Can You Be Afraid & Not Even Know It?

I’ve may have mentioned before about how God frequently chooses to reveal Himself to me. The way He uses repetition - A LOT - because of my hard head.

Well, here is another example from the last couple of weeks. Notice the trend.

• June 23, Deuteronomy 31:6 (The Bible Verse of the Day)
• June 24, No Fear in God’s Hiding Place, closed the article with Deuteronomy 31:6 (Sylvia Gunter, The Father’s Business weekly email)
• June 25, 1 John 4:18 (The Bible Verse of the Day)
• July 3, Deuteronomy 31:6 (The Bible Verse of the Day - AGAIN!)
• July 6, Joshua 1:9 (Topic of a newspaper article that came across my desk)
• July 6, the kids running around the church were quoting 1 Peter 5:7 and sharing with their groups about times when they were afraid and they trusted in God and faced their fears.

I don’t think I’m afraid. But all this talk about fear is freaking me out!

Should I be afraid?

Am I about to be afraid?

Am I already afraid and I don’t even know it?

In my experience, when God puts something right under my nose several times in such close succession, it’s because He wants me to pay close attention to it and He ALWAYS has a perfectly wonderful reason for doing so. This time I feel like He’s turned up the volume on me! I’m hearing it in stereo. And it’s even echoing!

But I still don’t feel “afraid”. At least I don’t think I’m afraid. As a matter of fact there are very few things that bring out fear in me. I’m not afraid of bugs or spiders. Not afraid of storms or the dark. Not afraid of ghosts or the boogey man. I’m not afraid of needles (unlike a husband who shall remain nameless) or pain (which is why I was the one to agree to birth the kids). As a matter of fact, I think someone once said, “That girl is not afraid of the devil himself!” And that is a pretty true statement. I’m not afraid of the devil. He just aggravates the fire out of me (if you are unfamiliar with Southern English, it’s pronounced “far” not “fire”)!

There are a couple of things that I’ll admit do scare me…

• A phone call at 2:00 a.m.
• Snakes (they are creepy, they have no legs and even if they don’t hurt me, they will make me hurt myself!).
• Being totally helpless (that’s my battle with being a control freak).
• And lastly, fear itself. Yes, I’m afraid of being afraid. Sick, isn’t it?

So maybe what God is trying to show me is that no matter how brave I try to be in my own strength, fear can be lingering in the closet (whether I openly admit it or not). But as long as I trust in Him and in His strength, I have no need to fear anything – even fear itself!

What’s your greatest fear? Whatever it is, just remember that God is big enough, strong enough, wise enough, tough enough and just plain enough to handle it!