Faux Real: Fear Or Faith, You Choose.Sýnishorn

Real Fear.

When it comes to fear in our life, beyond the walls of perception and imagination, there is another kind of fear that is difficult to ignore. It’s the undeniable and legitimate fear that acts as a gigantic wall in your life stopping you in your tracks. 

Real fear comes from real circumstances and has a real effect - things like health concerns, financial loss or the fear of discrimination. The kind of fear that presents real intimidation from actual opposition. Whilst we discussed fear in the form of false evidence simply appearing as real, I have to tell you that not every fear is fictitious.

In fact, regardless of whether you're facing faux fear or real fear, all fear draws its power from the same place and finds its strength in what we do not know. 

Fear often exists in the realm of the unknown. It draws its strength from our lack of knowledge and holds us captive to what we cannot control. There are several words we could use to describe this kind of fear: worry, doubt, angst, apprehension and especially anxiety. No matter what name you give it, the effects on us are undisputedly real. 

As you study Scripture, you will begin to notice certain themes that repeat consistently throughout God’s Word. One such theme is the constant elevation of sound over sight.

We see this with Elijah in the Old Testament. The nation had been in drought for three years. Elijah began to pray, but before he could see even one cloud in the sky, the Bible says that he heard the sound of a mighty rainstorm. Sound over sight. 

We see this again with the disciples as they were waiting in the upper room. Acts 2 tells us, they were met with the sound of a mighty rushing wind. After that, what appeared was what looked like tongues of fire. Sound over sight.

Even in creation, we see this manifest. Genesis reveals that the world began with a sound from heaven, as God spoke the world was formed. Sound over sight. 

As Hebrews tells us, faith comes by hearing the uncompromising word of God. When fearful situations present themselves like an intimidating wall consuming your perspective, that is the time to speak God's Word over your circumstance. 

This was certainly the case for Joshua and the people of God. The same space that held fear for the Israelites turned out to be the very same space that gave them the confidence to fight because of the report they had heard. After peering behind the wall and bringing down the enemy's facade, they realized that what had intimidated them was actually intimidated by them. 

Fear is found in the unknown space but so is faith. This is realized by simply elevating the sound of faith over the fear that consumes our vision.