02.08. What if Somebody Steals my Compass
What If Somebody Steals My Compass
"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."
Today I want to look at fear from two different directions with our primary focus on what not to fear. First however it seemed every way I turned in the Scriptures I kept running in to things, or should I say whom we should fear. I have entitled this what if somebody steals my compass. The reason is that most of us have something that we fear and fear is an emotion that is both good and bad. Our children must learn to fear things like fire or moving vehicles so they will learn to watch and not get burnt or ran over. It is however when our fears are unwarranted or misdirected that they can paralyze us from doing what we need to do in life and in the kingdom of God.
I- Fear God:
What are some things that we should fear that will lead us to have a healthy outlook on things we should not fear?
We fear men so much because we fear God so little...William Gurnall.
The word fear occurs 400 times in the KJV translation of the Bible.
David McCullough in his book Mornings On Horseback tells this story about young Teddy Roosevelt: Mittie (his mother) had found he was so afraid of the Madison Square Church that he refused to set foot inside if alone. He was terrified, she discovered, of something called the "zeal." It was crouched in the dark corners of the church ready to jump at him, he said. When she asked what a zeal might be, he said he was not sure, but thought it was probably a large animal like an alligator or a dragon. He had heard the minister read about it from the Bible. Using a concordance, she read him those passages containing the word ZEAL until suddenly, very excited, he told her to stop. The line was from the Book of John, 2:17 : "And his disciples remembered that it was written, ’The ZEAL of thine house hath eaten me up’" People are still justifiably afraid to come near the "zeal" of the Lord, for they are perfectly aware it could "eat them up" if they aren’t one of His. Our Lord is good, but He isn’t safe.
David McCullough, Mornings On Horseback.
Psalms 33:8 Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.
Psalms 111:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.
So we can see that we should fear the Lord. In a day when He is referred to as everything from "The Big Guy upstairs" or only as no more than a super human it seems that we have forgotten that we serve an awesome God who should be feared.
Jesus put things into perspective in Matthew 10:28 "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."
So in order for us to have a healthy attitude about fear we must fear God.
II- Fear’s
Where do our fears come from. Many times from experiences of childhood; many fear are found in things like the dog that chased us, an accident that we were involved in, a movie that haunted us.
Fear in Our Imagination: The Lug Wrench: When you fear that the worst will happen, your own thoughts may help to bring it about. "Fear," a writer once said, "Is the wrong use of imagination. It is anticipating the worst, not the best that can happen." A salesman, driving on a lonely country road one dark and rainy night had a flat. He opened the trunk-no lug wrench. The light from a farmhouse could be seen dimly up the road. He set out on foot through the driving rain. Surely the farmer would have a lug wrench he could borrow, he thought. Of course, it was late at night-the farmer would be asleep in his warm, dry bed. Maybe he wouldn’t answer the door. And even if he did, he’d be angry at being awakened in the middle of the night. The salesman, picking his way blindly in the dark, stumbled on. By now his shoes and clothing were soaked. Even if the farmer did answer his knock, he would probably shout something like, "What’s the big idea waking me up at this hour!" This thought make the salesman angry. What right did that farmer have to refuse him the loan of a lug wrench? After all, here he was stranded in the middle of nowhere, soaked to the skin. The farmer was a selfish clod-no doubt about that! The salesman finally reached the house, and banged loudly on the door. A light went on inside, and a window opened above. "Who is it?" a voice called out. "You know darn will who it is," yelled the salesman, his face white with anger. "It’s me! You can keep your blasted lug wrench. I wouldn’t borrow it now if you had the last one on earth!"
Bits and Pieces, May, 1991, p. 23
III- Fear Nots:
Let’s look at some of the 63 times that fear not is in the KJV and see how we can get over fear. The format I wish to use is to identify a potential fear and see how this fear not can help us to overcome that fear. Fear remember is not necessarily bad and all of us have fears but by placing our trust in God we can intentionally overcome some of them.
1- Hagar Genesis 21:17 And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.
Many have a fear of being abandoned or of being alone. Perhaps you fear what the future will hold for you or a loved one. God came to Hagar in the wilderness after she had been cast out by Abraham and Sarah. She had drunk all of the water she had and was just waiting to die.
Notice Genesis 21:18 Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation.
God did not abandon her nor her son there.
2- Abraham Genesis 15:1 After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
Many fears are based on our seeming to be powerless about certain situation and things just don’t seem to be working out.
The insight into this fear not is in Genesis 15:2 And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?
Can we trust God to work out the circumstance of our life? Fear not.
3- Moses Exodus 20:20 And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not. God had just given Moses the Ten Commandments. When he came off the mountain the people were scared. By the way This points out what we have already said that we need to fear God. It also points out how quickly we can slip and fall if we are not careful. These were the same ones who built the golden calf.
4- Fear of other gods. Judges 6:10 And I said unto you, I am the LORD your God; fear not the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but ye have not obeyed my voice.
Ok here it is, some may have hear about all the religions of the world and are afraid that what we believe is not true. For some of you this sounds absurd but to some it just resonated. Beloved hear again the words Isaiah 46:9-10 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.
You do not have to fear because there is only one true God. Fear not the other gods.
5- Daniel Daniel 10:12 Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words.
Daniel 10:19 And said, O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong. And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened, and said, Let my lord speak; for thou hast strengthened me.
Have you ever feared that God didn’t hear your prayers or you felt He was just not near? Daniel, the great prophet, felt the same. May I say that this fear not is one that should encourage us to know that God answers prayers in His time.
6- Joseph & Mary Matthew 1:20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
Luke 1:30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
Many of you in your lifetime or perhaps now have things that you wonder if they will turn out. After all they seem to be no good outcome foreseeable. Now you know how Mary and Joseph had an opportunity to fell. They however trusted God to make things work.
7- Women at Tomb Matthew 28:5 And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.
What about death? Certainly we all have fear of this enemy. I chose to include this fear not because it is about Jesus resurrection. Beloved I think just a nana second after we cross over from this life we will realize that we had nothing to fear because as Christ said in Revelation 1:17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:
Beloved we can trust Him with all our fears, maybe not to keep us from ever fearing again but certainly to help us overcome them as we rest in Him.
Sometimes we need a little push: A very wealthy man bought a huge ranch in Arizona and he invited some of his closest associates in to see it. After touring some of the 1500 acres of mountains and rivers and grasslands, he took everybody to the house. The house was as spectacular as the scenery, and out back was the largest swimming pool you have ever seen. However, this gigantic swimming pool was filled with alligators. The rich owner explained this way: "I value courage more than anything else. Courage is what made me a billionaire. In fact, I think that courage is such a powerful virtue that if anybody is courageous enough to jump in that pool, swim through those alligators and make it to the other side, I’ll give them anything they want, anything--my house, my land, my money." Of course, everybody laughed at the absurd challenge and proceeded to follow the owner into the house for lunch... .when they suddenly heard a splash. Turning around they saw this guy swimming for his life across the pool, thrashing at the water, as the alligators swarmed after him. After several death defying seconds, the man made it, unharmed to the other side. Our rich host was absolutely amazed, but he stuck to his promise. He said, "You are indeed, a man of courage and I will stick to my word. What do you want? You can have anything--my house, my land, my money-just tell me what you want and it is yours." The swimmer, breathing heavily, looked up at the host and said, "I just want to know one thing--who pushed me in that pool?" Dr. Charles Garfield