Recently I was asked a couple of thought-provoking questions. What do the people around you fear? What do you fear? It was easy to point out the fears of others but a bit too revealing when I thought of my own. Immediately I could picture my grandmother chasing and killing snakes in her garden. She was fearless and would not stand for their invasion. Pretty sure they were not the deadly variety, but from her perspective they were all dangerous Water Moccasins. At least that’s what she told us kids. Mom and I picked up on her hatred of snakes but neither of us were as skilled at their elimination.
It's amazing that so many equate fear to snakes. It must have something to do with the garden of Eden. We have blamed that snake for all our problems since the beginning. Funny thing, Eve wasn’t afraid of the snake. They had a conversation. Grandma would have whopped off its head. Too bad grandma wasn’t in the garden.
Fear was nowhere to be found in the garden, at least in the beginning. Fear arrived after the snake not because of the snake. That conversation with the snaked changed everything and it had nothing to do with fear. Maybe fear really isn’t the problem. Maybe it’s the biproduct.
I haven’t checked but I’ve heard the Bible tells us not to be afraid 365 times. I’m not sure individuals had 365 fears 2000 years ago but in 2021 we could probably name at least that many. Most of what we fear comes from a place outside of us, it’s external. Our current circumstances, or the ones just around the corner. The only fear we experience that is not external is in our own mind and our own thoughts. In the miniseries about John Adams several years ago, John had gone to France and his children were worried about his delayed return. Abigail told her children, “Do not let your thoughts run to fear.” There is a lot of truth in that movie line.
God continually instructs us to “fear not”. He is able, He is enough, He is the answer, He is the antidote to our fears, both external and in our mind.
So, what happened in the garden?
It wasn’t fear.
It was doubt.
Doubt does not dwell in our circumstances or even in our mind.
Doubt dwells on our tongue and lives in our heart.
Fear comes upon us. Doubt comes from within us.
Jesus’s response to doubt? “Only believe.”
In our tumultuous times, I’ve decided not to seek to identify my fears, but to identify my doubts.
Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief.” Mark 9:24
-Korleen Gorham