Fear not!

I know Christmas is over for most, but having just finished taking down the decorations at my house, it is still fresh on my mind. Have you ever wondered why so often the first thing angelic messengers say to those they come to is "Fear not!" or something to that effect? That is what we are told the angel said to Mary when she was visited and told she would become the mother of Jesus; it is what the angels said to the shepherds the night Jesus was born. I have always thought it was because the sight of an angel was a frightening thing to those of us who are not used to meeting them, and perhaps that is partially true. Recently, however, I have come to suspect there is more to it than that.

Fear was never part of God's plan for us. In the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve were first created and enjoyed the companionship of God, there was no fear. They knew God and were completely comfortable being in his presence, walking and talking with him face to face. There was no fear, no shame, nothing that separated them from God. Fear first entered the scene when Adam and Eve deliberately chose to disobey God, and then they felt a need to hide and to cover themselves. We have been hiding from ourselves, from one another, and from God ever since, because we are afraid that if someone knows us as we really are, they will not accept us—especially God.

Fear separates us from God and from others. When we are really afraid, we often cannot think clearly, and we usually react rather than think through our actions. The "fight or flight" impulse is strong; if we do not do something, we will not be protected and safe. Some will say that this reaction is a healthy and natural response to danger, that our cave-dwelling ancestors had to have in order to survive. Running or hiding from a wild animal is one thing; if a lion or tiger is chasing you, getting to safety is definitely a good idea. There is a kind of fear as well that is more reverence and awe of something or someone greater than ourselves; that is a healthy kind of  fear. Too many times, however, our fears cause us to run and hide from God and from the people around us because we do not want to be known for who we are. Perhaps that is the kind of fear that angels are talking about.

So how do we get past this fear that causes us to go into hiding? One thing that can help is to understand more of what God is really like and how much he loves us. We are afraid that if we let God get too close, he is going to see just how bad we are and zap us off the earth. Nothing could be farther from the truth, however. No matter how hard we try to hide, God still sees us as we really are. There is no place we can go to hide from God, and he is not fooled by anything we say or do. In Psalm 139, David wrote about this:

O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you. (Psalm 139:1−18, New International Version)

David apparently thought that not being able to hide from God was a good thing; he had such confidence in God that David did not want to be hidden from him. The only fear that he seemed to have was a reverence and awe for how God had put him together and for how wonderful God was.

Maybe the reason the angels always seem to start out by telling people to not be afraid is because since they have spent their entire existence around God, they know there is no need to be afraid. God loves us and wants us to have a real relationship with him; that is why Jesus came (Christmas), so we would have the opportunity to know him and the love that he has for us. And that is why he died and rose from the dead (Easter), so that there would no longer be any reason to fear. We can be fearless now because of what God has done for us, no matter what comes our way. In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul put it this way:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35−39, New International Version)

Have I ever been afraid? Of course I have, many times. Have I ever tried to hide from God? Yes, before I began to follow Jesus, and even afterwards, when I thought I had blown it so bad God could never accept me, I wanted to find a hole to crawl into and close it up behind me. But now I know that God loves me deeply, and I can trust him completely, so there is no longer any need to hide or be afraid.

January 6, 2008