Though I am not a TV binge watcher, there are times when I do get to relax and watch a show now and then. There was a show called MONK, that aired from 2002 through 2009 that I have caught a couple of episodes of. It starred Tony Shalhoub as the main character Adrian Monk. He played a rather eccentric private detective, due to his multiple phobias and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), of which Tony states he personally experiences traits associated with the disorder. He did a remarkable job portraying this character, won multiple awards over the years for this part, and has become an empathetic voice for the cause since playing this part. The shows include a comedic element as he works with the San Franscisco police department on unconventional crimes. The funny moments involve the character’s portrayal of mysophobia, which is the fear of germs, dirt, and other contaminants.
Though there are those who may think they do not suffer from any phobias whatsoever, people can certainly develop them during their lives unexpectedly, or as circumstances change in their lives. In these days of heightened political correctness, fear of just about anything you can imagine has a unique phobia name that has been assigned to it that doctors or psychiatrists can diagnose you with. Grant it, the fears that people profess to have do seem quite comical sometimes. Let us look briefly at a few of the most common phobias: Arachnophobia, fear of spiders and other arachnids, Nomophobia, fear of being without your mobile phone, this one seems crazy to me, Acrophobia, fear of heights, Glossophobia, fear of public speaking, Ophidiophobia, fear of snakes, Trypanophobia, fear of needles or injections, Coulrophobia, fear of clowns, Agoraphobia, fear of not being able to escape or being in crowds, Aerophobia, fear of flying, Cynophobia, fear of dogs, Astraphobia, fear of thunder and lightning, Social phobia, is a fear of social interaction, Claustrophobia, fear of being in confined spaces, and there is Phobophobia, a fear of phobias. Wow, who knew? That would not be a fun way to live.
Though our family has always made it an open policy that we will not live in fear, however, I suppose we do have phobias amongst us in varying degree. I guess you could say my husband suffers from Ophidiophobia and Trypanophobia, because he has always stated that there are two things he hates, snakes and needles. Our seven year old grandson has Nyctophobia, an extreme fear of the dark, although he has not been traumatized in any way that we nor his parents can think of. If he must go down the hall to the restroom with the lights out, he will begin to sing at the top of his lungs, “Jesus loves me this I know.” It is quite comical, but it works for him. I have personally developed Acrophobia over the past few years, which has recently discouraged me from riding outrageously high and fast rollercoasters on our last few vacations. It does put a damper on things at times. I have suffered from Musophobia, an irrational and extreme fear of mice and rats ever since I can remember. Who knew it had a name? Ranidaphobia is another one high on my list, which is a fear of frogs. I have issues with mice and frogs because they are so unpredictable. You never know when they are going to move and which direction they are going to go.
Though we try to sluff these issues off as being trivial, especially our own, and try to tell ourselves we need to ‘just get over it,’ they can become a major problem for people, that come with severe side effects. One professional put it this way, “These phobias lead to marked fear and can result in experiencing symptoms such as dizziness, nausea, and breathlessness. In some cases, they may escalate into a full-blown panic attack. Social phobia (social anxiety disorder) and agoraphobia are in their own category of anxiety disorders, whereas the remaining top eight phobias are considered “specific phobias,” related to a particular object or situation. Overall, these common phobias involve an intense or extreme fear of the environment, animals, injections and blood, or certain situations.” So, the fear we are experiencing emotionally and spiritually can also affect us physically and cause us to become ill. Therefore, it is certainly not to be ignored. There are places to go to get help medically, emotionally, and spiritually.
Fear petrifies us. The word petrify means, to change (organic matter) into a stony concretion by encrusting or replacing its original substance with a calcareous, siliceous, or other mineral deposit such as petrified wood, or make (someone) so frightened that they are unable to move. The word comes from French pétrifier, from medieval Latin petrificare, from Latin petra ‘rock,’ from Greek. Fear will turn us into stone if we let it and cause us to be unproductive and ineffective though we may be the most intelligent and talented person in the room. Every small victory for some, may indeed be a hurdle conquered for another. Fears can be overcome, but they usually do not disappear all in one setting unexpectedly, because they involve a lifetime of dread, unhealthy habits, and possibly addictions. You may even have the fear and question of, “What will I do without the fear?” It takes work, and battles are fought and won, one day at a time, but when you make baby steps, they serve as an encouragement to you that you can do it again and conquer even greater things. The victory also becomes your testimony of the trials and tests you have overcome.
