"There are at least 37 things I could be afraid of right now!"

Joy: Fear! I need a list of all the possible negative outcomes on the first day at a new school.
Fear: Way ahead of you there. Does anyone know how to spell "meteor?"
- Disney Pixar's Inside Out

We all know what it is to be afraid. We are afraid of bad things happening to ourselves and our family. We are afraid for the state of our community or town or country. We all have our own personal fears as well, a fear of spiders or bats or running out of food. We learn to live with our fears, learn to cope with them in different ways, which allow us to continue to be a part of our lives without having to be locked in a safe padded room all the time.

Fear is a basic survival instinct. Fear has saved us many times in our lives from getting into situations where we know destructive things could happen. Fear is not always a bad thing. Knowing what we are afraid of and why allows us to take precautions in order to be safe. It also allows us to understand how past traumatic experiences have shaped how we live our lives today.

In the spiritual realm, most people's understanding of the place of fear comes from a verse in Proverbs: "The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom, and humility goes before honor." (NRSV Proverbs 15:33) Why would we fear God? Usually, human beings fear the unknown, and God is truly an unknown in many ways. We know God has created us and loves us, yet, there is not much that we can know for certain about God. Fear of God leads to wisdom because we are able to acknowledge that God is greater than we could ever know and does more than we can ever imagine.


Where is there fear in your life? Are you able to live with it or is it taking over your life? Trust in God and ask God to help you live through the fear.

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