I was at a women's event at my church. The guest speaker was Christian author Trillia J. Newbell (look her up on Amazon. I'll put her website at the bottom of this blog).
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| Trillia Newbell |
I completely related to what she was saying. I could easily imagine her nervousness all day, waiting to talk to the boss. I've been in similar situations, really nervous. Last week, I was nervous about a dental visit, and I really let it get to me.
Trillia concluded her story. "...and the boss asked me if he could borrow a book he had seen me reading earlier." Everyone laughed at how benign the boss' request ended up being, and I related to the little message of things are usually a lot smaller than we make them. But her challenge to us went even deeper, and more convicting. She relayed that she jokingly told the boss, "Do you know what you put me through today?" and everyone chuckled, but then, more seriously, she pointed out that she had done it to herself, and she had made a god out of her boss by obsessing about what he would say, and what she would say to him, and how she would respond, and what she might have to do as a result of what he said or did. She was giving this man power over her day, and over her life. I did the same with my dental appointment (which, but the way, went well--no cavities). How many times do I let other people become a god to me, rather than leaning into the true God, the one who really has power over my life?
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| My extra clean smile, just after my dental appointment last week. |
Having this much concern over the people in our lives is what the Bible calls the fear of man. Proverbs 29:25 says, The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe. This doesn't say every person wants to lay a snare for you, but it does say fearing man over God is the snare. That is so true. A verse that has always encouraged me about this subject is Psalm 118:8, It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. Even the best people let us down, because they are imperfect. They are not all-powerful like God.
One of the reasons I was so afraid of seeing the dentist was because I feel very vulnerable to dentists. I do not have a degree in dental hygiene. I do not know how to read an X-ray. They can tell me anything about my teeth, and I pretty much have no choice but to take their word for it (and pay whatever bill they throw at me for the damage). I had a dentist who wasn't very honest when I was a teenager. I have a lot of fear of dentists having power over me. And yet I now see I made the dentist a god--a god I ran from for a long time (this recent dental visit was my first in the 21st century). I have taken very good care of my teeth for years, and didn't have any cavities. I worried all these years for nothing--literally nothing! And, I feared the dentist more than the Lord. God is the one who goes with us. This example with the dentist, or Trillia's example with her boss, are almost humorous. But what about when the stakes are raised a little?
There are two ways of fearing man. Being afraid of what people can do to us to the exclusion of trusting in the Lord, and there is finding hope in a person instead of God. Both are bad, and I think it can be easy for us to fall into them. Let's examine both.
First, let's look at that fear of people harming us. Some people live in nations of despotic leaders, and everything they do is a risk. I think of some of the believers in Communist countries Brother Andrew wrote about in his book God's Smuggler. They had to be so careful. That book describes different degrees of concern the people had. Some Soviet-bloc Christians were great risk-takers, while others were very circumspect. Brother Andrew himself had some close calls with government agents. It might have been easy for them to fear these godless leaders who had the authority to imprison and even execute them. Yet even in those situations, Matthew 10:28 says, And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Also, Jesus, speaking to Pontius Pilate, pointed out about humans in power: You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above... (John 19:11). Human leaders only have the power God gives them. God is really in control. His purposes are served through human leaders, and He will one day deal with all evil. God will give every believer the grace to face what he or she must in this life. He did that for Corrie ten Boom when she spent a year in a concentration camp for helping Jews escape Nazi-dominated Holland.
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| God's Smuggler, one of my favorite books. Order here. |
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| Corrie ten Boom's book The Hiding Place, another amazing book. Order here. |
I would venture to guess most of us reading this live in nations with relative freedom. Do we need those reminders too? It is true that we don't have apparent risks...or do we? A September 2 article in the Washington Post reports that a nurse practitioner named Paige Casey was fired from CVS's Minute Clinic for refusing to prescribe abortion-causing drugs. Casey had originally told her employer that it went against her faith, and that was accepted, but their policy changed earlier this year, and Casey was told her faith would no longer be accommodated. When she was still unwilling to prescribe these drugs, she was let go. A lawsuit has been filed against CVS by Alliance Defending Freedom, and they are representing Paige Casey. I will put the link to this article at the bottom of this post.
Page Casey's case is just one example. During the height of the pandemic, churches in some areas were threatened and penalized for continuing to meet (in some US states, and even more so in Canada). I personally saw this as persecution against Christians. The way I see it, the pandemic was used as an excuse to go around our first amendment rights (and don't get me started on everything else I believe the pandemic was designed to do...that's for another time and place). How many of us Americans have been trusting the Bill of Rights for our protection instead of God? If you've done that, this experience in 2020 hopefully cured us of that.