I recently faced my Acrophobia. On our most recent vacation to New Orleans, Louisiana, while perusing around the not too clean French Quarters looking at the quaint shops, my husband stopped in at a lighting boutique. He bought me the most beautiful chandelier to go in the entry way of our house. It was to be shipped, and it indeed arrived about a month later, but the deal was that he would put it up after the foyer was painted. The ceilings in our entry way are twenty feet high. Just saying that makes my stomach drop, and my knees turn to jelly. The dread persisted for about four months when finally, I decided it was time. I had put it off long enough. I got out the ladder, the paint, paint roller and the extension pole to conquer the beast that had mocked me for so long. Though I was sweating bullets and started at the bottom until I had no choice but to climb the dreaded ladder to reach the rest, I got it done. It was an immensely proud day, and it was an even greater celebration when my husband got the chandelier hung. It is indeed spectacular!
When we seek the Lord, He will give us courage. 2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” This takes me to my subject today. We have heard it said that it is extremely difficult for us as humans to give things up. A baby becomes attached to their pacifier and cannot seem to go to sleep without it, however, there comes a time when the need for sucking has long gone, and they are growing teeth that can be hindered by them always having the pacifier in their mouths. What is the solution? One remarkably effective way is using the replacement method. For example, replace the pacifier with a blanket or stuffed animal, that will be something of comfort to the child to make them think they are gaining something rather than losing something. It also works as a distraction tactic. Adults do this as well, whether they admit it or not. For example, they realize they need to quit smoking, so they start to chew Nicorette gum, they realize that they are cursing too much, especially now that they have children, so they replace those words with what they feel may be more appropriate words, so on and so forth. Yet fears are constantly lurking in the shadows of our minds. How can we be free?
We already know that though our fears and anxieties may have started out innocently, and crept up on us, they have now become the thing that is holding us back. They are petrifying us and stopping us in our tracks. To move forward with our lives, jobs, or ministries, they must be eradicated. I propose that the replacement and distraction method will work here as well, and maybe even better than in any other circumstance. Proverbs 9:10 tells us, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.” We know that fear in this connotation is the opposite of our own personal phobias. It is a reverence, a respect, an acknowledgment of His omniscience, and an admission that without God, we are helpless. This is exactly what we need to replace our phobias with. We must develop a good healthy dose of the fear of the Lord and lay aside every other fear we have. As you are discovering how great He is, and are in awe of Him, he will use the diversion tactic and slip in to take all your phobias away without you even realizing when or how it happened. That is the Mighty God we serve.
The 1981 movie called Raiders of the Lost Ark starring Harrison Ford in the lead role as Indiana Jones, is an action adventure with a plethora of cinematic features from the very vivid imagination of writers George Lucas and Philip Kaufman and director Steven Spielberg. Though quite outlandish to say the least, it shows how that those in the quest of finding the Ark, had no fear of the Lord and lack of understanding of its significance, and how the native people who had seen the destruction it could leave in its wake, did have fear and respect, along with trepidation about finding or touching it. When they eventually found it, those without respect, the opposing group to Indiana Jones, decided to go ahead and open it even though they had seen all the death it had already caused. When they opened it, they erroneously thought they could harness the power of God for selfish gain and of course they were consumed with fire from heaven in a very graphic horrific scene. However, the principle was conveyed, that the fear of the Lord is not negotiable.
The Ark of the Covenant was a part of the furnishings that had been built for the tabernacle in the wilderness after the Israelites, God’s chosen people, were freed from their bondage in Egypt. The instructions for its construction were given in specific detail by God to Moses, as it was for every piece of the tabernacle. It was made from acacia wood overlaid with pure gold inside and out, with exact dimensions, and it had a lid of solid gold with hammered gold cherubim on either side of it with their wings overshadowing the lid, called the Mercy seat. But what was so special about this piece was that this is where God chose to dwell, to commune with the High Priests. Exodus 25:22 says, “And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.” They had to follow instructions of when and how to come before the Lord with the blood of the sacrifice, to sprinkle it on the mercy seat, to make atonement for the people, with great reverence and fear. So much so, that it is said that a rope was tied around the High Priest’s leg when they went in the Holy of Holies, in case he was struck dead, and they could use it to pull him out without going in before the Ark.
