|
YOU CAN ENJOY VICTORY OVER FEAR, WORRY AND ANXIETY.
Raphael Oye. Taiwo
Fear
There are times when people of God face circumstances that cause them to fear, worry and be anxious or depressed.
In many circumstances, fear is natural. If we use the word ‘fear’ in its strict psychological sense, it is always a friend and never an enemy. Fear is an emotion – an instinctive emotion - native to personality. Because of this it must be good, for the simple reason that nothing essentially evil has been planted in our personality by the good hand of the wonderful Creator.
When a boy sees a dangerous-looking man striding towards him in a deserted street, it is fear that makes him run fast to safety even when running is not his favorite sport. It is fear that makes an woman gets over a gate into the safety of a nearby house when she sees a mad dog running down the lane towards her, backing furiously. It is fear that makes a man drive carefully. It is fear that makes a little girl looks at the right and left to ensure there is no on-coming traffic before crossing the road.
In the jungle, it is fear that makes an animal run for all she is worth to safety immediately she smells or senses a predator. Without fear, she would have been devoured. To her fear is a beneficial mechanism.
Pure instinctive emotion of fear makes for efficiency. We do many good things because of it. We drive carefully so we won’t have an accident. We avoid committing a crime so we won’t end up in the prison. A bad guy refrains from murdering the weaker man who he feels like killing because of the fear of the hangman’s noose or a miserable life behind the prison walls. We try not to commit a sin, though the desire to do so is strong, so God won’t punish us.
But like every other good instincts and instinctive emotions God created in man, the devil has devised his own evil version of fear that is an enemy, rather than a friend, of man. It is morbid or exaggerated fear that has its source only in hell and torments man with a vengeance.
“People often manifest morbid or exaggerated fear, which ought to have another name; for where fear is a friend, morbid fear is an enemy. Fear makes the chemist dispense a prescription with care and accuracy. Morbid fear makes him run down the street after the customer to get the bottle back, in terror lest he may have put in arsenic instead of aniseed. Fear makes the explorer light his fire and leave his revolver loaded when he settles down for the night. Morbid fear would keep him awake all night. Fear makes a friend of mine, who is in charge of a leper settlement in the Himalayas, wash his hands and take precaution against infection. Morbid fear would send him home from India by the next boat.” (Psychology and Life by Leslie D. Weatherhead, Hodder and Stoughton Ltd, Pages 201-202).
It is the negative type of fear I am concerned with in this book. So, whenever I talk of fear it is the devil-invented fear – morbid, exaggerated or irrational fear – we mean
Worry and anxiety
Worry is a feeling of anxiety. Anxiety means fear, especially as caused by uncertainty about something. To be worried means to be anxious.
Worry and anxiety are unnecessary concern about tomorrow: suppose my family don’t get anything to eat? Suppose my employer terminates my appointment? Suppose a member of the family is involved in a terrible accident? Suppose armed robbers choose my house for their next operation? Worry is paying interest on troubles that may never come due!
The story is told of a man who raised chickens. Among them was a rooster whose occasional crowing greatly annoyed a neighbor. Early one morning the disgruntled neighbor called the farmer and complained, “That miserable bird of yours keeps me up all night!”
“I don’t understand,” came the reply. “He hardly ever crows; but if he does, it’s never more than two or three times.”
“That isn’t my problem,” retorted the neighbor. “It’s not how often he crows that irritates me! What keeps me awake is not knowing when he might crow!”
Worry is nothing but unbelief in disguise. Worry is fear’s extravagance. It gets rid of God’s joy in the heart of a Christian. It overshadows the peace with which the Lord has blessed the heart. Worries begin in the little doubts or uncertainties, end up in poisoning the body, depressing the mind and despairing the heart. Worry stems the flow of God’s energy that is needed to stand up to the devil’s attacks.
Matthew 6:25-35
25. Therefore I say unto you take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
26. Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
27. Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
28. And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
29. And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you. O ye of little faith?
31. Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? What shall drink? Or, Where-withal shall we be clothed?
32. (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek)for your heavenly knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
34. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
At one or another time we face circumstances that make us fear and worry. At times the fear, worry and anxiety are so great that we suffer terribly. In the above scripture, the Lord warns us against fear, worry and anxiety.
‘Don’t worry¦ .’ (Becks Translation, Williams Translation, NLT). ‘Do not be anxious¦’ (NAS). Cares and worries about the things of life and anxiety over the future have sent many to early graves.
|
