T42D: Fear
This week Rodders wonders about the fear of fear … and how to avoid it.
Ed.
…
The headlines in an article in Saturday’s Daily Mail of 29 August was entitled, ‘Paralysed by paranoia’. In the article, Robert Hardman exposed the irrational fears that appear to be killing the nation’s economic recovery.
I quote from his article, “How do you get a nervous work-force to take that initial leap of faith? No one likes to say it, let alone admit it. But the greatest obstacle to economic revival right now, it quite simply, is fear itself”.
There were other articles in the newspaper detailing the problem of schools reopening but on reduced hours due to the fear of the coronavirus and the effect this will have on parents wanting to get back to a full working week.
For many people living on their own, the social isolation caused by lockdown restrictions has had a real negative affect. Fear of going out, worry about keeping socially distanced, yet on the other hand, missing out on social interaction with hugs and face to face meetings.
I love the quote from Joyce Meyer, Christian Bible teacher who says when confronted by something we find fearful is to ‘do it afraid’.
In the abandoned Fort Alcan in British Colombia, needy miners and settlers were engaged in stripping out the fort of lumber, electrical appliances and plumbing when they made an amazing discovery. Whilst dismantling the jail they found that mighty locks were attached to the heavy doors and two-inch steel bars covered the windows, but the walls of the prison were only patented wallboard of clay and paper, painted to resemble iron. A good old heave against the walls with less force than a rugby tackle would have burst the wall out.
Nobody ever tried it because nobody thought it possible.
Many people are prisoners of fears that are nothing when pushed against.
This week America will be remembering the tragic events of September 11th. Americans awoke to scenes of horror that would remain enduringly etched on the national memory on that date in 2001, now referred to as 9/11. Its shock waves told the world that things would never be the same again. Sleepy eyes stared transfixed as television brought home the collapsing twin towers with their thousands of innocent occupants, the deadly attack on the Pentagon, and the cruel fate of an airliner and passengers hurtling into a rural Pennsylvania field. Unexpected, swift and violent, these attacks shook people to the core and exemplified a jarring new reality: the proliferation of universal terrorism.
Fears of suicide bombers, chemical and biological attack still reverberate through our world of high-tech, security-conscious cities, airports, train and bus terminals.
There once was a criminal who had committed a crime and he was sent to the king for his punishment. The king told him he had a choice of two punishments. He could be hung by a rope. Or take what was behind the big, dark, scary, mysterious iron door. The criminal quickly decided on the rope.
As the noose was being slipped on him, he turned to the king and asked: “By the way, out of curiosity, what’s behind that door?” The king laughed and said: “You know, it’s funny, I offer everyone the same choice, and nearly everyone picks the rope.” “So,” said the criminal, “Tell me. What’s behind the door? I mean, obviously, I won’t tell anyone,” he said, pointing to the noose around his neck. The king paused then answered:
“Freedom, but it seems most people are so afraid of the unknown that they immediately take the rope.”
Plato said, “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light”.
‘Anon’ wrote, ‘To be free from all fear, we must have but one fear-the fear of God’. This fear is to feel reverence or awe of who God is.
There is so much we can be fearful of, yet if we put our trust in God the Bible reminds us that, “God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind”.
So the thought for today is despite the current situation all around us, we can know peace in these difficult days as we put our trust in the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ. For the Bible tells us, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear”.
…
Rodders
