Fear of Fear

The rhythmic swish of gentle waves, the muted voices of parents calling to children, the happy chatter of children interrupted by shouts and splashes, the soundless breeze, the sunshine baking upturned faces, a sailboat gliding silently toward the beach—all these blend together to make the summer vacation. Whether in Italy or at the Great Lakes, on the Atlantic or Pacific shore, or on one of the islands of the seas, there is an attempt to relax, to unwind, to forget, to put “fear of fear” away, and to breathe deeply and easily.…

Suddenly the blue of the sky is pierced by two dark shapes accompanied by the shriek of jet sound. Bomber planes and their shadows dive close to the water, turn sharply up again, and rise like a streak of lightning to disappear over the hills. A quick return curve to repeat the practice, and then the shattered silence is restored. Heads that were lifted to look in surprise are back contemplating sand-castles, or books, or the need for more suntan lotion, or watches to see if it might be time for lunch. Fear? No. No fear where there is confidence. Confidence—that one is protected, that one is in a safe place, that danger is far, far off. Confidence nullifies fear.

But sometimes confidence is misplaced. The students studying innocently as part of their university work in Africa had no fear of being kidnapped. They were confident that they were safe because it was a study center of a reputable sort. Their confidence was suddenly shattered when that which they had not feared came suddenly upon them.

Confidence as a quality in itself will not push away the possibility of a fearful calamity. There are sudden attacks, snipers, assassins, kidnappers, accidents, illnesses, operations, breakdowns, fires, robberies, wars, floods, depressions, losses, earthquakes, death. Telegrams, phone calls, letters, and messengers do sometimes bring fearful news. Confidence that “nothing bad can happen to me or mine,” that “everything will be all right, dear, don’t worry,” is often just whistling in the dark. The questions should be: “In whom is my confidence placed? Am I being optimistic with no ground, no base for my confidence, and do I therefore have freedom from fear only as a mindless creature would have such freedom?”

Come to Proverbs for a moment. Chapter 3, verses 25 and 26: “Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked when it cometh. For the LORD shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken.” It seems to me this comes as a command: Don’t be afraid of sudden fear, my child. It seems to me that the Lord is speaking to each of his children. In the dark of the night, during a walk when the wind is moaning in the trees, while we are waiting in a hospital hall, during the long moment before the doctor speaks, even in the music of a symphony or of waves on a shore, amid quiet and beauty or amid shock and confusion the fear of fear can come as a nibbling thing within as well as a searing shock from without. Our “fear of fear” can be ever present, whatever secret thing it is we shrink from.

Our Father in heaven knows us so well. He knows that our energies, time, emotion, conscious thought, and creative possibilities can be nibbled at, wasted, and even destroyed because we are “afraid of sudden fear.” Often we suffer from an unnamed and unknown fear, a nebulous, floating thing that eats away at us, spoiling what we could be right now because of what we fear in the future. The word comes sharply to us: “Don’t.” We are not to waste our time being afraid of something that might happen.

Why not? Because the Lord shall be our confidence! The Creator of the earth, the One who can speak a word and change things in history, this One who is our Father through the reality of the new birth that Jesus explained to Nicodemus, is now our confidence. Not at some future date when there will be no more fear ever again, but now, before Satan is defeated, before the resurrection of the bodies, before Jesus destroys “the last enemy,” he is to be our confidence. Our first confidence in his power is to be our certainty that although “the body they may kill,” no one can do anything to remove eternal life and the certainty of our new bodies from us.

The missionaries recently martyred along with all the other martyrs did not have a “misplaced confidence”—they will receive the martyr’s crown as well as their new bodies, and even now they are present with the Lord while they are absent from their bodies.

Our confidence is also to be in the power of the living God to act in history right now to keep us safe and complete the plan he has for our lives. Verses 23 and 24 of this third chapter of Proverbs speaks of walking in one’s way safely, of not stumbling, of not being afraid when one lies down to sleep, of being given sweet sleep. “For the LORD shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken.” He it is who tells us, “Be not afraid of sudden fear.”

Each time a fear of fear nags us within we should apologize to the Lord. “Sorry, Lord, I’m doing it again. I’m not concentrating on my work. I’m not reading. I’m not full of love and appreciation for you, Father, or even for the people and the things you have given me. I’m in danger of allowing my fear of fear to push out every other emotion and therefore every response you have told me to have. Help me, O God, to push out this fear of fear, to replace doubt with confidence.”

In Matthew 8:25 and 26, the disciples awakened the Lord, crying, “Lord, save us; we perish!” They were at that moment afraid of fear. They were afraid of the fear they would have if they were plunged in the water. They were still in the boat; their fear was of what was ahead of them. The Lord’s word to them was a question: “Why are ye fearful, ye of little faith?” “Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked when it cometh. For the LORD shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken.”

And the Lord’s own formula needs to be added here. It is not a thing of simply declaring “I won’t ever be afraid again.” What we are to do is made clear in Philippians 4:6. Instead of being “anxious” or fearful, we are to pray. That prayer is to start with thanksgiving for things that have taken place in the past, so that we are filled with an emotion of real thankfulness and confidence in the One who has done all these things. After the thanksgiving, then we are ready to make our petitions to our listening Father concerning the thing that is making us fearful. This is how we are to carry out his command. “Be not afraid of sudden fear.”

Have something to add about this? See something we missed? Share your feedback here.