Lion Chasers
Are you living fearful?
Think on this for a minute. Do you live in the confidence and faith of who God created you to be, or do you put limits on yourself and God? Do you make decisions based on pleasing man - (this can be the fear of man) - or based on pleasing God? Are you stuck in a situation, afraid to step into your calling because it feels too big or too impossible?
If you’ve ever felt this way, you’re in good company. Do you remember Moses’s response when God called him to deliver the Israelites out of Egypt? He asked God, “Who am I?” Essentially he told God - “Nope. Not me. You’ve got the wrong guy.”
But what did God say? “I AM.”
You see, the question is not “who am I?” but “who is HE?”
Are we living in our limited view of self, or according to the power of Christ living INSIDE us?
I understand Moses. I’ve wrestled with God on many things, more recently in publishing a book. Naturally, I went to the insecurities that resound so heavily and repeatedly in my head. “I am no one. Who am I to publish a book?” But, it’s not about me. Why would I place limits on what God can do? My job is to be obedient and let Him do the rest. If I lived concerned with what people think, in fear of the “what ifs” or the unknowns, I would never do anything. And this is only one example - leaving everything behind to move to Iowa, getting remarried, and being a teacher - are other examples of things that I had every reason to be afraid of. But, I couldn’t deny God’s voice. Have you ever heard the saying faith over fear? That’s how we are called to live, so how do we do that? To understand, let’s get a better understanding of fear.
There are two types of fear. Have a look:
The Greek/Hebrew definition of “phobos” means to be put in fear; alarm or fright; to be afraid,+ exceedingly, fear, terror.
And then we have the Hebrew word, “yirah” which means awe. It is often also translated into reverence and worship.
So what place does fear have in the life of a Believer?
We see in Proverbs 1:7 that “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.” Fear here is “yirah.”
1 John 4:18 says, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” In each reference here, fear is “phobos.”
When we put God in His rightful place - when we stand in awe of and worship Him - when we understand His perfect love for us - we have no fear.
Yesterday, I began a new book, “In a Pit With A Lion On a Snowy Day.” What a title, right? It was the back of the book that won me over. It says, “What if the life you really want, and the future God wants for you is hiding right now in your biggest problem, your worst failure… your greatest fear?” I read this and said “Wow” out loud. I wanted to know more. It tells the story of Benaiah from 2 Samuel 23:20-21, who encountered a lion. But it’s more than that. Benaiah didn’t end up killing a lion because he was chased down and defending himself. No. Rather, it says he chased down a lion into a pit. Talk about fearless. He goes on to be the head of King David’s bodyguard. Mark Batterson explores this further because, as he says, “normal people don’t chase lions.” As I began reading, I realized that I don’t want to be normal. Batterson says in his book, “The goal of love is fearlessness. As we grow in a love relationship with God, we unlearn the fears that paralyze and neutralize us spiritually. That is the essence of faith.”
Amen. But here’s the best part. “The only God-ordained fear is the fear of God. And if we fear God, then we don’t have to fear anyone or anything else. Unlearning our fears is really a process of learning to trust God more and more.”
You see, fear can never come from God. So if you find yourself fearful, you can know without a doubt that it is from the enemy. But when we have the appropriate fear of God, Psalm 34:7 tells us, “The angel of the Lord encamps around those to fear (yirah) Him, and He delivers them.” What would you rather live in - actual fright and fear, or in the astounding awe and worship of our God who is on our side?
Do you see the freedom in this, friends? This changes everything. We live afraid because we don’t realize how big our God is. How we think about God determines who we will become. If we see Him as this big guy in the sky that doesn’t really care about us or our problems, then well - we will live in that. But if we live in his all-encompassing love and pursuit of us, knowing and believing that He can do all things - that HAS to change how we live.
Let’s stop living afraid. Let’s stop living in fear of people (phobos) and instead live in fear of God (yirah). Let’s step into who He called us to be. Let’s be lion chasers.
