There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. 1 John 4:18 NKJV
It can be a little confusing. But there are two directions to go with fear, and the directions from God are very specific about them. The fear of the Lord is the good kind, the kind we must have. It means awe and reverence for the Lord. This kind of fear makes us want to please God and not disappoint Him, not because we’re afraid of punishment, but because we recognize how great and loving He is. We want to have the closest relationship we can with Him. This “fear” truly is the beginning of wisdom, gives us strength, secure sleep, confidence – the blessings the Bible lists and we discover in our own lives are many. But then there’s the fear of everything else – the bad kind. The kind that hurts us. Paul tells us that this kind of fear does not come from God (2 Timothy 1:7), and we learn through the accounts of various biblical personalities that their worst moments came from fear. We also learn the effects of fear and how to defeat it.
The phrase John uses here to describe the ugliness of fear is “fear has torment.” We know that is true, don’t we? When we are afraid, it is often spurred by the “what if” scenarios we play out in our mind. We get sweaty palms, nervous stomachs, tension headaches. We suffer sleepless nights, unfocused days. Our imaginations run wild, forecasting failure, rejection, and destroying all peace. Satan is the source of that fear. Sometimes we have contributed to it and given him the weapons to use. For instance, perhaps you lied in a moment of fear to your boss. Now Satan has ready-made regret and fear to torment and torture you. You lay awake at night thinking of your deceit. “What will he say if he finds out?” Then he reminds you that God already knows, and you have that to deal with. He loves to keep us wrapped up in fear, tormented and fearful.
John tells us we can take the weapon out of Satan’s hands when we put our total trust in God. We “fear” Him and His marvelous awe-inspiring, transforming love. We receive His love and remind ourselves that we have no need to fear Him. Ask His forgiveness and you get it. Ask for strength to make it right with the boss. Step through despite your fear, own your situation, and make it right. Ask God to work with you every single day to trust His love enough that you never operate from fear, and you recognize fear as a prompt from Satan. God will come through for you with His perfect love, and your fear will disappear. The fear over things that happen without any error on your part – sickness, life events out of your control – they don’t have to torment you either. God is always with you, working for you. Satan has NO power over a person who is walking in forgiveness and the freedom of perfect love.
- God, help me love You so clearly and wisely that I recognize the fingers of fear as they try to take hold of my heart. Help me refuse them as I trust Your love.