I look forward to going to work on Mondays. It's not that I am particularly amped up about being a banker, even though it is a huge blessing. No, the reason that I get excited about the first day of my work week is because I know that I get to read three whole days of devotions from my desk calendar. My desk calendar is just like any other normal calendar, except for the fact that it has Bible verses and devotionals about fear to go along with every day. On Monday, I get to read the leftovers from the weekend, and this causes me to look forward to arguably the most hated day of the week. Silly, I know, but it's the little things, right?
One particular morning, while reading the devotional for the day, I came across a verse that had never before seemed particularly profound to me. The devos in my calendar can sometimes feel a little weak because of the stretches the author must make to have 365 individual devos all about fear with completely different verses for each one. The point is there, but sometimes you can see how deep they had to dig to find it.
This could have been one of those days. The verse came from 2 Kings 17:35, and it was right in the middle of the story line. It reads, "35 The Lord made a covenant with them and commanded them, “You shall not fear other gods or bow yourselves to them or serve them or sacrifice to them" ". Okay, yes, I see the connection. Rather out of context, but it does pertain to fear. But then I started to maul it over a little bit, and the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to the golden nugget that this verse really was. "You shall not fear other god's".
We have all heard it before. Do not place any other gods before God. Big "G", little "g". We see the difference. But if you're anything like myself, you have mostly brushed this off the few times that you have heard it. I mean, it's not like people are going out and really buying statues to pray and sacrifice to. Even in the least respected circles, this would still seem fruitless, foolish, and dumb. No one buys idols as they were described in the Bible. It's just not a thing anymore.
This particular time of reading over this verse, I thought of something that I had not considered before. God was very specific to mention not fearing other gods. When presented with a verse commanding us to not place any gods before the Lord, we might be able to make it as far as to ask ourselves if, instead of idols, there are any people or material things that we are elevating above God in priority. But I had never noticed fearing other gods emphasized like it was in this devotional. After reading the verse, I felt like God was proposing the question to my heart, "what are you fearing more than me?"
It feels strange to think that the Israelites ever feared other gods, because there only is one true God: God. It is a no-brainer for the modern day believer in Christ. But could it be that we enter into the same sort of foolish fear that they did do long ago when we enter into fear of anything other than God? The Bible is chocked full of verses about not fearing. "Prefect love cast's out fear", 1 John 4:18. 2 Timothy 1:7, "God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind". It is clear that God did not design us to live in fear, nor does he operate with fear. God desires us to live fearlessly. But I think that the topic of fear in the Bible is often the sort of thing that we read over and take for granted because of how fully immersed we are in the world.
From childhood, we are taught that fear is an uncontrollable emotion that we experience. We are taught simply to accept it as a way of operating as a functional adult. We are to have a "healthy fear" of certain things. In fact, some people will even say that it is wise to have some fear in you. They reason that there are certain things that every person should fear. But that is not at all the same message that God has for us in the Bible.
No, God doesn't desire us to act foolishly. God does no intend for us to do everything that we happen to not afraid of. In the verse in 1 Timothy, it is emphasized that Timothy has a spirit of power and sound mind. We are well equipped by what God has already given us to not act foolishly. We do not need fear to guide us.
So lets gravitate back towards God's question, "What are you fearing more than me?" In the context of the verse in 2 Kings 17:35, the Israelites were fearing what they thought were other gods. They were placing them as high or higher than God in their minds. They considered these false gods to hold some sort of power over them, and as a result, they had fear in their hearts for them.
As I said earlier, passages about idols and idol worship have always struck me as an outdated message and hard to relate to. But the longer I thought about what I was fearing more than God, the more clear it became to me that there are plenty of idols in my life.
Sometimes I fear people more than God. That shows very clearly when I worry over what others think about me. I might have a totally normal conversation with someone, but because there was a response that I said too late or said too many times, I replay the interaction over and over again in my mind. Fear of others can also manifest in embarrassment. The reason that we get embarrassed much of the time is because we are dreading what others are thinking of us in the current situation. But that is not necessary with God. We can simply pick ourselves up and move on knowing who we are in Christ.
Sometimes I might fear not getting things done more than God. My mind will be completely consumed with the task or tasks that I have yet to get done. I will worry for a long time about what might happen if I never get those things done. The situations that I think about might not even be real, and this fear may cause me to mike bad decisions or even lash out to the people around me. I might even feel completely paralyzed because of my fear of not accomplishing tasks, causing me to not get anything at all done.
The future is another thing that will take center stage in my mind as a powerful unconquerable "god". The thought of health or money growing sour as I age is sometimes a trap that my mind enters into willfully. I will worry about the future even though it has not even happened yet! But for every single thing that might consume our thoughts, Jesus has an answer. Matthew 6:31-33 reads, "Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."
When we choose to really and truly think of other things as more powerful than God, it is as if we are the Israelites worshiping a powerless statue god. No, we might not consciously consider these things to be powerful overlords. But when we dread and fret over things or people instead of standing in awe over who God is and what he will do, we are subconsciously placing something in a more powerful position than God. The thing we fear is getting our attention, and we will make decision based upon that fear. Simply put, we will be unable to live for God, because we will be living for something else.
The fear of the Lord comes on us when we realize more and more who God is and how awesome and beautiful he is. The fear of the Lord is not at all like the fear we experience in this world and of this world. The fear we experience in response to the various other "gods" in our lives is paralyzing and leads to completely irrational thoughts. Sometimes it is difficult to wrap our minds around what the Bible is saying when it mentions the "fear of the Lord" because we have scary movies and other such things that have taught us a spirit of fear that God never intended for us to operate in.
The fear of the Lord is a humble stance of awe and worship, and it is full of peace and love. Walking in the fear of other things is devoid of peace and allows those idols to have power over us. We cannot think that other gods (what people think, the future, money) and the Lord are the most powerful thing at the same time. We either serve one or the other.
The way that we decide to choose the fear of the Lord over the fear of other gods is simply to get in the word and seek God for guidance. The fear that we have in our lives may seem immovable or even logical. But faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. And the word is true. The more we immerse ourselves in the Bible and verses about God's heavenly view on fear, the more we will be able to operate in the spirit of power, love and sound mind that God has given us.
God desires for us to be able to walk fully in all that he has for us. Let us throw down our idols, and stand in worship and awe of God and only God.
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What do you view as idols? Are there things in your life that you have always feared? Feel free to comment, rant or rave! Start a conversation, like and even share.
But always remember, you are loved by God.
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