Fear is a Liar

A few days ago my fiancee SURVIVED a motor vehicle accident involving an overspeeding SUV that ran a red light. The driver was apparently a speed-demon and probably fell asleep on the wheel, failing to notice that it was their turn to stop. My fiancee’s car was hit on the driver’s side somewhere between the hinge of the door and the front of the automobile. One of the emergency respondents said she was fortunate that the SUV hit her car at that exact spot as it absorbed most of the impact of the crash. Had it been a few inches toward the front door, the outcome would have been tragic. 

Hearing this incident unfold was enough to make my skin crawl, conjuring images of my fiancee severely physically injured or, worse, dead. I can only imagine the shock and fear she must have felt during and/or after the incident. Certainly I felt a great scare on the day the accident happened, and a few days afterward. The pervading rumination was ‘she could have died,’ or ‘she could have been severely wounded,’ or ‘how can I be sure that she’ll be safe on the road again,’ and so on. 

It has been a struggle to think that someone I love so dearly could lose their life in a tragic way. What would going through something like that be like? (I ask rhetorically, of course. I really don’t want to know.) 

But I capitalized the word SURVIVED at the start of this entry to signify that that is the most important thing in the aftermath of such a traumatic experience. My fiancee survived. Unharmed. With only a totally wrecked driver’s side of her car left in its wake. We both breathed a sigh of relief that her car was the only thing severely damaged in the incident. 

All throughout this week — from the crash to today — we have both acknowledged the hand of the Almighty God that shielded her from this unforeseen occurrence and, by faith, from any internal injuries that tend to manifest days or even weeks after the fact. We have had to battle our way through a plethora of fearful scenarios posited by our own individual thoughts and/or suggested by well-meaning friends. At one point, I told my fiancee that our devotional focus on JOY was apparently being tested… by FEAR no less. 

FEAR. It is inevitable. It is real. It, in fact, can become quite tangible. I know this for a fact having been subject to it . . . all my life. I’ve feared losing face because of relational mistakes I’ve made in the past. I’ve feared losing either of my parents at different points in my youth. I’ve feared great embarrassment from potentially being exposed as ineffective at my workplace. I’ve feared losing my life in my early twenties when I had some blood-related issues for a season. I’ve feared getting stuck in the bureaucracy of government agencies while trying to get necessary documents. I’ve feared economic and financial loss. I’ve feared missing out on the fulfillment of promises God made to me. I’ve feared losing my fiancee, my best friend, my lover. 

BUT THEY WERE ALL LIES. 

Such is the nature of fear. 

It magnifies a falsehood. 

It presents a fake expectation about reality. 

It rarely delivers its thesis . . . or whenever it does, it does not accomplish what it’s been sent out for. 

FEAR IS A LIAR. 

GOD IS TRUTH. 

When God says He will protect you, He will. 

When He says He will watch your going out and coming in, He will. 

When He says He will keep you from all harm, He will. 

When He says He will not allow your foot to slip, He won’t. 

When He says no weapon formed against you will succeed, it won’t. 

When He says nothing will harm you, nothing will. 

When He says He will cover you under the shadow of His wings, He will. 

When He says no disaster will come near you, it won’t. 

When He says you will only see with your eyes the destruction of the wicked, you will. 

When He says no poison will work on you, it won’t. 

When He says He will defend you, He will. 

When He says He will never leave you nor forsake you, He won’t. 

When He says “fear not” three hundred and sixty-five times in the Bible, it means you will encounter fear — perhaps each day of the year — but that you don’t have to be enslaved by it. 

I have always encountered fear. I still do. But God told me that no fear will stop me. Fear might give me a big scare but it never does the job of taking my trust, my faith, and my hope away from God. 

Yes, I still get fearful — even to this day — but I push forward knowing that while my fears may be bigger than I am, my God is infinitely greater that my fears are. 

Fear is real. Yes it is. But if we listen to it less, and to God’s voice more, fear will be proven to be what it really is . . . A LIAR!