Lord, even when your path takes me through the valley of deepest darkness, fear will never conquer me, for you already have! You remain close to me and lead me through it all the way.
Ps 23:4a (Passion Translation)
Fears and Valleys – Fear Part 3
In the recently lovingly finished and released “Children of Hurin” JRR Tolkien wrote, “A man that flies from his fear may find that he has only taken a short cut to meet it.”
Just let that sink in for a moment.
Fear is not to be fought, it is not to be ignored, and it is not to be underestimated.
It is to be faced.
When you dodge your fears, they have this uncanny ability to find you again; each time becoming bigger and scarier and more intimidating than the last time.
Fear of rejection, heartbreak, uncertainty, finance, failure, loneliness, illness, death, significance, loss, violence, safety, equality… so much fear threatens our peace. And if we made fear a way of life, we would be on the run forever. Heart and soul fugitives.
When David wrote Psalm 23, he knew what is was to be an actual fugitive. But he also knew that the God, who lead him to face Goliath, to face Saul, and the many challenges and hardships he faced, also lead him to face his fears. In the first three verses of Psalm 23, David writes poetically about how God led him to green pastures, beside quiet waters and through righteous paths. There is no reason to think that in verse 4 when he finds himself in the valley of deep darkness, that God didn’t lead him here too. Fear and darkness fill this world almost to the brim. We cannot escape them. The thing to focus on in this verse is that as David is led to this place, he is also led through, and he is not alone.
And this valley needs to be crossed. We can live our lives at the mouth of the valley of deep darkness, declaring, fighting, yelling, or ignoring and turning our back on our fears… we could go back to the green pastures and the quiet waters… but if we do not step foot into that valley and travel through it, facing our fears, we will never get to the mountain, and we will never have the opportunity to climb the heights of our potential and purpose.
Nothing good comes from being so afraid of fear that you crumble before it, or using all your energy to fight it and combat and try and swat it away, or in turning around and fleeing it, ignoring its very existence. You will only end up facing it again and again and again.
Courage is what happens when we still our mind and heart and let the incomprehensible peace of God cause us to open our eyes and stare fear in the face.
Take a good look at it. Strip back all its airs and graces, pomp and ceremony, and see it for what it really is… Let the stench of it and the smoke that rises with its arrival, settle and diminish. See if you can recognise it… is its warning beneficial? Will it help you or hinder you?
Fear robs you of presence. The presence of heart and mind when on the edge of life. But by taking the moment to stand before fear and size it up, seeing it for what it is, you’ll always uncover the presence of something else. Someone else.
The Divine.
When face to face with fear, he is the whisper in your heart, the voice on the wind, the shout from the heavens that says,
“Fear not, for I am with you.”
Go to Part 4 – Storm Fear
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