I Was Afraid

“The man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden... and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, 'Where are you?'

“The man answered, 'I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.'”

                                                                                                            - Genesis 3:8-10

This week I am in Indiana, attending a week-long conference for Presbyterian pastors. The conference is being held at the Wooded Glen Conference Center. It is a beautiful setting, situated among rolling hills, forests, quiet streams, and the occasional pond. Yesterday (Friday, March 10) I was walking along the dirt-and-gravel path that encircles the pond behind the main lodge. It was just as the sun was beginning to rise: the sky was beginning to show the pre-sunrise colors of pink and purple, and the trees were still silhouettes against the mostly-dark background.

Ahead of me I heard some rustling; I took my eyes off of the path in front of me and looked off to the left, where I saw a gang of wild turkeys rushing off over the crest of the hill, down into the ravine below. One turkey, though, decided to take the high road, flying up into a nearby tree. I had just enough time to turn on my camera and take a quick picture of it before it flew away.

The turkeys were scared of me, it seems. Not that they had anything to fear. I had no intent to harm them. I just wanted to get closer to them.

Later in the day I thought "There is a lesson in this." [Now, before I go any further, I want to make sure you know that I am in no way suggesting that people are turkeys; after all, I am firmly committed to leaving politics out of these devotions. Nor am I trying to suggest that I am a God-like figure.]

As the thought of the turkey cowering in the tree kept popping into my mind, so did the recurring phrase we hear in the Bible: Do not be afraid.

Do not be afraid.

You see, from the very beginning of the Bible—ever since Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit—the initial reaction of people when they (we) encounter the divine, is fear. We are afraid.

“I heard you in the garden,” Adam said to God, “and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

There it is—“I was afraid.”

Fear of God, I believe, is borne of our failure to know God truly. (There's actually a fear of God that is based on our sense of awe and reverence at God's perfect holiness; but even that fear has its roots in our inability to know God fully) We fear God because we are under the impression that God is “out to get us”; or because being in the light of God's glory also exposes our shortcomings and our faults and our sinfulness; or because God is utterly incomprehensible, and we can't stand being around anything we don't understand or over which don't have any sense of control. I'm sure there are other reasons people fear God, but inevitably it's going to have something to do with the fact that we just don't know God truly.

So here's the deal: Pretty much every time in the Bible, God answers our fear with the assurance, “Do not be afraid.”

(Ok, technically God didn't tell Adam and Eve, “Do not be afraid.” But he did make them garments to clothe them and hide their shame—that was an act of love and compassion that conveyed the same message.)

“Do not be afraid” is God's answer to our fears.

Because “I love you” is God's answer to our sin.

You see, God's intent when he comes to us is for good, not for evil. God doesn't want to banish us to hell, or to smite us; God wants to redeem us.

I really wish that turkey had not flown away when I took a step toward it. I didn't want to hurt it. It didn't need to be afraid.

We don't need to be afraid, either, when God draws near. Don't run away; reach out to God, and let him take you by the hand.

As I crossed over the dam of the pond, I started to walk up the hill toward the main lodge of the conference center. The trees ahead of me were basking in the light of the sun that had just risen and was shining its first rays upon them. But when I turned around and looked behind me—then I beheld the true beauty and glory of the sunrise.

And I knew that it was going to be a good day.

Because God loves us.

Do not be afraid.