Be Courageous; Don’t Let Fear Stop You!
Word-Of-The-Day: ‘For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.’ (2 Timothy 1:7); ‘Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.’ (Proverbs 29:25)
The Israeli intelligence coup in the exploding pagers and walkie-talkies, for once, gave the terrorists a taste of their own medicine, so to speak. While hoping they would think twice before they would act again, Hezbollah was already attempting to launch missiles into northern Israel again. Some pundits are warning this may trigger ‘sleeper cells’ within the United States to carry out their plans to strike key points of infrastructure to interrupt electrical, water, communications and gas services, or create havoc by attacking places with large crowds in ‘mass-casualty’ events, to overwhelm the US medical system and tie down police and fire services responding to these events.
It is not my desire to create in anyone a sense of fear or panic; these things can occur, and so can nuclear attack, another global war, a second pandemic, or some other malady (man-made or natural) that could happen. The true long-lasting effects of terrorism is not from the attacks themselves, but of the reactions and responses they bring. The 9/11 attacks occurred 23 years ago and we have fixed the Pentagon and built the Freedom Tower to replace the two World Trade Center towers. These are signs of American resilience, which are good to see.
However, we also have a Department of Homeland Security that has built an extensive surveillance system inside the US to monitor American citizens, taking away some freedom and liberty for the sake of security (something Ben Franklin warned us against). The Transportation Security Administration, or TSA, has made standard the screening of airline passengers a necessary part of travel, where passengers have to remove shoes, take off belts, and in some cases be subject to random pat-downs and searches, something Americans would have been opposed to before 9/11 occurred. These things have made us timid in the face of the fear of another such attack.
Terrorism is not the only thing that can make us alter our movements. There are still many who will not return to church or pretty much sequester themselves to their homes due to the COVID outbreak. The fear of COVID drove many to become hermits in their own homes and self-restricted their freedom to go out due to this fear. In those things that create such fear that we are willing to give up freedoms for security, or by fearing we stop doing things we should be doing. This does not mean we should not have a sense of fear, but it should be something that we control through the power of God and not allow fear to take over His leadership in our lives.
The Lord does not want us to fear so much it controls us. Controlling fear can cause sin; we have the example of Sarah having the overbearing fear of not bearing a son for Abraham, and thus handing Hagar over to him. This caused Ishmael (the patriarch of what would be the ‘other half’ of Semitic people, the Arabs) to come about, and to this day causes havoc with the Israelites. Fear should not control us, only the Lord should.
He tells Joshua, in Joshua 1, three times to be strong and courageous. God is not telling Joshua he will not face fear; being courageous is performing what needs done in spite of having fear. When God says in Isaiah 41:13, ‘I have your right hand; don’t fear, I’m with you!’, it is not a call to be fearless but to trust God, who has your back and in trusting Him He will lead you through the troubles that you face. In trusting the Lord, those things that can create fear in us should not overtake us or control us. Instead, we need to allow God to guide us and bolster us to overcome the fears we face.
Should Israel or we be in fear of Hezbollah, Iran, or other terrorist organizations? I would say we, and Israel, should have a healthy respect of them, and while our fear of what could happen is real, our Faith in God in leading us should be what steers us. In the Lord’s wisdom and guidance, BE PREPARED, BE AWARE, PLAN ACCORDINGLY. Take the precautions needed as the Lord leads you, focus on the Lord, and go from there. There is nothing fear can do to make these organizations or the threat they pose go away so with the Lord, we must face it and move forward in Him.
The Lord equips us with His strength and Spirit to stand up to face that which causes us fear. As Paul mentions, we should not cower timidly and freeze, but stand and face our adversaries and use what God provides to help defeat it. If you’ve prepared, physically, mentally, and most important Spiritually, you have what God has provided to help you defeat the storm.
