Creating Fear: How to Escape Our Self-Made Trap of Fear

I’m giving away a print copy of my women’s fiction romance, This Dance, to one of you! Leave a comment below to enter the giveaway!

I peered into the darkness before me, my gaze latching on to a patch of darkness behind a tree ahead. The blackness seemed to follow the irregular shape of a form—the outline of the creature I feared I’d meet.

I was alone on the path, a youth walking through the woods from the camp’s main buildings to my family’s cabin. The soft crunch of my shoes on the rocks and dirt was the only sound the broke the stillness of night.

I kept my attention on that darkness by the large tree trunk as I willed my feet to move forward. My pulse started to pound in my ears.

It moved.

My heart jumped, sure before my mind that a bear lurked behind the tree and now moved out to attack.

But in another split second, my vision finally saw the movement for what it was—gentle swaying of leaves that I’d been too far away to make out in the darkness.

As I moved closer still, the light from an overhead lamp ahead illuminated the harmless foliage that surrounded the tree, just like all the other trees the bordered both sides of the path.

Despite escaping unscathed from the near-death experience of my imagination, I stayed spooked for the rest of the (thankfully) short walk to the cabin and kept thinking I saw more bears lurking in more patches of darkness.

That was the most frightening walk of my young life. And the terror of it was all self-created.

It’s amusing to look back on that experience now, shaking my head at the results of my wildly uncontrolled imagination.

But I don’t see the amusement when I look back on last night, when I feared one of my dogs was choking and my other dog would damage his irritated eye. Or a few days before, when I worried I wouldn’t come up with a topic for a class I needed to present. Or when I momentarily feared a virus might kill my loved ones, or when I allowed anxiety over a tough decision to strangle my days.

Yet, in each of these cases, and in all situations when we’re afraid, we’re doing exactly what I did as a youngster who imagined I saw bears.

We’re creating fear.

Psalm 53 describes the state of mankind, all of us included, who do not on our own seek God. We’ve all fallen away and cannot do good. Nor do we want to do good.

In my natural state as a sinner, I am a “fool” who says, “There is no God” (v. 1), and I “do not call upon God” (v. 4). The result is, well, scary:

There they are, in great terror,

    where there is no terror!

– Psalm 53:5

We like to excuse our fears by saying certain things are innately frightening. But I think this passage (and the rest of Scripture) presents a truth that exposes our excuse for a lie.

Yes, for the unbeliever, there are things they should be afraid of—God’s wrath and justice being first and foremost. But for those of us who belong to Christ in repentance and faith, through the gift of His grace, there is no such thing as reasonable fear or situations that must be frightening.

The reality Scripture shows us is that situations are only frightening when we forget God is with us—when we stop believing in Him and don’t call on Him for help.

God’s Word is full of reminders and reasons to call upon God. And it’s full of promises for what happens when we do so.

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” – Romans 10:13

This passage in Romans promises salvation from eternal punishment and separation from God—the things we should really fear most—if we call upon the Lord.

King David testifies to God’s faithfulness to physically save those who call on Him:

I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies. – 2 Samuel 22:4

David also shares the guarantee of response when we call upon the Lord to hear the torments of our hearts and seek the comfort of His love:

I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God;

    incline your ear to me; hear my words.

Wondrously show your steadfast love…

– Psalm 17:6-7a

As I made my journey in fear through the dark forest that night at camp, I needed the benefit of a better light. I needed the illumination to dispel the darkness and show me the truth. If I’d remembered my flashlight, it would’ve helped. But even then, the small beam might’ve failed to chase away every shred of shadow and doubt that prompted my fear.

What we have when we’re faced with anything that tempts us to fear is the brightest Light imaginable. We have God, the Creator of all light—Jesus Who is the Light of the World—with us and in us through the Holy Spirit.

The next time we’re faced with something that frightens us—even if it takes the form of worry or stress—let’s not succumb to the bondage of fear like unbelievers and manufacture terror where there is no terror.

Let’s instead call upon the Lord to shine His Light on the situation and into our souls.

When He does, every dark crevice of fear will be banished and every lie exposed with the blazing truth that there is nothing to fear, because there is a God, and He is here.

Do you forget to call on God in times when you’re worried and afraid? Have you called on Him and seen Him help you? Please share!

Photos by Gabriel, Alekon pictures, Dmitry Ratushny, and Ben White on Unsplash. Original graphics designed by Jerusha Agen.

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I’m giving away a signed copy of This Dance to one of you! Nye Sanders, the heroine of this novel, is trapped in a self-made prison of fear because she’s not calling on God. To enter the drawing for a free chance to read this women’s fiction romance, simply leave a comment below! (Giveaway ends March 9, 2020; Winner must have continental U. S. mailing address.)

THIS DANCE

No love, no pain. No God, no games.

A tragedy three years ago destroyed Nye’s rise to the top of the dancing world as an upcoming tango star, and in the process destroyed her reason for living. She survived the pain and built a new life resembling nothing like the one she left behind, determined never to hurt again.

Nye’s emotional walls hold up perfectly until she meets a handsome lawyer and an elderly landowner. They seem harmless, but one awakens feelings she doesn’t want and the other makes her face the God she can’t forgive. Will these two men help Nye dance again?