The Things Fear Makes Us Do

Last night, we were having dinner with good friends.  After dinner, the 5 older kids were running around outside, in the dark, jumping on the trampoline and having a great time.  Then Nathan came into the house, shirt shredded, stomach bleeding and crying.

It turns out that he was afraid of our friend's dog (which was tied up) and thought it growled at him, and he took off, running in pure terror.  But because it was dark, he did not see the barbed wire fence that was at the edge of the yard.  He hit the fence (about chest-high on him) and in his momentum, went flying headfirst over it.  I guess (he didn't tell us this right away) he was hanging by his stomach/shirt for some moments (nothing touching the ground) until he was able to rip away and fall to the ground.

Matt went out and took a look at the fence, and it was hard to imagine Nathan actually flipping over it, as it was so tall on him.  And the barbs were very sharp!  But in his utter panic, his momentum allowed him to get over.  (his shirt is trashed, but the cut on his stomach wasn't very deep, so I am thankful because he could have been hurt a lot worse).

But this got me thinking.  How many times in our lives is fear a motivating factor for how we respond or act?  Not necessarily because a dog barks at us, but maybe because we're afraid of rejection, failure, other people's opinions, etc???  I will be the first one to admit that I have missed out on a lot of opportunities to share my faith with others because I was afraid of what their reaction might be.  Or afraid to try something too new, because I might fail and others might see me fail.  But how much have I missed out on by my fear?  Seeing God work in someone's life?  Discovering a new hobby, or friend or ???  just because I gave in to my fears and didn't act.

I was thinking of some Bible verses that talk about fear, such as "do not fear, for I am with you" (Isaiah 41:10) and "the Lord is my light and my salvation--whom shall I fear?" (Psalm 27:1).  But as I was looking through the concordance of my Bible, I was struck by how few of the mentions of fear are dealing with being afraid of others, or things/circumstances.  The vast majority of the mentions of fear in the Bible are in reference to how we should be living in fear of the Lord!  Not necessarily in the sense that we are afraid of God, but that we "respect highly" and have "profound respect for" him.  Just think if we all lived and acted and responded to others out of fear for God.  Out of a great, profound respect for who God is, and what he has done for us, and how much he loves us.  If we truly lived in "fear" all of the time, think of how full our lives would be, and how much we would be allowing God to accomplish his purposes in and through us.