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Fear Of Man

             Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe. (Proverbs 29:25)

Rabbit trail of the day:  does “fear of man” refer to man’s fears in general or specifically to man’s fear of man? Given the context, I’m inclined to think it’s the latter, but I don’t know that it really changes the overall idea. But, back to the real issue.

I grew up in a real home, that include real people with their own real problems. I’m not going to say it was dysfunctional because the level of dysfunction was low. There are other families that are far worse off. But my family wasn’t perfect and there were some expectations that were hard (they may have been mine alone.) When I went to school and later to work, I faced other difficult people. Narcissism has always existed. It’s just in vogue right now.)

But while my experience is minor in compared to what others face, I have seen the truth of the first part of the verse. In fact, I’ll take it a step further. Whatever you fear controls you. For decades, I was controlled by a fear of spiders. In fact, it got in the way of my gardening. Over the last couple of years, by God’s grace, that fear has gone away.

 Of course, it’s reasonable to fear the guy who is coming at you with a knife. That sort of snare only lasts as long as the real danger lasts. But when the fear is an ongoing sense that unless I please this person my life will be ruined, it is most assuredly a snare. In other words, there is a sort of battle or competition going on when I feel fear of people. If I win, I lose. If they win, I lose.

Some would say that fear of the Lord is the same, but that’s not what I’ve found. When I fear the Lord, even if it feels like losing at the time, ultimately, I win. And the reality is that  God doesn’t play the competitive game. He gets no thrill out of it. His joy doesn’t come from squashing others. It’s in fearing Him that we can step out of the game and the snare.

 

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