Fear is NOT Failure!

This week has been very difficult: I allowed depression and fear to sneak in to my otherwise peaceful life, and it almost paralyzed me. At one point, my wife prayed for me through the phone while I just listened and cried.

But if we pay attention, God has a way of showing us why we're going through certain things. This was one of those learning examples. You see, I typically play the MP3 Bible in my truck as I drive, and for some reason, the Holy Ghost had me repeating - over and over again - 2 Chronicles 20, the story of Jehoshaphat, including the "neither know we what to do, but our eyes are on thee" phrase. It was pretty comforting, but this morning the Lord gave me my epiphany.

In verse 15, the prophet is telling King Jehoshaphat and the kingdom of Judah that the Lord says "... be not afraid or dismayed...", but I just passed right over the implication of a prophet telling a king not to be afraid. This morning, the first three words of VERSE 3, earlier in the chapter, hit me like a spiritual brick in the forehead:

"And Jehoshaphat feared..."

Yup. The king of Judah FEARED. And this isn't an isolated thing in the Bible. 1 Samuel 21 tells us that the great King David, a "man after God's own heart" was afraid of King Saul, but was even MORE afraid of the king where he fled, to avoid Saul. In 1 Kings 19:3, we read that "Elijah was afraid and fled for his life." Yes, it's true, God has not given us the spirit of fear, but sometimes the spirit of fear arrives nonetheless. Even the mightiest of KINGS and PROPHETS have times when their own fears can momentarily overtake them.

But right after the Lord showed me about the king's fear, He showed me how the verse continues, "and set himself to seek the LORD..."

God keeps on blessing us, even through our fears. If one day I'm feeling fear and someone exhorts me with the familiar Bible verse, "God has not given us a spirit of fear", I shouldn't consider my feelings of fear as some sort of failure or shameful event. Fear in itself is only a feeling. Even kings and mighty prophets had moments of fear. Rather, the feeling of fear should remind me of where my blessings come from, and to turn in that direction.

Psalm 31:12-14 - I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel. For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life. But I trusted in thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my God.

May God richly bless you and yours, today and every day.

© 2009 Scotty Ward