Have you ever thought about or paid attention to the affects of fearing something? Typically we try stay away from things that we fear. For me personally, my healthy and responsible fear of snakes keeps me alert or away from high brush or piles of wood that could create a den brood serpents.

I believe there is a reason that Satan is depicted as a snake in Genesis, which inclines me to think that snakes serve no real person on earth but to torment humans. This is why I allowed or made wife deal with the snake that made it into our apartment. Never mind the fact that it was as long as pencil, a snake is a snake and to me they might as well all have venom. So what about our fear of the Lord, does it cause you to draw close to Him or keep a far enough distance?

In Proverbs chapter one, there is a statements from the Lord that would alarm us of our level of our fear of the Lord, and it is for sure not in a way that we would want.

In Proverbs 1:24-32 it says that He will laugh at your calamity, and we may seek him diligently, but will not find Him. This scenario is defiantly a recipe for fear, by being in an impossible position and receiving no help from the Almighty God.

Obviously there’s a little more to the story than just not receiving help from God, but the verses on either side of this passage give us hope and direction to keep us fearful of a life without God. Proverbs 1:23 says that He will pour his Spirit out on those who turn at His reproof, and Proverbs 1:33 says that whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.

Whatever it is that makes you anxious or dreadful, I’m willing to bet you have not been patient with God or dealt with it through His word to be able to experience peace. So you just keep running and changing your focus to suppress the truth, rather than discerning if your fear is keeping you away from God or drawing you closer to Him. Don’t let the earthly logic of distances between you and what you fear to be the safe bet, because that bet never pays off in the end. Pray that God would give you wisdom and strength to shed off what is keeping you away from Him.