day 105: Fear of 'man'

Proverbs 29:25

The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.

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I wish I could take credit for this one today, but I can't lol.  The Lord always leads me to the verses to type about-- and this verse (and part of the explanation) comes from our Sunday School lesson for today.  I teach the adult class and our book had some interesting points this week.  Here is one that kinda made me tear up a bit....

"When we are more concerned about how people perceive us than we care about how God views us, we are in a very unsafe place."--Jarl K Waggoner

Part of our lesson is about being afraid of man....

No, of course that doesn't mean actual 'man' like men-- because truth be told there are some pretty scary women out there too.  The 'men' here is anyone on Earth-- any human who might make us quake in our boots with anxiety and fear.

Could be your boss...

Could be politicians....

Could be anyone in charge (maybe someone calling you about a loan collection or something like that)...

Could be a family member actually (or a spouse)..

Lots of times, we have this fear come over us when we are faced with dealing with people who are 'in charge' or 'in authority'. 

I have never ever EVER had any bad dealings with my boss in the 5 years he's been my boss.  EVER.  He is a really good man. Has always had my back for everything... BUT when I see him, I do get nervous for a bit thinking, "Ok, did I do something wrong?" It has gotten to the point when his first words to me usually are, "Now, you aren't in trouble and I'm not mad at you." lol... bless him.

And a lot of us teachers have admited to our principal (One of the nicest men ever) about how nerve-racking it is when he calls us to come to office-- even when we know we haven't do something wrong lol. It is just the 'fear' of the unknown.  The 'what ifs'... especially in this time when nothing really seems certain.

The point is that when we have fear of people it can lead to anxiety (the flight in the fight or flight response is hard to control sometimes...), depression, or just never feeling peace.

The only way to EVER have true peace is to trust God completely--- it is the only way to ever feel safe.

It is so much easier said than done.

I had a mole removed over summer (lovingly named Spud).  I told people I wasn't nervous.  That I was trusting God for it to be ok and not cancer.  Truthfully, I was scared to death.  And I know it was silly since skin cancer is so easy to treat (especially if its not a melanoma), but still-- I didn't feel safe. 

Now, 3 months later, Spud is only a crater and never was cancer (yay!). 

It is so hard to put the 'human' side away and trust God completely because there is usually this little nagging gnat buzzing in your ear about how "Is He REALLY in control?  Do you REALLY want to put your trust in Him?  Look at all the bad things that have happened... He caused that you know.."

GURG!

Sometimes we just have to squash the gnat and look back to God.  It doesn't really matter what we want to because, in the end, its HIS will anyway.  We need to trust God that everything will be ok and not fear man because God is so much bigger than any man ever could dream of being.

God Bless You!

Kelly