WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF?

Psalm 25:12 Who, then, is the man that FEARS the Lord? He will instruct him in the way CHOSEN FOR HIM.

We all are afraid of something. Yes…that’s true. I have to admit I am afraid of HEIGHTS and SNAKES. However, I am talking here about a fear that comes not from what is visible but rather a fear that is caused by things which we have no full control of. For example, nobody…and I mean not a single soul has THEIR FUTURE in full control. What you are today can change into something else in a split of a second. Within minutes…you can be a full able-bodied person and in another, confined for life into disability. Then going back to my question…what are you afraid of? If you have no full control of your very life…then what makes you afraid?

For men, the greatest fear is the FEAR OF FAILURE. I remember vividly the example in my family home. Both my parents were working class people. I grew up watching them go to work and never thought once that someday it could change. Then when I was 20, my father found out that he was been sent on an early retirement. Of course, that meant that the financial situation at home could change radically. But no, my father didn’t see it that way. For, it was A DEATH SENTENCE! For a couple of weeks, he kept the matter to himself. How could he, at just 50 something be told that he was no longer useful for the company he had served for 21 years?

You see, what he feared the most had actually came to be. HE HAD FAILED. And that meant, according to his future perspective that his children could not complete school let alone go to college and get decent jobs. I vividly remember his words when he finally announced to the family about his retirement.
‘I DON’T KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN. BUT THE SUN HAS GONE DOWN.” Today, I can only laugh at his words. What he didn’t understand then was, when the sun sets for the night, the following morning it rises and renews its course. Its now many years down the line since that day…but I have news: GOD. God opened door after door and our lives didn’t have to change dramatically as my father had feared. And yes, by God’s grace and providence, all my siblings went through paid high school and college.

Looking back, I realized that this is a great lesson for me as a person but also an encouragement for the men out there, especially CHRISTIAN MEN who are afraid of the future. The Lord desires you to relocate your fear. As the Psalmist wrote, A MAN WHO FEARS THE LORD, WILL BE INSTRUCTED INTO THE WAY CHOSEN FOR HIM. And if you are instructed by Him, then you cannot FAIL.

Psalm 25:14 THE LORD CONFIDES IN THOSE WHO FEAR HIM; HE MAKES HIS COVENANT KNOWN TO THEM.