Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

The acts of terrorism could not be more, well, terrifying. Tuesday morning’s news defied our ability to believe our own eyes. While disbelieving onlookers try to make sense of a commuter jet crashing into the World Trade Center, a second, larger jet slams into the second tower. Then comes news of a third plane slamming into the Pentagon. As I write this column on Tuesday, the news is still being made and the media is still speculating as to who did this and why.

I cannot begin to imagine what more we might know, or what more may have happened, by the time you read this religion column in Friday’s paper. The only thing that seems certain is that the people behind the attacks will have succeeded at striking fear in the hearts of Americans. If hijacked commercial jets can crash into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, then where can we be safe? Isn’t fear an appropriate response to the unknown?

The Bible teaches a great deal about fear. Fear is revealed to not be of God with scripture including 2 Timothy 1:7 which says, “God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love and of a sound mind.” We also learn that part of Jesus’ ministry on earth was to “free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Hebrews 2:15). The goal of these and other terrorist acts is to enslave us in fear, which is the very thing from which Jesus came to set us free.

Of course, the terrorists themselves are playing on the fears of other people. They instill fear in the hearts of people. Then they fan the flames of hatred and then teach that there is no need to fear death. Free from the fear of death, new suicide bombers are ready to go out on the front lines of religious war. But this is not the intent of the freedom from fear of death Jesus promised. Jesus did not free us from the fear of death so that we could hate and kill. Jesus freed us from the fear of death so that we could love and reconcile.

The Bible teaches that the way to fight fear is with fear, godly fear. To understand that statement, we have to take a deeper look into a biblical understanding of fear. The essence of biblical wisdom is summed up in Proverbs 1:7, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom.” Many teachers are quick to point out that the word “fear” here means “reverence” and “awe.” So the verse could equally read “Reverence of God is the beginning of wisdom.”

We should not be so quick to understand the biblical teaching of fearing God as having nothing to do with actual fear. To truly encounter God in a powerful way brings with it a clearer understanding of God. Feeling something of the full measure of God’s power will awaken within us fear, as well as reverence, and awe. This is an appropriate response to God.

Ellen Davis, in her book “Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs” notes that we can see what happens when someone encounters God and does not have that fear of the Lord. The story of the Exodus of Israel from Egypt tells of how the Pharaoh hardened his heart. Moses says in Exodus 9:30, “I know that you still do not fear the Lord God as you should.” Pharaoh encountered the mighty power of God and still was so unfeeling that he did not have the sense to fear God.

Proverbs 1:29 dismisses those who scoff at biblical wisdom, “for they hated knowledge and did not choose fear of the Lord.” Fear of the Lord is then not just a response to a clearer understanding of God. Fear of the Lord can also be a choice. In choosing to fear God, we give our reverence and awe of God priority in our life. By giving priority to the fear of God, we push aside all lesser fears including even fear of death and fear of tragedy affecting those closest to us. All these and other lesser fears become lesser when we give fear of God a priority.

What is a godly response to the terrorism this week? We should be afraid. Be very afraid. But we should not fear those who want to terrorize us into giving in to their demands. We should fear the God who made us, the God who loves us, the God who sent his own son to set us free from slavery to fear.

(The Rev. Frank Logue is pastor of King of Peace Episcopal Church in Kingsland.)