Why Are You Afraid?

Fear,

noun – an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat.

Fear comes in many forms. Sometimes it’s a nagging temptation to be anxious over things that are not real. Other times it’s associated with the unknown, leaving us feeling unsure about our future. But then there’s the fear that comes amidst very real circumstances. That type of fear does everything it can to force us to be afraid. We can actually see the reality of the situation and because it is ever before us, it can consume our thinking.

In Luke chapter 8 and Mark chapter 4, Jesus tells his disciples to take their boat across the Sea of Galilee. He goes with them and takes a little nap. A storm comes up and the disciples frantically do all the know how to do, only to eventually wake up Jesus (who seems completely absent and unaware of the circumstances) and ask, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” Well, Jesus does wake up. He rebukes the wind, and says to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” The wind ceases, and there is a dead calm. He then asks them a question, “Why are you afraid?”

That word for afraid here is deilos, it means timid & faithless

It’s a valid question, one they needed to ponder and answer for themselves. But it’s also a good question for us to ask ourselves, especially when we are confronted with circumstances that make us sincerely afraid. Those disciples were in the middle of a real storm. There were real waves, real wind and a real reason to be afraid. I am convinced that he asked the disciples that question, not to shame them, but to bring to light that which was truly causing them to fear on a deeper level.

Here’s something to think about…Just like many of us, those disciples KNEW Jesus and yet they still wrestled with fear. They were actually with Him. They were with the creator of the universe in human form and they still relied only on what THEY knew in order to navigate their situation. We are not so different.

I find it interesting that their question to Jesus reveals their lack of knowing how much He loved them, while His question to them reveals how much of Him they had yet to trust.

The story concludes: “And they were terrified and asked one each other, “Who then is this?…” (Mark 4:41)

Ready for a little more Greek?

The word for terrified here is phobeo. It means awe, reverence, exceedingly fearful.

Do you see what happened? When the disciples were focused on their circumstances and trying to manage their fear, it made them faithless (deilos), BUT when they invited Jesus into their circumstances, even from a faithless perspective, their (phobeo) of Jesus and all His power overshadowed their fear. The first fear paralyzes us and the second leaves us in awe.

“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41;10 (ESV)

This is more than just an encouraging statement; this is a truth that can greatly impact our reality. Try reading it this way.

The living God is with ME.

The almighty God is MY God.

He  WILL strengthen me.

He WILL help me.

He WILL uphold me.

Powerful, isn’t it? And it is true.

Just for fun:

I emphasized certain words in that Isaiah verse, but you can reread any one of those statements and emphasize a different word each time you read it. It brings a unique life to the truths being spoken.

It would seem that to go from faithless fear to reverent fear, we must personally invite Jesus into our fear. He might appear to be absent or “sleeping” in the front of our boat, but in reality, he is right there, and we just need to seek Him out.

In the Meanwhile…

Whether fear surrounds our health, the health of those we love, our finances, our job, lack of a job, choices we have to make or our future, we don’t have to be held captive.

We need to…

• acknowledge our fear
• stop trying to manage it
• invite Jesus into our fear
• give Him authority over our circumstances.

If I’m honest, I often have to repeat this list over and over again until my fears are completely surrendered. I’m learning that to acknowledge my fear is not to give into it, rather it gives Jesus the authority to drive it out.

1. Take some time to really be honest about the things you are afraid of today.
2. Be willing to sit and ponder Jesus’ question, “Why are you afraid?”
3. Talk to the Lord about those things & then let Him have control.