Fear as a Gift

Puritan John Flavel says that the fear of God is a supernatural gift.   Not all people have it.  Flavel goes on to describe three uses of the fear of God for our good:
1.  To excite us to our duty.  In Jeremiah, God says of Israel :I will put my fear into them "and they shall not depart from me."  To be kept by God is no small thing.
2.  To keep us from sin and the resulting grief and guilt.   Joseph was in prison but free of conscience.   The fear of God had given him feet to flee the sensual grasp of Potiphar's wife.
3.  To prompt us to "make timely provisions for future distresses, that...they may not come by way of surprise upon us."  When God closed the door of the ark, fear came but too late for the scorners.  

Do you see why I am addicted to the Puritans?  Next post I will summarize Flavel's causes of sinful fear.  If you find this helpful, leave a short comment telling me so.  May your fear -- for we all do and shall fear -- be the supernatural fear of God that he gifts his children.

Where did the grant money come from?

Our local sun current wrote the following:
"Many local taxpayers don't like the thought of using their hard-earned money to clean up other people's mess.
Thanks to a recent infusion of grant money, cleaning up potentially contaminated property sites in order to enhance their redevelopment potential, this won't be be the case."

Supernatural Fear

"To fear man is natural, but to fear God is wholly supernatural."

John Flavel

Prayer for my children and theirs....

"I ask, Father, for my children and theirs and theirs that they say with the psalmist,

'To the hills I lift mine eyes.

 Whence shall help for me arise?  

From the Lord will come my aid,

He the heavens and earth has made.'

If you made all by a word, you can do all your holy will.  

I pray against despair, that worldly wisdom, that sinful independence, that unbelief that keeps our eyes turned down.

And grant my children to say with the psalmist 'My soul is athirst for you' fully sensible that your presence is the prize.

In Jesus Name,

Amen"

Sinning 0ut of Fear

Puritan John Flavel says that some of the sinfulness of fear is its tempting men to sin.  There is something to search our hearts about -- what do I fear more than God?

 Reading the Global Prayer Digest (www.globalprayerdigest.org ) we discovered the Dong people of China.   About 600 years ago the founding fathers of the Zhanli village agreed to limit each family to one daughter and one son.   To accomplish this they used herbs, and that failing, infanticide. This was done because of FEAR -- fear that there would not be enough land if too many children were born.

The Dong people have no missionaries, no Bible and no Christian broadcasting.   Who will introduce them to the good shepherd who effortlessly broke five loaves and two fish to feed five thousand men?  Having a holy awe of God will chase out the fear of want.

"I only know I must be brave...or die a coward in my grave."

In the movie High Noon, Tex Ritter sings "Do not forsake me, Oh My Darling."  Played by Gary Cooper, the hero is resolved not to run from criminals who are coming on the noon train to take over the town.  There are problems with the movie, such as Kane doing right not because God calls us to stand for justice but from some unexplainable inner sense (we can be good without God), and yet I love his fear of dying a coward.  Though his new wife urges him to skip town, he refuses -- at the risk of his life.  Thus his song to her:


Do not forsake me, oh my darling 
On this our wedding day 
Do not forsake me, oh my darling 
Wait, wait along 
I do not know what fate awaits me 
I only know I must be brave 
For I must face a man who hates me 
Or die a coward, a craven coward 
Or die a coward in my grave 

Oh, to be torn twixt love and duty 
Supposin' I love my fair haired beauty 
Look at that big hand movin' round 
Nearin' high noon 
He made a vow while in state prison 
Said it would be my life or hisn' 
I'm not afraid to die but oh 
What will I do if you leave me? 

Do not forsake me, oh my darling 
You make that promise as a bride 
Do not forsake me, oh my darling 
Although you're grievin', don't think of leavin' 
Not while I need you by my side 

Wait along, wait along 
Wait along, wait along


May God raise up an army of Christian men who hear God's call to fight for justice--exposing evil and defending the helpless--and deeply fear dying a craven coward in their grave.  


In the end Kane's new wife joins him in the fight.  May God raise up an army of women who will stand by their fearless fathers and husbands and cheer them on whatever the cost.,

The Power of Fear

God has been convicting me lately of a fear that is paralyzing and not pleasing to Him. I was repenting of it when I randomly (like the arrow that pierced Ahab's armor) picked up Volume III of the works of Puritan John Flavel. What should I find but "A Practical Treatise of Fear."

The Puritans are not simplistic. Flavel does not say "Do not fear" as we might expect. No, he takes us to Isaiah 8 where God tells his quaking people (who await the king of Assyria's merciless onslaught) : "Sanctify the Lord of Hosts himself and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he shall be for a sanctuary." In other words, he gives a greater fear to chase out the lesser.

In the words of Flavel: "If a man do really look to God in a day of trouble and fear as to the Lord of hosts, i.e. one that governs all the creatures, and all their actions; at whose beck and command all the armies of heaven and earth are, and then can rely upon the care and love of this God, as a child in danger of trouble reposes on, and commits himself with greater confidence to the care and protection of his father: O what peace, what rest, what rest, must necessarily follow upon this!"

There is a sinful fear that has the power to paralyze but there is a greater fear that frees us. God used Flavel to quiet my soul.

Do you see now why I love the Puritans? Even a couple of paragraphs is more satisfying than a little pinch of chewing tobacco tucked into the cheek of an old sailor.