Fear Itself
“Do not be afraid.”
The first words said when God shows up, especially when the messengers of God show up. There’s a reason for that. Fear is what happens when we mistake human noise for ultimate authority.
The world’s turmoil, the production of anxiety, the raging, the rising pressure causes us to be afraid, but it prompts God to laugh. How weird is that?
Psalm 2 says God laughs at all this.
Not in a derisive way as if this is entertaining, or a thoughtless unappreciative way, but in a knowing way. God knows the limits of human power when humans act like their power is limitless. Over and over in Scripture, people get caught up in their own strength, their demands, their assurances that they can achieve whatever they desire — and God just shakes his head.
Obviously, God is not some big human shaking his head or sitting on some cosmic throne chuckling. But God’s understanding of our true circumstance is seen in these human expressions. God laughs. God shakes his head.
We can admit to the anxiety we feel, when we are watching power grabs, unethical choices, political brutality, self-aggrandizement. But those things don’t need to make us afraid. They should make us clear headed.
God is not mocked… not with any kind of impact or embarrassment.
God is not threatened.
God is like gravity. He is inescapable. Gravity doesn’t argue over whether objects will fall. The atmosphere doesn’t negotiate with breath. God’s presence is not contingent on human stability.
God is the atmosphere in which we live and breathe.
What we learn through discovering and following Jesus is that the center holds. We can live without panic.
In real time, we are watching the loss of authority. We are not watching the rise of chaos; we are watching the exposure of false gods.
Real authority is derivative, not self-made. Real authority is accountable, not autonomous. Real authority is relational, not self-referential. Human authority collapses when it tries to be self-made. Divine authority endures because it is relational.
We need to look at all this with the clarity God provides. Clear-headedness is not apathy. Clear-headedness is not withdrawal. Clear-headedness is the ability to act without panic. It is courage without frenzy, faith without illusion.
Fear dissolves when we see the world the way God sees it.
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