PART 1: I have written on fear here before (in relation to the creative act) but have been dwelling on it again lately and decided I’d add some thoughts. The great science fiction writer Frank Herbert wrote about fear through his incredible series – Dune. The phrase comes in the series in the form of The Litany Against Fear which is as follows:
- I must not fear.
- Fear is the mind-killer.
- Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
- I will face my fear.
- I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
- And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
- Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
- Only I will remain.
Faith and fear. How do you hold the two in tension? Is it one or the other?
It seems an impossible task. When I speak of fear I do not speak of the word as it exists within Scripture (fear of God) which suggests a recognition of God’s omniscience/omnipotence and legitimate claim of authority over His creation. To fear God is to hold Him in reverance/respect and to act accordingly. Although one could legitimately quake in fear at the presence of God this is not the Scriptural linguistic intent. There are aspects of God which terrify but this is another word.
Fear, as in terror, in Scripture, typically comes about when people are faced with other human threats or with God’s judgement as a result of disobedience/lack of faith. This kind of fear is what I am refering to and it is typically not seen in a good light in Scripture. It is ominous and paralyzing and reflects the state of a person or people at odds with God’s will or with their fellow beings (or both).
I find fear to be brutally constraining and I fight against it in myself daily (usually I lose). Still, I suppose a little fear is good.
PART 2: I realize that last statement is a little lame. It was my way of getting out of this observation quickly. I don’t know if even a little fear is good. It may be natural, it may be human, it may be normal (all used as rationalizations for all kinds of failings) but that doesn’t make it good. What is good? What complies with and is in harmony with the will of God is good. What is the will of God? Christ is the will of God. In humanity good is a verb. It is unreliable and not constant because we vascilate between good and evil to such a great degree that we can hardly be defined as good. In Christ however good is a noun…Christ is the only perfectly good thing. Christ is the antidote to fear.
It is a good thing than that Christ dwells in me and I in Him and He in the Father and the Spirit in both; it brings new meaning and metaphor to the verse found in John 1:5 –
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not understood it.”
PART 3: Having been pointed in the direction of the Sermon on the Mount (a fine direction to go, thanks KK) I have been reading it and have found that it moves so smoothly into the narrative beyond it that I continued to read until I came to the crossing over the lake by Jesus and His disciples in the storm. So what does God present us with in these verses but a scene where His followers travel with Him through tempest and darkness and their fearful response was to approach Christ and say:
” ‘Lord save us! We are perishing!’ And He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid, you of little faith?’ “
Afterwards the disciples were amazed wondering aloud about who Jesus really was to exercise such incredible authority. It seems their fear was not abated by the presence of Christ because they did not fully know Him. They had this suspicious half-belief that suspected what He could do but they were not sure.
Is it faith to cry out to God in the midst of the storm and ask Him to save us or is faith knowing that in the midst of the storm Christ is with you…and that is enough? Either way Christ’s grace and compassion are evident in His response.
Harnessing Chaos 