How to Fight Unholy Fear
What is Unholy Fear?
The opposite of “Holy Fear” is unholy fear, or ungodly fear. That gut-heavy feeling of outright disobedience to God, having messed up or stepped out of line. Adam and Eve knew how this felt when God confronted them over their sin. Their stomachs had to have been knotted in pain as God delivered the sentences. Banishment, work for everything they needed to survive, pain during childbirth, and physical death.
The worst though, had to be spiritual death – separation from God. No more walks with Him in the lush coolness. No more direct parental love and guidance. Adam and Eve’s sin also left mankind with a warped view of God. Their attempted cover-up—fig leaves—failed but we all create “cover-ups.” Per the late theologian Tim Keller, when our efforts don’t work, many conclude “God hates me” so “I will just hate Him back!”
The battlefield for fear is in our minds. God does not give us spirits of fear. The demons, Satan and his fallen angels, are afraid though.
King David first tried a cover-up. When his adultery produced a child, and Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah the Hittite, was off to war and couldn’t be the father, David’s sin cornered him. He forced Uriah to return and told him to go home. David even sent dinner along.
Loyal Uriah refused though, and stayed with other soldiers at the palace door. The next day, David even got Uriah drunk. He still didn’t go home! The king saw no way out but to order Uriah, who likely counted it an honor, to be placed in the worst fighting at the front line, where he died.
David might have fooled the palace, but not God. Nor the prophet Nathan, who confronted David with a parable, and allowed the errant king to pronounce sentence on his own guilt. The king could have hardened his heart and gone on his way, but he didn’t. Devastated, he fell on his knees before God, confessed his sin, and repented. But God did require the life of their child.
There is no atonement nor forgiveness of sin without the shedding of blood.
God sacrificed animals to make clothes for Adam and Eve. The final lyric to William T. Sleeper’s 1887 hymn, a song often used for an altar call in my church, “Jesus, I Come,” starts with, “Out of the fear and dread of the tomb.”
Jesus faced this fear as He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane that His death (the cup) would pass from Him. He voluntarily went to the Cross as the ultimate sacrifice for our sin and covered us with His blood, just like the Israelites protected their houses from the Angel of Death on Passover by smearing sacrificial blood above their doors.
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
--Romans 8:1 (NIV)
Questions for Reflection:
How can we combat unholy fear?
- Obeying God is the simplest. But we all know how our efforts often end up on the trash heap of good intentions.
- Study Scripture – take your thoughts captive. Find positive scriptures and declare them over your life.
- Resist the spirits of fear as seen in James 4:7. They’re true cowards and will flee.
- Pray your specific fears whatever they are.
- Seek joy. Life always looks worse at night, when we're tired and exhausted. Joy truly does come in the morning. Remember: "Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” -- Nehemiah 8:10 (NIV)
