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It so happened that I had been contemplating an article concerning John Keats’ poem, “When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be.� It was composed by Keats on today’s date of January 30, in 1818, and made him an almost immediate success. In it, the poet describes being fearful of not having time enough in his life to complete all the writings he felt in his heart. Coincidentally, Van Engen, in his book, also addresses the amount of poetry in the Bible that expresses fear of one type or another. You are already aware of one well-known such composition, the 23rd Psalm — “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not fear …�

It is most appropriate that the Bible as the Word of God speaks to the subject of fear, not only because it is common to all of human kind but also due to the fact that the Bible is essentially one documentation after another of the Lord meeting His followers in their experiences of living, and life is often a matter of encountering fearful circumstances. From Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden after having eaten of the forbidden fruit, trying to explain their hiding from the Lord with the excuse, “I was afraid …� to Elijah fleeing from Jezebel for his life and, of course, Jesus Himself in the Garden of Gethsemane praying, “Let this cup pass from me …,� the Bible is all about fear. In fact, after counting over 200 such Biblical uses of the word “fear,� I quit enumerating them.

When I consider the vast array of life circumstances which one might consider fearful and then endeavoring to pair each with a parallel Biblical narrative, I am even more amazed how the Holy Scriptures reach out to comfort us in our trials to remind us that God is able to completely empathize with our innermost anxiety. Virtually every one of us has experienced fear from those who are forcefully powerful. But Psalm 49 also speaks to the experience of observing the world’s injustice whereby the wealthy become all the more richer: “they that trust in their wealth … can by no means redeem their brother … Be thou not afraid of one who is rich.�

As a pastor having all too many times agonized in the family waiting room of a hospital’s surgery ward to hear news concerning a loved one who was involved in a terrible automobile accident or receiving treatment for cancer, I am quite familiar with the anxious turmoil of which one can endure only so much. The Psalms (112) also communicates God’s assurance in such settings: do not “be afraid of bad tidings, but let your heart be fixed trusting in God.�

One of the facts I discovered in this short investigation of the Bible addressing fear is the number of times God approaches the subject matter from the negative perspective. Two quick examples come to my mind. First, though not any more important than other illustrations, was Joshua’s words of God’s guidance to the Children of Israel, “Be strong and of good courage; be not afraid … the Lord your God is with you wheresoever you go.� The other is a favorite of mine as it causes me to recall my own mother and grandmother. Perhaps many readers of this column can identify with the same memory recollection: “She is not afraid of the snow for her household, for her household is clothed in scarlet.�

Needless to say, all of the above is merely a small token of such offerings to be gleaned from the Bible, but the most important benefit is knowing that we have a God who is fully aware of each hair on our heads, is well acquainted with every occurrence we encounter and feels all the joys and sorrows we experience. He never leaves us stranded but walks with us hand in hand through whatever “valleys of shadows� the world may present in our lives.