There are four more helps for the season of danger and public distraction (times of temptation to fear evil rather than God). (If you would like a recap of what we covered so far, then you should see the last devotional). Here is Flavel on help number eleven:
11.) Consult the honor of religion more, and your personal safety less. Is it for the honor of religion (think you) that Christians should be as timorous as hares to start at every sound? Will not this tempt the world to think, that whatever you talk, yet your principles are no better than other men’s? What mischief may the discovery of your fears before them do! It was nobly said by Nehemiah, “Should such a man as I flee? and who, being as I am, would flee?” Were it not better you should die than that the world should be prejudiced against Christ by your example? For alas! how apt is the world (who judge more by what they see in your practices than by what they understand of your principles) to conclude from your timidity, that how much soever you commend faith and talk of assurance, yet you dare trust to those things no more than they, when it comes to the trial. O let not your fears lay such a stumbling-block before the blind world.
Responding in fear rather than trust in God is a terrible witness to those around us. It tells them that we see the Christian faith as bankrupt and devoid of meaning and importance, as if it were just a hobby of ours amongst the other doings of our life. When fear comes, will we be those who flee at the sight of danger or trial, destroying our witness and acting as those ashamed of Christ, or will we hold God’s kingdom above our own personal safety? The choice should be obvious: on the one side we can choose to value ourselves above all else, or, on the other side, we can choose to seek first His kingdom and righteousness. One option is worthy of treason (fleeing the battlefield rather than engaging the enemy; the Christian is given to allocation for retreat), and the other honouring God’s kingdom. Do you see the severity of giving in to your worldly fears? Christ spoke on this exact thing:
Summoning the crowd along with His disciples, He said to them, “If anyone wants to be My follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me and the gospel will save it. For what does it benefit a man to gain the whole world yet lose his life? What can a man give in exchange for his life? For whoever is ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels” (Mark 8:34-38 HCSB).
Following Christ means self-denial to the level of forfeiting control of your life to Him. Those who give in to fear are those who seek to save their lives, as if it did not belong to Christ. Running from your worldly fears is taking your life upon yourself and is the exact opposite of following Christ. They profane the gospel and live as ones ashamed of Him. What if you, through acting on your worldly fears, gain what you seek but lose your life? Notice this clear connection between those not giving up their fears to follow Christ and what follows: those who take up their own lives are those who are ashamed of Christ and His words. We show this through our actions whenever we prize our own life and comforts over Him! It is a terrifying thought that those who prize themselves over Christ are told, “the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” Yes, we make mistakes and can seek repentance; but a life marked by this cowardice is worthy only of the Lord’s shaming. Show, then, that you are a follower of Christ. Deny yourself and honour Him as Lord; not a lord who is puny and can accomplish nothing (which is what we treat Him like when we act on worldly fear), but as the Omnipotent Lord of Glory.
12.) He that would secure his heart from fear, must first secure the eternal interest of his soul in the hands of Jesus Christ. When this is done, you may say, ‘Now, world, do thy worst!’ You will not be very solicitous about a vile body, when you are once assured it shall be well to all eternity with your precious soul. “Fear not them (says Christ) that can kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.” The assured Christian may smile with contempt upon all his enemies, and say, ‘Is this the worst that you can do?’ What say you, Christian? Are you assured that your soul is safe; that within a few moments of your dissolution it shall be received by Christ into an everlasting habitation? If you be sure of that, never trouble yourself about the instrument and means of your death.
The blessed assurance of the believer is greatest when knowingly committed to Christ. When Christ is the Lord of your life and you endeavour to make your life about obeying Him in all your decision-making and will, then this sort of assurance comes. This does not mean being perfect, but endeavouring to make your whole life for Christ, and increasingly so with each passing day. Recognize the great work that Christ accomplished on your behalf, and rest in that work as you grow in heart submission to Him in all things. Then, in living a life lost to Christ, you will be shown to have found true life, and this will be reflected in your walk with Him. In Christ, there is nothing to fear. When you take up your life and deny Christ, then you have every reason to fear. But we, who are Christians, will continue on denying ourselves more by the day, and so our confidence in Him will grow.
