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Morning Reflection
March 17, 2026
On Fear
“If you fear God, that does not mean that you have transferred your fear from one object to another; it means that you have ceased to fear. ‘Fear God’ says: fear nobody. (This is not to say that there are not many Christians who fear God as they might fear [anyone else], who are terrified of what God might do to them. But such an attitude is not the orthodox Christian one. It is part of the job of pastors and theologians, those who speak as authorities, to correct the terrified, to free them from their fear.)”
Gareth Moore: Believing in God
Reflection by Peter Vanderveen
In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses instructed the people of Israel with this memorable admonition: “Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away and when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” Moses left no doubt about the centrality of what he was passing on; in this case, the law that he had received from God. It was to be always in play, always within reach and within sight. It was to be the constant reference for all that was happening, at all times, and in every manner. The law was to be kept, which meant far more than simply following the rules; it was to be both recited and hallowed. And in this way, the law could form one’s character, being evident in all that one said and did.
I would be inclined to say the same about Gareth Moore’s brilliant clarification about the fear of God. In the Scriptures, any such statements are not meant to solidify fear, as if God were simply the meanest, strongest, and most aggressive opponent one could have, as if our proper disposition should be to cower, tremblingly, before God. Quite the opposite. Fearing God means, instead, recognizing that God, and God alone, has the power to make fear, and all of its effects, irrelevant. God is able to not only dispel fear, defanging it; God is able to displace and dislodge it so that our lives can be transformed, taking on a whole different shape. Fear can be no more; it can be an old relic, clumsy and rickety and disposed of. And when it has lost its grip on us, so many of our very present conflicts can fade almost to nothing as well. For they’re driven most by what we fear.
Imagine a world without fear, or, more possibly, imagine simply your own life without fear. This doesn’t entail that all our problems should be resolved; it means only that we trust that the resolutions we desire will come, ultimately, through God’s providence, by God’s hand. And to be, thus, freed of fear opens, then, an incredible space for redemption and thriving; loosed from suspicion and cynicism and anxiety, every aspect of our world and life can become shifted toward the good.
And yet, how very far are we from this now, as the stranglehold of fear is evident in almost all our speech and in our relations.
So following Moses, maybe our habit should become reciting Moore’s words, keeping them at ready reference. Post them on your refrigerator; read them before all else every morning; let them be an enduring correction to all the banalities shared on social media each day, each moment, in dizzying profusion; pray them at some time each day because fear is so very deeply rooted in us. And whenever you think of God, remind yourself, before all else, that God, before all else, is the one before whom all fear dissipates and is done away with. And how would this change your day?
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