_edited_p.png)
When we lived in Northern California, we had a pool in our backyard. In the heat of the afternoon summer I would want to take my little kids into the pool and hold them in the cool water. They would have none of it. But when Steve came home, they begged him to take them into the pool. Even little babies who could not talk would struggle in my arms, but happily fall asleep on his chest as he floated on a mattress.
What gives? They sensed my fear. I am not a good swimmer. So I got into the pool cautiously. I hung onto the kids firmly. They sensed my fear. And it made them afraid. Steve did not have these fears. They knew it and were peacefully happy with him.
Do you want your children to have a safe place of peace, a refuge, from the storms of life?
It won’t come by you giving place to your anxieties. Your fear will only increase their fears. Unless your fear is rightly placed in the fear of the Lord.
In the fear of the Lord one has strong confidence,
and his children will have a refuge.
Proverbs 14:26
The confidence of the parent who fears the LORD is felt by her children, and they feel secure.
There are two kinds of fears - the fear of losing something that makes me run and hide (flight) or try to control (fight). There is a different kind of fear - the fear of God that gives me confidence.
We live in a world growing more and more anxious. Anxiety is spreading wider and beginning younger. Anxiety is fundamentally a result of not fearing God.
Humankind decided they could live life on their own. They did not want to serve God. They wanted autonomy. In a microcosm, we see this in the little child who argues, “I do this MYSELF!”
Truth is, we can’t live a fruitful life on our own. Not wanting to acknowledge this, from the earliest ages, humankind resorted to inventing idols. Something to give them security, and at the same time something they could control.
We have idols today as well. Our idols today do not sit in marble temples. We may worship the god of physical fitness. If we sacrifice our time, energy and taste buds to do the right work out and eat the right food, our idol is supposed to give us health and a long life. We may worship the god of sports if we invest time, energy, and money while sacrificing family and friends to get the “W”. We may worship the god of education. If we sacrifice four years investing huge amounts of money to get a college education, our idol is supposed to give us a three figure salary. We believe that happiness is found in making the right sacrifice to the right idol.
However, if we are honest with ourselves, we know these idols cannot help us. Health-conscience people get cancer. Athletes get injured. The stock market falls.
So deep within us, anxiety grows.
Only in serving the one true God - having the fear of the Lord - can our fears be alleviated.
The fear of The Lord begins by recognizing God for everything that He is. Creator. Sovereign. Redeemer. King. It deepens as we learn that we will never know him completely. That He is God and we are not. That His “godness” puts Him in a category very outside of ourselves.
The demons believe this of God, and they tremble. Demon-like trembling is not the fear of the Lord. By contrast, for a christian the fear of the Lord is bound together with love for Him. Love because He first loved us. Love because while we were sinners He sent His son to die for us. Love that amazes.
The fear of the Lord is “the thrill of being here in the center of the awful power of God, yet protected by God himself!” (Piper: The Pleasures of God, 186–187).
Do you want your children to have a refuge from the storms of life? Learn to fear God so that you grow in confidence and lessen your need to control. Until they learn to fear God for themselves, your confidence in God will be a safety net for them.
Verses on Fearing God for mediatation:
Prob. 9:10; 19:23;
Ps. 112:11
Is. 11:1-3
Mark 4:41
2 Cor. 7:1