It might seem like it's gotten bad in very recent history, but true followers of Christ have always gone against the grain, and faced persecution. Even in the midst of religious freedom, and in times of a more Christian culture, those who really loved the Lord with all their hearts were the odd ones out. Jesus said it would be that way. Sarah Jane Foster is a case in point. She was a young missionary from Maine in the late 1860's. She was a teacher to the Freedmen in the South after the Civil War. As Christians today, we might look back at the 19th century as a time of Christian perfection--but it surely was not! Sarah Jane loved the Lord, and loved other people. She not only taught her students reading and writing, but also about the Gospel of Christ. She saw many in the community receive Christ as Savior. She built loving friendships with the Freedmen, and appears to have had some romantic feelings toward one of them. Suddenly, she wasn't a do-gooder anymore. She was treating people the way Jesus would, as equals. And the higher-ups of her sending organization didn't like it. They were fine with her doing good deeds toward those they deemed as a little bit inferior and needed a little boost. They were fine with her teaching reading and writing. For Sarah Jane Foster, that wasn't enough. The love of Christ was compelling her to go beyond social norms--just as it does for us today. Sarah was penalized by being moved to another post, shortly before she died at age 29 of yellow fever. Her diary and letters were put together into book form in 1990 (which I will give the link to at the bottom).
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| Sarah Jane Foster, 1839-1868 |
I have shared some of my own story in my writing, and some of you have done the same. Some of us have experienced "going against the grain" for the Lord, in small and large ways. This happens to Christians in every nation, in every community. We ruffle the feathers of those who don't buy it. Sometimes, fellow Christians (or those claiming to be fellow Christians--we'll let God sort that out) are the worst. The implications are offensive to them. If we are right, they are wrong, and they don't want to face that. So what do we do? Fear the loss of job, loss of favor, fines we may receive, and other consequences that might come? It is only natural to be afraid. I imagine Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego at least felt fear (we aren't told that, but they were human too). But we are commanded to truly fear (revere) only God. We are also given promises: ...in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength... (Isiah 30:15). We are to be like the believers in Hebrews 11, who confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. (Verse 13). Everything in our lives is under His control, including the day we die. And when we do, we run right into His arms, reunited with all Christians who ever came before us.
I was seventeen when the Columbine High School shooting took place in Colorado. I was the same age as many of those who were killed. Two girls at that time were hailed as Christian martyrs: Rachel Scott and Cassie Bernall. From all accounts, Rachel (the first student to die that day) was asked if she believed in God, and she replied, "You know I do," and was killed for her response. Cassie's story is a little less definite, because she was shot in the school library, and there was a lot of confusion. Another student in the library, Valeen Schnurr was asked if she believed in God, and said yes. She was shot (but survived), and some confused her voice with Cassie's. Some thought maybe there were two similar exchanges, one with Cassie and one with Valeen, but by most accounts now, it is believed that the exchange attributed to Cassie was actually Valeen (but Cassie was a Christian, even if not a martyr). At any rate, students made a stand for the Lord that day, and some lost their lives for it. I remember asking my dad, "Why would God let this happen?" I was very shaken up, since these kids were my age. Rachel Scott had been planning a mission trip that summer, just as I was. I related to them. My dad replied by reminding me of Psalm 116:15, which states: Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. The believers who died that day ran right into the arms of their Savior, which we all will one day. If God's got that covered, can't we trust Him in this life? Don't fear those who wish you harm. God is bigger.
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| Rachel Scott, Columbine High School martyr, 1981-1999 |
What about the other side of fearing men over God? What about when we let our security rest in someone or something else more than God? I alluded to the idea earlier of trusting the Bill of Rights instead of God. Many have put their hope in trusted leaders. There have been many wonderful leaders, but none of them deserve our faith and allegiance over God. One US President in my lifetime said in his State of the Union address one year to put our religion aside and just put being fellow Americans as the top priority. Interestingly, this man did not put his divisive ideologies aside in order to have unity with others, so it was hypocritical of him to ask that of us--but even if he were entirely sincere in saying it, he would be wrong. Our faith in God must come before our allegiance to anyone or anything else. Luke 10:27 reminds us we are to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind... It is okay to trust people, leaders, and established order to a point. It just isn't where our security should rest.
So the next time your boss asks to talk to you later, or you have an upcoming dental appointment, or the government wants to close down churches in the name of public safety, or your job is threatened, or someone has a loaded gun pointed at you, fear the Lord and let Him comfort you with this passage: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7)
Trillia Newball's website: https://www.trillianewbell.com/
Washington Post article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/01/cvs-nurse-fired-abortion-pills/
Sarah Jane Foster's book: https://www.amazon.com/Sarah-Jane-Foster-Teacher-Freedmen/dp/0813913055
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