From the President: Of Fear & Faith

By Dr. Chris Seiple on 01 February 2007

On the surface, to fear is to feel helpless. We fear this life because it brings things beyond our control. Fear manipulates. Fear is self-referential.

At a deeper level, however, to fear is to be in awe. We fear God because He is unfathomable, this Creator who controls everything. Awesome fear worships. It is reverential.

Faith is the fulcrum that balances these two kinds of fear, enabling a bridge between who we are (self-centered) and who we could be (God-centered). For the Christian, faith rests not “on men’s wisdom, but on God's power,” (1st Corinthians 2:5), and “the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time” (Titus 1:2).

To rest on God’s power is an easy thing to say but a fearsome thing to experience. But we will. The one thing you can count on from life is that a point will come where everything has been stripped away and it’s just us and God.

At such times, we are usually angry and afraid of that which we can’t control. However, when we get to these points—especially the first time—we can take great comfort in knowing that God is indeed with us, and that we are not the first to go through it.

Abraham was about to slay his son—the very promise of God through whom Abraham would become the father of nations—when the angel appeared: “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son” (Genesis 22:12).

Job loses everything. He curses the day he was born (Job 3). Yet his conclusion humbles us: “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him” (Job 13:15).

Jeremiah is called upon to speak prophesies against his government for its sins. Through his raging laments, he too curses the day he was born and the pain that comes with prophecy. Yet he confesses: “But if I say, ‘I will not mention him or speak any more in his name,’ his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot” (Jeremiah 20).

And then there is Jesus. His agony was the greatest, for he had the power and the freedom to control his situation, to escape death on a cross. At Gethsemane, he was human and he was afraid. Twice he prayed to God, begging him to “take this cup.” Twice he remembered the power of God, and concluded both prayers with a simple request: “Your will be done.”

As he prayed, Jesus must have also remembered those early followers who, upon discovering the cost of believing in Jesus, left him. Turning to the other twelve, Jesus asked: “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:67-9).

And so it is with us, this choice to fearfully cling to God, no matter what … for we have no other place to go.

Still, it is our choice to cling to God. It is a faithful decision to move past our fear as humans into an awe-filled fear of God. As we make this daily decision, we better understand that “the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those who hope in his unfailing love” (Psalm 33:18); that is, on those who “believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). As our awe-filled faith increases, we finally recognize that it was fear that died upon the cross.

The day will come when there is nothing but you and God. Have the faith to fear God and not be afraid.

Last updated 13 January 2009