you are afraid, and the same old fears surface their ugly heads, you should get mad. Get mad at Satan for the lies and the fear he thinks he can put on you. Maybe out loud you could say, "the Lord is my light and my salvation.. whom shall I fear?" Tell the fear to "GO AWAY!" Let the fears in your life empower you to a fierce dependancy upon and intimate relationship with God. And let your fears force you to a place where your heart's true, one desire is to look at Him every morning and night and "dwell" with Him all day. This is your peace.
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