The Fear Distortion — A LifeWords Devotion

At that time a severe famine struck the land of Canaan, forcing Abram to go down to Egypt, where he lived as a foreigner. As he was approaching the border of Egypt, Abram said to his wife, Sarai, “Look, you are a very beautiful woman. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife. Let’s kill him; then we can have her!’ So please tell them you are my sister. Then they will spare my life and treat me well because of their interest in you.” (NLT)

Fear can do all sorts of things to us. It can cause us to have a different perspective on reality. It can cause us to hit out aggressively at those we perceive as threats. It can cause us to retreat into a nervous timidity in order to avoid a real or imagined pain.

And our reading today suggests it can also cause us to lie and deceive. Abram was afraid his wife Sarai would be so admired by the Egyptians that they would get rid of him in order to have her. And so a pattern of lying was put in place which later did no good to anyone.

Fear distorts our responses. Whenever we make a decision out of fear, it is likely to be an unwise decision. Fear caused Abram to lie, and can cause us to either fight or take flight. We spend so much energy and time trying to avoid that which we perceive to be a threat.

Little wonder that the most common command in the Bible is “Fear not”. God understands that we are fearful people. He does not deal with our fearfulness by removing each and every threat. He rather reminds us that we can face all such threats by trusting in his enabling and sustaining power.

If we do this, we discover that being afraid need not distort reality but remind us of a greater underlying reality. Our fears can drive us not into panic or foolishness but into a deeper realisation of God’s faithfulness. God commands us not to fear not because there is nothing to be afraid of, but because he is greater than whatever lies behind that fear.

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Blessings

David