It has been said that the Bible admonishes us to “be not afraid” 365 times in total — once for every day of the year, and yet it turns out that this is not quite true (the King James Bible apparently states “fear not” or its equivalent 103 times, while some researchers have found other translations to cite this particular encouragement anywhere from 200 to 334 times) … Of course, how many times the Bible (or any other tome) tells us to avoid fear is not nearly as important as the Truth that fear is without a doubt the enemy of all enemies. If fear is allowed into life, it becomes the shadow that darkens any hope and the fog that chills any Love.

And we are all programmed to fear first — to assume danger before any deed of dignity, and to assume enemy before every eventual embrace. In Truth, it is fear that is at the center of most of our moments of despair, and it is fear that keeps us from Caring for others.

So how can we defeat this menace? How can we set fear aside — tucked away in its proper place; hidden & secondary?

Well, as it turns out, even the Bible does not tell us 365 times to “fear not”, it DOES have quite a few interesting things to say about fear; subtle yet powerful things that most of you probably have not yet heard … Consider:

*First of all, Psalm 112:1 displays a common Old testament admonition when it tells us that “Happy are those who fear the Lord” … Of course, when we read “fear” in such passages traditionally; as “terror” or “worry” or “nervousness” or even “angst”, we end up directly contradicting the Wisdom found in Matthew 5:48 — which tells us that God is the essence of perfect LOVE, and 1 John 4:18 — which correctly tells us that perfect LOVE knows no fear at all. Fortunately fore all Biblical literalists, the Hebrew word for “fear” in the relevant Old testament passages is not any manifestation of our modern-day “fear” at all, but rather means “in wonderment of” or “awed by” or “having immense reverence for” … So we don’t need to worry about those passages at all.

*We can then turn to the well-known verse of Psalm 23:4, which states “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil” … and yet an invaluable Truth that many of us miss when we hear this passage is that the speaker is WALKING through his/her fear — he is in motion; she is active … And Jesus himself echoed this sentiment repeatedly during his subsequent ministry, when he continually encouraged us not to passively worship him, but to FOLLOW him — not to sing hollow praises in the hopes of attaining personal rewards or accolades, but rather to make LOVE a verb by emulating HIS Way of Loving (John 13:15-17 + John 13:34-35).

*And finally, we can unearth the hidden Truth that tells us HOW we are to walk that Love when we look to Isaiah 41:13 (which just so happens to be the work of “Isaiah II” — the author of Isaiah chapters 40-55; the Old testament scroll that Jesus seemed to adore above all others), which says, “For I, the Lord your God, hold your RIGHT HAND. It is I who say to you, ‘Do not fear'” … You see, for the spiritual authors & religious leaders of Jesus’ day, the Right Hand had a special, well-known meaning — It was considered to be the hand of Giving — the hand of Loving — the hand of selfless Service! THIS is the way we are supposed to live with others and THIS is the way we are supposed to honor God (in whatever form, by whatever name) and THIS is the way we are to conquer fear — by reaching out to others with courageous, selfless acts of Generosity of goods & Charity of time & Service of self & Kindness of Spirit … THIS is the way we have a Spirit of true Power … THIS, my Friends, is the way we follow The Way!

Amen … Let it be so.

“For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of Power and of Love and of Authenticity.” ~ author unknown (2 Timothy 1:7)

Filed under: My Favorite Verses by Scaughdt