One Fear

District Diaries August 2024 Edition
By Marvin Penner

     What are you afraid of? I have become convinced that this question is important for our spiritual maturity. The dispute that made me aware of how often competing fears cause conflict was this; am I more afraid of sickness and death or government overreach? After spending months seeking to remain unified when even I could not answer this question, I began to see how often competing fears lead to conflict. Fear of wasting money vs fear of missing mission opportunities. Fear of damaged reputation vs fear of moral compromise. Fear of losing young people vs fear of rapid change.

     Fear is not the best place from which to make decisions. In fact, fear is clearly not among the emotions that emanate from the presence of the Holy Spirit. “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.” (2 Tim. 1:7). When I think about fearlessness the Bible story that first comes to mind is the account of Shadrach, Mashach, Abednego, and the fiery furnace (Dan. 3:1-25). Thee three men are held up as heroes of faith. They prove to be wise in the ways of living faithfully in a hostile environment. They had a lot of good reason to be afraid:

• Nebuchadnezzar was powerful beyond imagination.
• The high officers, officials, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates and provincial officials were all aligned with Nebuchadnezzar.
• Their disobedience was public.
• They were from a minority cultural group.
• The threatened punishment was severe.
• People from their own professional peer group told on them
• The king was in a rage.
• The punishment was made even more severe.

I don’t know about you, but I think I would excuse a fear reaction for any one of these threats. But this is not what happened. These men of faith responded with , “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. But even if He doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up”. It is clear that they did not fear the king, but that they did fear the Lord, a demonstration that, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”. 

     What are you afraid of? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were able to avoid worshipping a political idol because they only had one fear. They feared the Lord their God and nothing else, not even King Nebuchadnezzar. We humans tend to bend a knee to what we are afraid of. Another way to say this is, “you did not receive the spirit of slavery leading again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, ‘Abba, Father’”. (Rom 8:15). But, “The LORD delivers and vindicates me! I fear no one! The LORD protects my life! I am afraid of no one!” (Ps 27:1)

     So…what are you afraid of?