On Fear – from the story of Elijah - I

A sermon I heard about a month ago really resonated with me. It was on dependence on God, and the theme has become very relevant in my life lately.

In the physical world, independence is often considered the sign of one’s maturity. On the contrary spiritual maturity manifests itself in dependence on God.

An interesting observation the speaker made was that rising fear tends to be an indication for our independence from God. When our dependence on God decreases, our fear level goes up.

Fear cripples us.

After one of the most dramatic showdowns in the Old Testament, “the power of the LORD came upon Elijah and, tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel. (I Kings 18:46)”

Mind you, he was running down-hill from the top of the Mt. Carmel, where he confronted Baal’s prophets. The distance to the city of Jezreel was about 20 miles and he out-ran the king’s chariot in the matter of hours, which probably wasn’t the slowest thing in the country.

That’s some serious dose of holy dope.

In a striking contrast Elijah covered less than 5 miles a day when he was on the run from vengeance of Jezebel. It took him 40 days and nights to reach the Mt. Horeb…

This time he acted out of fear instead of relying on God to protect him.

How could Elijah, after seeing God work so mightily, be seized by fear of a mere woman? And how could I, after experiencing God’s deliverance time after time, still be paralyzed by fear?

It seems like a pattern for God’s people to end up wondering in the wilderness for 40 days or years when they act out of fear. Though God still provides in the desert, I really rather not go there.

So my prayer is to replace all my fear with faith in Him. Dear Lord, have mercy on me. I want to run again.

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. 2 Timothy 1:7