Crippled by Fear?

Some thoughts from Sunday evening's sermon by Pastor Dan Fields at First Baptist in Creston, Iowa. These aren't his sermon notes, but some thoughts that have been going through my mind today.

What are you afraid of?

The dark? Heights? Blood?

Have you ever been in a situation where fear has caused you to react?

You know, like someone jumping out from behind a tree and you scream.

Or maybe your fear of heights has kept you from climbing ladders and towers, or flying in airplanes.

Sometimes fear can keep us from doing dangerous things. Fear of falling into the Grand Canyon would keep you from getting too close to the edge. Fear of fire would keep you away from a burning house. Fear of moving vehicles keeps you from walking down the middle of the interstate.

Fear is not a bad thing. It can keep you from doing dangerous things.

Fear can be a bad thing when it keeps you from doing what you know needs to be done.

So how can we distinguish the two? How do we know when fear is good and when it is bad?

We have to consider the object of our fear and the result of our fear.

If we are afraid of danger, so we stay in bed all day, we are being foolish and lazy (Prov 22:13).

But, if we fear God, that will motivate us to the right things.

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge..." (Prov 1:7). "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom..." (Prov 9:10). When we fear the LORD, we will be at the source of knowledge.

"...fear the LORD and turn away from evil" (Prov 3:7). "The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil..." (Prov 8:13). When we fear the LORD, we will run away from sin.

When we are crippled by fear, we can do nothing. We no longer have control of our bodies, our reactions or our words.

Likewise, we should be crippled by the fear of God. We can do nothing. We have surrendered control of our bodies, our resources, our words and our thoughts to Him.

When we are crippled by the fear of God, it is a good thing.

We will seek His wisdom and we will flee sin.