Fear Not!

The other day I listened to BYU-I former President and newly called Elder Kim Clark's final devotional given at BYU-I.  something he said caught my attention powerfully. Here is a loose quote "The natural man looks forward with the eye of fear and only sees failure and darkness and pain.  Fear does not come upon us slowly.  It springs up quickly and can cloud our vision and perspective.  Fear can cause us to react to our trials with resentment, denial, anger and self pity.  Fear does not go away easily.  It reoccurs relentlessly and it resists our efforts to overcome it."

When he said "Fear does not come upon us slowly.  It springs up quickly... " my first thought was a shout  "Fear is force then!"   And then my mind just kept shouting that.  Fear is a force!  Wow. Satan's plan--to use force to compel us to actions he wants-- in essence, in this missive, to force us how to feel.  I looked up force and here is what I found:  A type of coercion or compulsion.  To make someone do something against their will.  Synonyms:  compel, coerce, make, impel, pressure, push, oppression, harassment, intimidation, threats, arm twisting, bullying tactics.  Those are interesting words to put with Satan's desire to fill us with fear--to bully us into resentment, denial, anger and self pity.

Elder Clark reminded us that Jesus Christ gave us a commandment to 'Fear not'.  (See Genesis 15:1, Deuteronomy 1:21, Joshua 8:1, Judges 6:10, 2 Kings 6:16, Luke 5:10, D&C 6:36, D&C 136:17 to name a few.)

So just the next day I was given an opportunity to try to push back fear.  It was so inconsequential, but in the end, I learned a great deal.

In the morning Tessa was moving quite slowly and I was concerned she was going to make her ride to school have to wait for her (heaven forbid...).  Soon my concern became a bit of a fearful worry.  I recognized the fear that was creeping in and so I got to work on myself. Self talk went something like this:  It is okay!!!  If she made her wait one day, it's going to matter so little.  Tomorrow it wouldn't even be remembered.  If she is so slow, I can take her myself.  Not a worry.  Etc.

Well, I was still unable to get rid of my fear.  And that bothered me all day.  I had new knowledge and I was trying to apply it and I had been unsuccessful.  I was so disappointed with myself.

That night in my prayers I worked on that instance--praying for forgiveness for allowing fear to reign in my mind and also help to understand why I had not been successful when I felt I understood the principle.  The thought came to me with quite a stir in my heart "Did you think you had the ability to push back fear with your own strength and knowledge?  That is impossible."

Then my mind opened up to a beautiful understanding.  The image I have above my kitchen sink came to mind.  It is a picture of the Savior pulling Peter out of the water. Peter had started sinking because he became fearful.  Of course! -- I cannot lift myself up from being pushed down by a bully-tactic of Satan.  The water is too deep and impossible to stand on without the help of the Master of Ocean and Earth and Skies.  He can and will immediately lift me from my fear (and the consequences of my fear).(See Matthew 14:31)  Another thing that occurred to me was that the Savior did not and maybe could not because of the laws of faith, rescue Peter without Peter crying out "Lord, save me".

Elder Bednar said in his April 2015 conference talk that "This potent emotion (fear) is an important element of our mortal existence."  Why?  So we can learn how to rely on the Savior.  We can hush our fears by calling out to the Savior to save us.  Elder Bednar reminds  "Can we hush the fears that so easily and frequently beset us in our contemporary world?  The answer to this question is an unequivocal yes."

So if this commandment to 'fear not' is impossible to obey with my own knowledge, ability or will power,  I must call on my Savior to be lifted up from Satan's hard pushes, forces, coercion, threatening, intimidating pressures to knock me down with fear--even on something so inconsequential as making someone wait a few minutes.  I can only be rescued, guided, helped, taught or divinely directed how to hush my fears that debilitate me by constantly calling out "Lord, save me".  Fear may be a force.  But faith is power.

In my mind's eye, during that revelatory moment in my prayer, I heard the Savior saying "You cannot walk on water with your own ability. But I can. Come, let me teach you, fear not.  We'll walk in faith together."

Elder Clark said "When we look forward with the eye of faith and take righteous actions, divine light and power flow into our lives."  (I love that word much more than force.)  "In the strength of the Lord we can meet all challenges, set doubt aside and take no counsel from our fears."

"Look unto me in every thought.  Doubt not, fear not."  D&C 6:36