Fear

April 23, 2020

Jews and Christians have for generations taken comfort in the words of the Twenty-third Psalm. I’ve often noted how in the 4th verse when speaking of death, the grammar changes from speaking of God in the third person to speaking directly to him in the second person: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” It’s in hard times that we want a God who isn’t some distant being “out there;” we need a God who is right beside us. 

David speaks with confidence with words we need for today: “I will fear no evil.” That confidence is heightened with the little word, “Yea.” That word is an affirmation, like an “amen” at the end of a prayer. It’s like David is planting a stake in the ground, declaring that even the deepest valley he faced with confidence. In fact, he sees death as only a shadow, which is quite telling. He knows the sun still shines and death is but a shadow which has no real substance and therefore no ability to harm him. So he speaks with confidence, having no fear.

In the Fifty-third Psalm, this theme is amplified. Verse 5 reads, “The wicked are not so; they are in fear where no fear was.” Fear is a great motivator. From time immemorial, tyrants have known they can control people with fear, and have used it effectively to manipulate people. We are seeing this play out in contemporary media. Today it’s COVID; yesterday it was climate change, tomorrow it’s predictions of a resurgence of COVID in the fall. Experts all, it turns out we know very little about this disease, but fear has brought the world to a standstill.

Pundits will say social distancing has slowed the spread of COVID, but it’s just as possible that the disease itself follows a natural pattern, and that our policies have had little or nothing to do with the flattening of the curve. Coincidence is not the same as correlation. It is not lost on me that we tremble at the prospect of death visiting our own selves, while the death of others we embrace in our culture’s acceptance of abortion. 

I have no problem social distancing for the good of others, but I am grateful tonight that my life is in the hands of a loving God who embraced death himself so I would not have to fear it, but instead can embrace the life he offers through faith in Christ.