What happens?

Family,

Fear cripples us. Doesn't it? Fear makes us act irrationally. Fear makes us lock our car doors when we drive in certain neighborhoods. Fear makes us lash out at people who look different, act different, and think different. Fear has many shapes and sizes, doesn't it? We can be afraid of the other in our midst. It shows its face when someone of a different race or creed enters our community, and we begin to wonder what will happen. But it's not the only fear that shows up in our lives.

We can fear death. And this one, for most of western culture, seems to be the most relevant. Perhaps at the root of all other fears, is this almost innate fear of death. We lock our doors, because we dont want someone to hurt us. We dont let our kids go to certain parts of Dayton, because we dont want them to get hurt. We dont travel to certain parts of the world, because we fear it could cause us harm. Fear crippples us.

And there are other fears as well. Can you name some? Add your own list of fears to the bottom of this blog, hopefully it will create a conversation, a dialogue about how fear does us no good, but it only keeps us from living. More than that, when it comes to faith matters, fear infringes upon our ability to live out what God created us. This, my friends, can be the most damaging truth about fear. Fear interferes with God and God's plan for us.

Abraham lived in fear. Sure, as Genesis teaches, Abe was faithful. He did a lot of great things, in God's Name and to the glory of God, but Abe also felt the real pain of fear. Fear pushed Abe to tell Sarah to lie about their relationship to Pharoah, inviting the king of Egypt to take Sarah as his bride, violating God's covenant. God rescued Sarah and Abe from that dysfunction, and it would be nice if we read about how that proved God's ability to keep his word to Abe. But Abe, like you and I, like all of us, like each and every person who has ever walked this earth or breathed earth's air, was human.

He, once again, found himself in a foreign land, because he still didnt have a home, and he feared what would happen to him and Sarah if they didn't lie. Once again Sarah told her usual half-truth, and in response to this, the king of Gerar takes Sarah into his household to be his wife. But this time, God quickly intervenes, directly addressing Abimelech in a dream. Letting Abimelech know what would happen if he continued to keep Sarah in his household. Death would be his future. Not only his own death, but Abimelech would lose his entire kingdom.

Abimelech pleads for understanding. Abe lied to me, God. I didn't know she was his wife. Abimelech screams for justice, for some sense of right to come from this. He was innocent, right? And God knows it. God makes it clear that this is why God visited in Abimelech's dream, to stop Abimelech from corrupting Sarah. Abimelech obeys. But this time there is a twist.

When Pharoah confronts Abe, Pharoah kicks Abe and Sarah out of Egypt. He blesses them with an increase in livestock and servants, but he exiles them too. He sends them back to the dessert, the dried earth that they had fled for hopes of greener pastures. But Abimelech doesn't do that. Instead, per God's orders, he asks Abe to pray for him, and he grants Abe land in Abimelech's kingdom. Abe is finally going to have a final resting stop, if he wants. Abe prays over Abimelech, and all is back in order.

But again, here is irony. The women of Gerar were barren, because of Sarah's place in Abimelech's household, but after Abe's prayer, the women could conceive. Here's the irony. Sarah was still barren. Granted not for long, but she still had no child. The promised heir still absent. The women of this kingdom were going to have children, but Sarah still didn't know whe she would get to laugh. God's promises are assured, but when God's timing doesn't mesh with ours, which is often the case, fear becomes our natural crutch.

But what we dont understand is that fear cripples. Fear interferes. Fear limits. Fear robs. And fear keeps us from feeling the fullness of God's blessing in our lives. But what else is there when we face danger, difficult seasons, unfulfilled promises, or even death? What else can we feel, but fear? Sure there are stories of saints who stood firm, until the end, but most of us aren't superheroes. We face the realities of this life, with all the hardships and pain, and i sense it is natural we feel fear. Fear is natural. It robs us of life. But it is natural.

I sense it isn't that fear is wrong, but living an entire life in fear saddens God. Why? Because there is no hope, no faith, no sense of anything stopping the darkness, and God didn't create us to live in darkness. He created us to live in light, in hope, and in truth. We will have moments of fear, Abe did, but it's how we respond to those moments of fear that truly define us. Abe acted poorly, but at other times Abe moved mountains. The beautiful thing of God, and i hope for us eventually, is that we celebrate those mountains, while letting the pockets of fear to disappear like the changing seasons.

It is time, folks, for us to live in faith. We, like Abe, have been wandering around for a long time, trying to discern where our "home" would be. We suffer from an identity crisis, but it is time for us to do the hard, faith-filled work of listening to God and trusting in God. It is time for us to take up our crosses, to deny ourselves, and to know that by letting go of the things of this world, God will give us a new creation, and a new earth to grab a hold of. Greater than that, as Abe and Sarah will soon discover, when God calls, and we respond, God provides. And yes, God also opens our eyes to experience what a full life, in God, truly feels like. For Abe and Sarah it will come quickly in the birth of the one who creates laughter: Isaac.

For you and me, it will be how we find our identity in the midst of this journey. I sense we are in a desert, as a body, but a desert is only temporary, and it can be full of incredible revelation, if we trust God is waiting on the other side. I believe He is. Do you? If so, join me in living new, full lives of faith, leaving fear at the footstool of the evil one. Amen.


Shalom,
jerry