Bugs eat insects, small animals eat bugs, larger animals, well, you get the point, the natural order of things is either eat or be eaten, but as we have discussed in previous letters to you, the natural order is far from “natural.”
“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.” (Isa. 11:6) As it was in the beginning, so shall it be in the end, this age in the eyes of the Lord, as it were, is nothing more than a blip on the screen when it comes to eternity. A thousand years is as one day with the Lord, (2nd Peter 3:8) and what we call today the natural order will be reverted to what is in reality the genuine order, to pursue and kill for the continuance of life will come to an end. As the Lord God provided before without the death of others so shall it be again.
But what of man, not in the sense of the nutrients that is necessary for him to continue in the life of his flesh, but of his spiritual nature, what detrimental factor occurred back there in the garden of Eden that set us on a path that was not normal. What beyond the eating of our bread by the sweat of our face (Gen. 3:19) happened within our first parents that even today is considered the “normal” actions of man. The undertakings that present themselves to each of us every single day are the same as they were for them after the fall, not one thing has changed, it has not grown in intensity or been modified in any way, shape or form, it is a constant, “and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God.” (Gen. 3:8)
The very first effect of sin was fear, fear of being naked with the one that they loved deeply, shame for their presence in the site of another, finding a way to cover that fear and shame, sewing leaves together in an attempt to cover that fear, and then hiding from He who made them. The foundation of all our negative emotions is fear, they are all set upon this one pedestal, and in this fear is what the society of man since that moment in time has been considered the “normal” reaction to all that surrounds them and all that they encounter. Confidence in one seems to be about the best opposite to fear, but even that confidence must come from someplace, and if there is no possibility of an adverse reaction, then confidence and fear would have no place to stand. We react in only one of these two ways when something occurs in our lives, whether it be in the form of the known or the unknown.
The strongest man will find his confidence waning when his strength begins to fail him, the weakest will find confidence when the unknown becomes the recognizable over time, all know fear though as the natural response to almost any situation, for it was the first reaction. The action was to eat from the forbidden tree, the reactions immediately after that were ones of fear, fear of each other, and then fear of the Lord God as they heard his footsteps. The reason for the fears are not irrelevant, the fact of the matter that this emotion became the normal is the result of the disobedience, and it is the same result that continues unto this day.
Many will disguise this fear with works, leaving grace off to the side, as it were, thinking that their fears of the unknown that will occur in the moments after their death can be assuaged by the knowledge that they have performed works that are worthy of entrance into the kingdom of God. The works make them feel better, and when we feel better, fear is replaced with a type of confidence, but as it is with any works, they only last so long, and then the fears return, and so thereby so must another work. The cycle is continuous and without merit in the eyes of Christ, for it is He who has completed the only work necessary for our salvation. Fear cannot be mitigated with confidence, only set to the side for a period of time.
Fears main priority is to bring upon the individual the possible consequences to self, the negative attributes that will occur if any particular action is presented, and that action does not even need to be undertaken. As with the leaves that our first parents sewed together, we hide from the possible repercussions of not only the actions we may or may not undertake, but how we ourselves are viewed by others. They hid because they knew that they had transgressed the commandment of God, and because of that transgression, they knew there would be some form of punishment, but the leaves were a different story, there was no punishment because they were naked, they were ashamed, the fear was all in their heads.
We do not need others around us to fear, we are quite adept at doing that ourselves without any external influences, the natural order today my friends is to fear, it was set in place at that very moment that they ate of the fruit, and it is the very best tool that Satan has against us. The fear always has as its mainstay the possibility of negative results, the potential to be damaging in some way to us, the unknown does not even need to be known before we will realize this fear, and so in many ways our fears are unmitigated, they hold no truth. So then, what is the answer, how are we to cast all fears from us, how do we begin to live the “normal” life that was intended for us from the beginning.
“The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.” (Prov. 29:25) Simple, right, just trust and all fear will be gone, sure, you bet, no problem. How fortunate we are that the Lord remembers that we are but dust. (Psalm 103:14) This may sound like a strange statement to some, the promises are true, we need but to trust, but we fear to do so, we even fear to trust Christ. That is how terrible the curse is my friends, fear is the main attribute of that curse that was placed upon us all, the fear that we are not loved, that we are not acceptable in the eyes of the Lord, and that fear has brought with it the false notion that only through works will we ever be. Oh, the subtlety of our adversary, it is no wonder that we need to keep the whole armor of God on constantly.
It is irrational, completely abnormal to fear, yet it is within each of us every day, but the fear of men is nothing in comparison to the terror that resides within many people of that final day. Far too many are fearful that they will be seen as not good enough, and it is all but impossible to inform them that they are correct, they are not good enough, only Christ is. The fear that we are to release to Him we keep hidden deep inside of us, as they hid in the garden, so we still hide today. If only we could realize His mercies, if we could only understand fully His grace, all fear would flee from us, we would come out of our hiding places and run to Him in love, a love that never represents any fear. But that is not the natural aspect of man anymore, that is not the normal way of man, and sadly, it will not be until that day that we are glorified.
If we could but stop thinking about the possible repercussions of our actions, if we could come to know fully the incredible love that He has for us, all fear would disappear, we would live in the assurance that if we are obedient as much as we are able, we are pleasing in his sight. Our own righteousness would be seen as it is, filthy rags, (Isa. 64:6) and we would be able to see clearly that it is in Christs righteousness that we can abide in, and in that perfect love, there is no fear. (1st John 4:18)
“I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.” (Psalm 34:4) Not some of those fears, not when they showed up, but all of them, all the time. Sound like someplace where you would like to live, sound like the most perfect place for your mind and heart to rest. To be in this place of the continuing love of the Father for us is available today, right at this very moment, it is called casting all your cares upon the One who cares for us, (1st Peter 5:7) the only one who can remove every last vestige of fear. We have not been given this spirit of fear, it is not natural to mankind, it is the abnormal effect of sin, and we do not need to wait to be in the presence of the Lord in the kingdom of God before it can be removed from us. Confidence is not the opposite of fear, the fear of the Lord is. “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (2nd Tim. 1:7)
Trust my friends, trust in the Lord Jesus Christ is the answer to fear.