13.) Learn to quench all slavish creature-fears in the reverential fear of God. This is a cure by diversion. It is an exercise of Christian wisdom to turn those passions of the soul which most predominate, into spiritual channels: to turn natural anger into spiritual zeal, natural mirth into holy cheerfulness, and natural fear into a holy dread and awe of God. This method of cure Christ prescribes in the 10th of Matthew; similar to which is Isaiah, 8:12, 13, “Fear not their fear.” ‘But how shall we help it?’ “Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.” Natural fear may be allayed for the present by natural reason, or the removal of the occasion; but then it is like a candle blown out by a puff of breath, which is easily blown in again: but if the fear of God extinguish it, then it is like a candle quenched in water, which cannot easily be rekindled.
Ask, then, what the counterpart of your sin is. If you fear evil, then turn that to fearing Yahveh; if you are stubborn in your own wicked ways, then have that turned to perseverance; if you have anger issues, become zealous for God in living out His ways; whatever the sin, search for its godly counterpart. Yes, sin is the perversion of the good God has made for us. In this way, turning to Christ entails shifting from pursuing perversions of the good to pursuing the good itself, which is built from and rooted in God Himself. One may speak of sin as misapplied passions. Such passions do not have God and His goodness at its object, but chase after created things. At the core of our “passion” for God is not emotion, but willing its object. Hence, one’s passions reflect the orientation of the heart (decision-making and will). We can often get confused when we think being passionate about God means we must muster certain emotions! That is not the heart. Rather, a heart after God will often result in certain emotions. Avoiding this trap is important, as it means the difference between pursuing one’s own emotions and feelings, and pursuing God with your heart. The heart is key! And it is with the heart that we are directed towards God. Notice one more thing here. The things our sinful passions are to be turned into are not themselves emotions, but spiritual states: spiritual zeal, holy cheerfulness, and holy dread/awe of God. Such things are not so shallow as mustering up certain emotions, but reflect the continued reality one has in Christ! This is not skin deep. What we have in Christ, and these matters of the heart, run far deeper and are far more stable than how we feel from one given moment to the next. So, rather than merely have certain feelings or emotions, we are to be the substance of the goodness that is the true form to which sin is a perversion. Turn from being ruled by your emotions and a will after sin to become this new person in Christ, mortifying sin and its wicked desires! Be who Christ desires you to be, and no longer be a slave to the passions of the flesh.
14.) Pour out to God in prayer those fears which the devil and your own unbelief pour in upon you in times of danger. Prayer is the best outlet to fear: where is the Christian that cannot set his seal to this direction? I will give you the greatest example to encourage you to compliance, even the example of Jesus Christ. When the hour of his danger and death drew nigh, he went into the garden, separated from his disciples, and there wrestled mightily with God in prayer, even unto agony; in reference to which the apostle says, “who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications, with strong cries and tears, to him that was able to save from death, and was heard in that he feared.” He was heard as to strength and support to carry him through it; though not as to deliverance, or exemption from it. O that these things may abide with you, and be reduced to practice in these evil days, and that many trembling souls may be established by them.
God is the source and substance of all we need. If your fears persist, then go to Him in prayer. Read His Word. An integral part of keeping the heart is remaining grounded in the truth of God’s Word and in regular prayer. The Bible teaches us what we are to believe, how we are to live, and about the One to Whom we are keeping our hearts. A heart that remains in ignorance of the Father and His ways cannot be a heart that is kept to Him. Likewise, a heart that is kept after God will pray to Him regularly, recognizing that prayer is one of His ordained means for providing, encouraging, and strengthening the saints. Prayer is God giving us an audience, as if Christ Himself, His Son, were coming to Him. And since God promises help in these difficult times, we can know that we will receive exactly what we need to stay faithful to Him as we need it. So, pour out your fears to God and He will help you to fear Him alone as you grow in the truth. Meditate on His Word always. Pray always. He is our Help and our Foundation. He will give you what you need, even in times of greatest fear. You will have the courage to obey Him.
Next time we will be looking at season five: times of outward wants.