There’s plenty to fear in our current world: wars, rumors of war, pandemics, rising crime rates and invasion at our souther border. Yet the Bible tells us to fear not. Simply put, when we fear God, not man, our Heavenly Father blesses us with peace and wisdom.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.–Proverbs 9:10 (English Standard Version)
If the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, what does the fear of man yield?
The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe. –Proverbs 29:25 (ESV)
The American Heritage dictionary defines a snare as: 1.A trapping device, often consisting of a noose, used for capturing birds and small mammals. 2. Something that lures or entangles the unwary.
When a snare catches an animal , the noose tightens as it struggles to get away. This provides a perfect metaphor for fearing man.
How does the fear of man snare people? Worrying what people think or say about us can cause us to stay silent when we should witness or defend our faith in Jesus. You may even decline to stand against evil due to worries of loss of livelihood, reputation, or even your life.
The reality is we are compliant to what we fear. Yes, we obeyed our parents as children our of respect, but mostly because we feared the consequences of the belt or grounding.
Remember also as a child going along with your group of friends because of peer pressure? We did so out of fear of ostracism.
I’d like to now revisit a situation in recent history in which all the fears mentioned above were encapsulated into a single, surreal event: the Covid pandemic . As you will see, this was a snare on many levels.
Many of us lost loved ones due to Covid, which was terrible and tragic. The elderly and those with chronic chronic conditions were most at risk. Yet ,instead of focusing on those who were at risk, government aided by the media chose to frighten every citizen out of their minds.
Numbers were inflated by hospitals . People who died in car accidents or had heart attacks, etc were said to have died of Covid if they even had a trace of the virus at the time of their death. This practice only aided in the panic.
Infected elderly people were returned to nursing homes under orders by health officials, leading to more deaths and inflating the death toll. This was largely ignored by the press, who instead focused on stories of food and toilet paper shortages, overwhelmed emergency rooms or how Covid would affect the incumbent president’s reelection. If this wasn’t bad enough, one news outlet had a Covid death ticker running during each broadcast.
People did anything they could to get out of that snare, as indicated by their blind allegiance to every arbitrary government edict. Many comforted themselves they were doing good and protecting elderly loved ones as they surrendered to tyranny.
People wore masks everywhere, even when walking with their spouse in the park, or driving alone. They stayed six feet apart even though the rule was unscientific.
Families hunkered down, isolating themselves from friends and loved ones. Many parents didn’t pushback against schools shutting down; forcing their kids to learn via Zoom. Many Christians stopped going to church due to fears of catching the virus.
On the other hand, many God-fearing Christians chose freedom over authoritarianism. They resolved not to live in fear, because they believe God determines their calling into heaven. If Covid was to be that opening of the door to eternity, then so be it.
These men and women continued social gatherings during the lockdowns. Despite following mask mandates early on , they later declined when reports came out questioning the effectiveness of the mandates (which recent reports have validated). These were men and women who walked into supermarkets unmasked and allowed their kids to have sleepovers with friends. Their fear of God trumped their fear of man.
So we can confidently say,“The Lord is my helper;I will not fear;
what can man do to me?”–Hebrews 13:6
Why did I spend a good part of this column revisiting Covid? We are in an election year in which certain forces do not want the return of a certain president. We’ll refer to him as DJT.
Covid coincidentally came just before 2020 presidential campaign, along with rioting in major cities. If this happened as a prelude to campaign season, what do you think these forces have planned in 2024? After all, this DJT is winning primaries and surging in polls? It’s not difficult to imagine.
Let me encourage you to fear not as wars, rumors of war, threats of future pandemics and terrorist attacks loom. Pray often, study your Bible,and trust in the peace and protection of the LORD through your faith in Jesus.
For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.–2 Timothy 1:7 (ESV)
If conviction reveals your fear of man as greater than your fear of God, take heart. You do not have to remain enslaved.
Jesus sets you free when you ask Him to be Lord and Savior of your life. Surrendering your life to God, though Jesus and the by the power of the Holy Spirit, reveals truth and takes away fear.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.–Romans 12:2 (ESV)
Now is the time to do this. I hope I am wrong, but I believe 2024 will be unlike any year in our lifetime. Those who keep their eyes on Jesus will be steadied by the power of the Holy Spirit no matter what happens. Therefore, we can encourage others to fear God, not man
8 replies on “Fear God, not man”
He knows what’s coming it’s not a surprise to him and will see us through. It’s all part of His plan to draw people towards Him or hate Him.
