I flicked the light switch just in time to illuminate a spider, dropping down on a web from the ceiling. I quickly moved to get my dog Alexander out of the way before the large arachnid landed on his back.
Spring had arrived.
Alexander wouldn’t have cared if the spider had dropped on his fur, but I sure would. Readers of the FW Blog will know about my deep-seated issues with spiders. It won’t be a surprise, then, that the awakening of spiders (and other insects) with the arrival of spring is definitely not my favorite time of year.
But it does make me more aware of the condition of my house. I begin to spot all the cobwebs I overlooked during the winter months—now potential hiding or even breeding locations for more nasty critters.
Time for spring cleaning. And I’ve learned from experience that this cleaning must be thorough if I want to root out every spider or (yuck!) nest that will lead to insect invasions later if left unchecked.
This task is not pleasant or easy. For someone with a phobia of spiders, the idea of confronting them and even searching behind nooks and crannies with the intention of finding or chasing them out can be downright terrifying.
But if I want to guard against my house being overrun with spiders and controlled by them, I need to complete this task of cleaning out every last one of their hiding places that I can find.
Once while scanning for hidden spiders and cobwebs, duster and flyswatter in my hands, I realized I need to make this same effort with my fears.
Some powerful fears make themselves too hard to ignore and we’re forced to deal with them. Others, however, lurk in the recesses of our minds, showing themselves only occasionally as a low-level anxiety or worry we can often manage to avoid disturbing.
If those hidden fears are allowed to linger, though, they’ll grow and spread. They’ll be directing and controlling our choices as we work to avoid triggering them. They’ll be controlling us as they multiply and expand, and they’ll eventually burst out of hiding when we’re least prepared to combat them.
Last year, I accidentally neglected for some time to dust a framed painting that hung on my bathroom wall. When I finally did wipe away the dust, I left the room for about a minute. I returned to find, much to my horror, that a giant black spider had appeared on the wall.
How long had that ginormous creature been living behind the painting? How could I not have known it was there all that time?
The fact is that I’m often leery of spiders possibly hiding behind pictures on the walls. Perhaps my fear of that very thing is what kept me from dusting the frame sooner and jostling the spider into emerging from its lair.
I can be just as hesitant to tackle my out-of-sight fears, too. Who knows what I’ll find if I turn on a figurative flashlight, hunt down those fears, and expose them to the light?
But finding those fears and rooting them out is far more important to my life and spiritual health than finding all the spiders in my house. So as we’re gearing up for spring cleaning of our homes, let’s take some time to focus on spring cleaning of the temple of the Lord—ourselves.
What fears have you been avoiding? Which worries have you allowed to fester in the hidden recesses of your heart? What anxieties or phobias are dictating your actions and decisions?
Grab your fear-swatter, the Word of God, and take them on.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.[…]
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
– Psalm 51:7, 10
There’s no better duster to banish our fears—those besetting sins the enemy wants to use to keep us from obeying God with courage and faith—than the Holy Spirit. Like King David in this Psalm, we need to add prayer to our cleaning tools as we set out to purge our fears. We need to ask God to cleanse us from the fears we’ve tolerated or kept hidden too long.
Imagine a heart and mind that are cleansed and free from all fear. Is it possible? Yes.
Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. – 1 Peter 2:16
We need to be diligent in the effort of rooting out, confronting, and defeating our fears so they won’t find in us a safe haven to grow and multiply.
May they instead find us to be a temple so guarded by faith and so occupied by our Savior that there is no room for fear amid the purifying glory of His righteousness.
Do you have fears you’ve been tolerating or hiding in your life? Will you work to clean them out with God’s help? Please share!
