Courage — Part 2
What then shall we fear?
“Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.” Martin Luther King Jr. closing his Letter from the Birmingham Jail
Last week I wrote about overcoming fear, fear that if we are honest exists in us all. While fear of men or evil may drench our cities, the only entity worthy of our complete respect, aka fear, is God. Revelations notes all of us should fear Him. (Rev 15:4). Psalm 19 says “The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever.” It is because we fear Him that we are driven to seek salvation from His just wrath, a wrath we have each fully earned. Fear is what brings us to realize we need a savior.
God is love, and in his perfect love he offers us that Savior. If we accept that savior, we need not fear. Once we are grafted into that love, 1 John 4:18 tells us that there is no fear in love, that perfect love casts out fear. It is that perfect love, and Martin Luther King Jr’s experience in that love that let him also write:
“I have no fear about the outcome of our struggle in Birmingham, even if our motives are at present misunderstood….We will win our freedom because the sacred heritage of our nation and the eternal will of God are embodied in our echoing demands.”
Martin Luther King Jr. earlier in the same letter.
We cannot be bound up in love until we learn the fear of God. But once we learn that fear, we cast it out with perfect love in His salvation. Once we are bound in God’s love, our defense is in his hands. He protects us in mysterious ways, and brings the light when we find ourselves attacked in darkness. Psalm 27:1 sums it up in verse 1 “The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?”
I would not want to be fearless because then I would not know I need a stronger defense than I alone am able to provide — and in that condition I would not have access to a strong defense. It is when God shows up with His strength on our side as our redeemer that we are told from Isaiah 43:1 to Luke 2:10, “Fear Not.”
