How to Anchor Our Misplaced Fears
Article by Jacob Ng | 4 March 2020
The capacity to fear is built deeply in us. Fear tells us that we are small. Fear intensifies loss and pain with worry. Fear creeps in when we are confronted by clues of our complete helplessness against things that are entirely beyond our control. When fear seizes us, we lose our ability to think rationally. The challenges we see become overwhelmingly huge, and the promises of God seem underwhelmingly small.
This is because our deepest problem is not so much the presence of fear, but that we do not fear rightly.
Did you know to “fear” is even part of God’s commands to us (Deut 6:13)? Many of us assume that faith and fear are contradictory. We picture faith and fear as a chemical reaction of acid and alkali, neutralising each other. However, we all know that it is possible for us to be feeling full of faith in a situation, and yet be trembling with fear at the same time. Increasing the positivity of “faith” does not automatically eliminate the negativity of “fear” in us, unless we see with greater clarity the real object of our faith through our fear. In other words, what we fear reveals what we really put our faith in. Our fears are all over the place, because our faith is misplaced. Our faith is misplaced, because our hearts are complex and deceitful (Jer 17:9).
The problem of the human heart is highly complex because of how deeply and thoroughly sin has affected us. Hence, the Bible does not have a simple answer for a complex problem. It does not simply promise us that fear will always go away if we pray more. It does not simply tell us that fear can be defeated by positive thinking and optimism. No.
Rather, the Bible tells us to direct and channel all our fears to one, single, focal point—God himself.
Proverbs repeatedly tell us that the fear of God is good, wise, and beneficial for us (Prov 1:7, 28:14). Jesus himself warns us against the many wrong kinds of fear, and invites us to direct our fears to God (Luke 12:5-6, 22). Whenever the glory of Christ is revealed to his disciples, awe-filled fear is always the response (Mark 4:41, 9:6; Rev 1:17).
When we consider the greatest fears in our lives, how much are they rooted in an awe for God and a compelling urge to pursue the wisdom of his instructions? Very likely, not. It is not so much that fear is inhibiting our faith, but rather our misplaced fears reveal our lack of faith and awe in God. Faith in the wrong things is the reason we are enslaved to all kinds of fear. Faith in the wrong things is at the root of many of our anxieties and problems.
God could have easily given us all the things in this world that we crave or fear losing. However, Jesus considers the greatest gift to us from the good Heavenly Father is the gift of the Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13). The greatest gift to us is God himself, who alone can provide us the deepest satisfaction of longings that we may not even be fully aware.
How can faithless, sinful human beings—who always fear and trust in the wrong things—be worthy of God? That leads us to the question of why Jesus came to die, which is at the heart of the Christian faith. Christ went to the Cross to defeat our sin, faithlessness, fear, and even death itself, that the Holy Spirit may now dwell in us and produce life-giving faith. That is why one of Holy Spirit’s highest priorities in our lives is to free us from the joy-inhibiting effects of our misplaced fears, and teach us the fear of the Lord that would bring true blessing and peace.
This is how our faith leads us to fear rightly, and rejoice in God alone.
This is how the gospel changes our fear—when we know the ultimate Person we ought to fear the most, the ultimate hope we fear losing the most, came to save us by his grace and will never let go of us from his everlasting love.
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 8:35, 38-39)
As the Spirit reveals our misplaced fears during this season, we can bring them to God. The Holy Spirit knows all our weaknesses, and will reveal God himself to be our all-sufficient comfort.
The good news tells us that Christ has provided every ounce of undeserved grace we need for our sanctification, and misplaced fears can and will be overcome. The more we fear Who we ought to fear, the less the anxieties of this world will grip our hearts. The more we are caught up with the promises of God’s Word and his unchanging character, the less we are troubled by misplaced fears.
Article by Jacob Ng. Jacob is a pastor at Redemption Hill Church, and is a leader of 2nd Congregation.