Fast forward to the story in 1 Samuel 4-6 of how that the sons of Eli, the ninety-eight year old high priest, lost their reverence and fear of the Lord, and Israel began to lose battles against the Philistines allowing the Ark to be captured and carried away, much to their chagrin, resulting in much suffering and death. It was first taken to the city of Ashdod and put into the temple of their idol Dagon. When they found Dagon face down two mornings in a row, they finally realized that they had made a huge mistake, and they were struck with real fear, but they did not know what to do with the Ark. They first sent it to Gaza, then to Askelon, then to Gath and lastly to Ekron, and the same thing happened in each of the five cities and to the five kings and their people, they began to die by the thousands and those who did not die were plagued with ‘emerods’, which are ‘tumors of the private parts’ or more specifically, ‘hemorrhoids’. Goodness gracious. This happened over a span of seven months before they finally had the light bulb moment to bring it back. At times people are just not too bright. Their learning curve is quite large. What they needed was a dose of the fear of the Lord, aka respect and reverence for the One true God of Israel. On its journey home the people of Bethsemesh were overjoyed to see the Ark returning, but fifty thousand and seventy of them died that day, because they forgot their place and looked inside the ark. Another good gracious moment. When God gives specific instructions, he will not change his mind. He says what he means and means what he says. Its home for the next twenty years was in the hills, in the house of Abinadab, whose son Eleazar became the care taker thereof.
The enemy knows where our strengths and weaknesses lie. Though he cannot read our mind, he sees our fears and will use them to destroy if he can. Sampson’s strength was not in his hair, but in his obedience to God’s commandment to him to live his life under the Nazarite vow. The enemy was not trying to get him to ‘cut his hair’ per se but trying to get him to disobey God. Which he did when he let down his guard and got distracted by Delilah, the cares of life or his own lust you might say. Adam and Eve’s falling out with God was not because they ate a piece of fruit, but because they disobeyed the directives of God, which is the definition of sin. They laid down their fear of the Lord because of their own desire to experience the what ifs, in essence snubbing their noses at God. They laying down their fear of the Lord, cost them a life of living in fear and regret.
You may be one who says, “I definitely understand what you are saying, I certainly do fear the Lord, we are friends,” however, I would say, you might have missed the point. We must not be too hasty to put ourselves in too chummy a position with the Almighty. He is not our homeboy, our buddy, or groupie. He is the Master; we are the servants. He is the Creator; we are His creation. Once we have everything in the right perspective, and we are serving him, loving him, and reverencing him with our whole hearts, then he says we are his friends. In John 15:14 he tells us, “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.” As Samuel told the children of Israel in 1 Samuel 7:2-4, “And it came to pass, while the ark abode in Kirjathjearim, that the time was long; for it was twenty years: and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord. And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. Then the children of Israel did put away Balam and Ashtaroth and served the Lord only.” They then began to win battles once again.
When we have the fear of the Lord, it can cause us to conquer all other phobias, and win the battles we face in this life. Do not be stubborn and wait as long as the Israelites did to learn this concept. Living with phobias of everything including fear of phobias, Phobophobia, when you could be free does not seem sensible. When we take His presence with us, He will not only fight our battles, but Psalm 16:11 tells us, “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” Isaiah 26:3 says, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusts in thee.” And Paul tells us in Romans 5:1-8, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commended his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
In these verses we see what we can gain by having the fear of the Lord, respecting, and reverencing Him, trusting, and obeying him. We can utilize the replacement method, by replacing our fears and phobias with: His presence, pleasures, perfect peace, joy unspeakable and full of glory, access to grace, justification, patience, experience, hope, God’s love, God’s Spirit, which is the Holy Ghost, and complete salvation through His death, burial, and resurrection. This seems to be a great exchange. Do not hang onto your fears just because they are familiar, their usefulness has ended, and they will begin to destroy you. Make the exchange today! Give Him your phobias, burdens, disappointments, brokenness, and He will give you, His peace. How do I know? Because he told us so in John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”