“that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear,”
Luke 1:74 ESV
Chances are that most of us have had an experience surrounded by fear, influenced by fear, and maybe even stopped by fear. We see the effects of fear from very early in the Bible, specifically in the book of Genesis in Chapter 3. When we think about this very closely connected to and influenced by Sin. It wasn’t just sin that entered the world when Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil.
Does this mean that fear is sinful?
I don’t want to say yes but in many instances I believe that it can be. We have to remember that in some instances fear can be helpful to keep us safe. So on a personal level that fear can be helpful to protect us. However, when we look at the existence of fear on the corporate level, or when fear entered the world, we have to look at sin and what sin created when it entered the world in force.
When sin entered the world, suddenly Adam and Eve were afraid, but prior to this event, all of creation is seen as living in harmony. We even have later prophesies especially from Isaiah
“The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”
Isaiah 11:6-9 ESV
What are the things that cause us fear, the brokenness of our world. Imagine if the image that we have from Isaiah was real, that their would be harmony, there would be peace. Imagine if the brokenness that sin brought into our relationships, more specifically our relationship with God. If that sin did not enter the relationship between God and Adam and Eve, the relationship was one of being present with each other, a closeness, and life giving relationship that did not have fear in it. Once we have sin, suddenly we fear, we recognize God’s holiness from a distance and seeing it through our sin, instead of seeing the fullness of God’s love through our closeness to Him.
When we start to live life with out fear, not belittling who God is but recognizing that we are living with out fear because of what God has done through Jesus Christ in our lives, we are living at peace with God, in His world. If God is for us who can be against us? Remember when we are walking closely with Jesus, we are entering each situation humbly with our Lord, not with just ourselves and our limited strength but with the infinite strength and grace of our Lord and Saviour.
