Choose the Right Fear
Fear has several effects. It can save your life. It can paralyze you. It can set you free.
Isaiah confronted Ahaz, King of Judah, about his fear of neighboring nations that caused him to make a deal with the brutal empire of Assyria for protection. “Trust in the LORD who made a promise of real eternal protection long ago to David and Israel.” Trust, don’t fear the wrong things.
Ahaz chose fear, and as Isaiah predicted, Judah was devastated.
The devastation was from Assyria. But it was also caused by Ahaz’s stupid and faithless choices. Yet ultimately it came from the LORD, because God and not human empire rules the world.
Lesson: We should fear the LORD so that we do not become victim of our own bad choices when we fear counterfeit or penultimate threats.
But what are those counterfeit or lesser threats?
They are usually manufactured. That is the foundational tactic of every person who wants us to believe God has died and left them in charge.
Donald Trump has gone all out trying to convince us God has left him (and Elon) in charge. And to do this he has worked overtime to manufacture enemies for us. That is his business plan. That is the aim of all of his made for TV moments.
“Our enemies are immigrants who are criminals who have come to poison our blood and who eat our puppies.”
“Our enemies are the people who try to make us woke and teach us about diversity, equity and inclusion.”
“Our enemies are government workers who try to regulate us toward a better society.”
“Our enemies are people who talk too much about the environment and climate change.”
And yesterday Trump and Vance put on a show to disgrace Volodymyr Zelenskyy. This man who has stood up Russian bullying now came to the most powerful bully in the world. Though he has heroically defended a vibrant democracy from a genuine enemy—though he has stood up to a bully who wants to swallow him up and expand the police state he has shaped—though he has a thousand times thanked the United States and his European allies for the help his nation has received—Trump shamelessly scolded Zelenskyy as an ungrateful and foolish obstacle to peace.
In short, Trump the pretender to divinity, tried to make an enemy of a true hero. Trump, who never passes a chance to convince us that autocrats like Putin are not enemies but heroes, used this made for TV moment to fool us all about what to fear.
Are we going to fall for it? Are we Christians going to forsake trust in, and fear of, the One True God to follow a man who wants to drive us down a dead-end road of fear that paralyzes, silences, and imprisons us?
Only trust in God can save us. Only following the God who leads with the Cross, will we know our real enemies. Only God can fulfill the promise that Truth will set us free.
Finally, if we go back to Isaiah, we must face the reality that if Donald Trump continues to be enabled to follow the path he is on, and to serve the powers of false fear over fear of the One True God, we are all in for a lot of pain. Maybe years. Maybe generations. Yet God will truly be with us through it all if we gird up our loins, stand firm, and trust.