Sunday, December 08, 2024

Advent 2024 : 8

 


The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

The arm of the Lord is an anthropomorphic understanding of God’s strength. The mountain of the Lord, a physical revelation of God as refuge. The angel of the Lord, a manifestation of God’s word. The fear of the Lord is the manifestation of God’s wisdom in an uncertain world.

More than anything else, the thing God says to human beings is, ‘Do not be afraid.’ In time, we read that perfect love casts out fear. The point is not that those who know God should not be afraid of anyone or anything; but that they do not need to be afraid of God. Over and again, God insists – and acts in ways to back up his claim – that we do not need to be afraid of him.

Fear is a built-in, God-given survival mechanism, one that is grounded in the very nature of God. And God comes to train us in how to live with a sympathetic nervous system.

My children’s generation are the most fearful generation in living memory, though not the first generation in history to be paralysed by fear. But paralysed by fear, they are. And in need of God’s training, in how to be fully human, in a fully divine way, in the world.

 

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