You missed one capitalization and that really distracted me.
Dex, the vast majority of people “FEAR” on a daily basis. worry is a type of fear, but it is quite hard not too! Thank you for your good info on working on this issue. I also believe we are living in the end of times, and 2024 will certainly be an eye-opening experience. Pray more people end their worries and walk daily in boldness in Christ’s salvation.
Your article hits home. We see in today’s world we fear just about anything or anyone that may impact or change our lives in a negative way. But we, as believers, should know fearing and trusting God is where we should always be. King David most of his life was running from those who wanted to kill him or fighting with those who wanted to destroy Israel. He had fears but we see how he handled them in Psalm 56:3-5 “When I am afraid, I will trust in You. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?” Yes, what can mortal man do to us? When we misplace our fear for God, with that of fearing what others may do to us, we quickly are tossed upon the stormy seas. In both the Old and New Testaments we find verse after verse letting us know where to place our trust and constant reminders that fearing God leads to peace. Jesus said in John 16:33 “I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart, I have overcome the world.” We all have to live in this broken world and we all are subject to the forces of evil but we all know that no matter how hard it may get, we know the Lord is always with us. Matthew 10:28 “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” God’s word constantly reminds us where we should place our fear…Fear God, not man.
Thanks for your keen insight of bringing together what scripture says in the light of current and past events. Everyone- stay strong and learn from the past.
In many ways Covid was a fiery crucible for those of us that resisted. A test that further clarified our critical thinking and philosophy on life. Trust in Jesus and the discernment of the Holy Spirit is our guiding force, not fear, not appeasement and not conformity.
So true. No appeasement, no conformity.
“GOD is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble” (Psalm 46:)”
That I truly believe and trust in. But I also believe that HE gave some of us common sense. Would you walk in front of a semi barreling down the freeway believing GOD was going to snatch you away at least, in the second before being struck? I think not. If I can use an excerpt form JKV30’s post (which I liked and found inspirational); “King David most of his life was running from those who wanted to kill him or fighting with those who wanted to destroy Israel”
1 Samuel 19 states:
8. Once more war broke out, and David went out and fought the Philistines. He struck them with such force that they fled before him.
9. But an evil spirit from the LORD came upon Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand. While David was playing the harp,
10. Saul tried to pin him to the wall with his spear, but David eluded him as Saul drove the spear into the wall. That night David made good his escape.
11. Saul sent men to David’s house to watch it and to kill him in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, warned him, “If you don’t run for your life tonight, tomorrow you’ll be killed.”
12. So Michal let David down through a window, and he fled and escaped.
My point being, that all though David was a mighty warrior, who knew from GOD, through the prophet Samuel, that he would be king, he still fled from Saul. He employed GOD given self-preservation (a wise and good type of fear); and thus, he applied Common Sense. There is a time and a place for everything; as David demonstrated through his valor and at times his retreat- which can also be valiant.
With respect to COVID, I ceased my attendance at church for a time. Not so much for fear of my life, but for the concern and love of my grand daughter, who at the time was only 5 years old and suffered from respiratory issues. During that time away from attending services, my then pastor called me and asked me to come back in attendance. He too quoted 2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV): “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a Sound Mind.” Needless to say my prompt response was that I understood fully what he was saying and agreed but my focus was on the Sound Mind portion of that verse.
According to The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance Of the Bible; if you look up the word Sound in the Greek (4998: self-controlled (moderate as to opinion or passion): discreet, sober, temperate.) in layman’s terms, to me it means to be guided by sound reason, sane and rational in thought. Now, my internal reasoning conveyed to him was, it wasn’t so much that I caught Covid and passed on from this life. But If I caught Covid and transmitted it to my grand daughter and she passed because of me; that would be something I could never bear. Especially if such a tragedy came about for lack of common sense. In addition, a couple of people in that church came down with pneumonia and were very ill and several died. Although they would never say it was from Covid.
Because I did not attend church at that time it had no effect on my walk with GOD, because as the author of this article stated “Pray often, study your Bible,and trust in the peace and protection of the LORD through your faith in Jesus.” Something I did before Covid and continue to do daily and highly recommend it to all, as time alone with the Father brings you into deeper intimacy with HIM and allows for HIM to speak and teach you directly while addressing issues of the heart. Note: I am by no means advocating for the forsaking of the gathering together of the saints. Just my opinion and thoughts.
Fear GOD not man- Very good article Dex!!!