8 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And behold,[b] an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. 10 Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
(Luke 2:8-11)
Black Bart was a professional thief whose very name struck fear as he terrorized the Wells Fargo stage line. From San Francisco to New York, his name became synonymous with the danger of the frontier. Between 1875 and 1883 he robbed 29 different stagecoach crews. Amazingly, Black Bart did it all without firing a shot. Because a hood hid his face, no victim ever saw his face. He never took a hostage and was never trailed by a sheriff. Instead, Black Bart would later say from prison that he didn't need to fire a shot; all he had to do was to use fear to paralyze his victims. "Fear, the face of the unknown, was my weapon of choice, my weapon of intimidation." His sinister presence and his threat of words was enough to overwhelm the toughest stagecoach guard.
Fear is also Satan's weapon of choice. More often than not, he uses fear to paralyze his victims. Its amazing to us how many times he entered even into the nativity narrative to prevent God's plan from coming to pass, or to harass the characters of it. Lets look one more time.
In the text, the shepherds were terrified at the presence of the angels. Why were they afraid? Admittedly angels do not show up every day. They did not know whether they were looking at the presence of an angel or the face of God, as Scripture tells us, "No man will see the face of God and live." (Exodus 33:20 )
Mary and Joseph lived on the edge of fear even while following God by faith. How intimidating it must have been to stand in the face of public opinion over the status of Mary's pregnancy. Joseph feared what would happen if he did not divorce his wife.
Satan entered the heart of Herod who himself feared the advent of the Christ child- that he would be a potential threat to the throne and had to be eliminated. In order to make certain he got the right one, he massacred all the babies of Bethlehem!
The Wise men were fearful- or at least wise enough to take Herod seriously, to return back to the East without letting the king know the identity of the baby they had seen in Bethlehem.
It is a fool who would deny the presence of fear. Yet the shepherds were told not to give into their instincts. Instead, they were to move beyond fear by faith and act upon the good news that they had heard from the angels that Christ the Lord had been born.
We have the same choice before us even now. We can choose to follow our fears and our instincts. For example- I have a fear of heights. It is difficult for me to get up on a high ladder or even a roof top. Its not that I fear the ladder, but falling off of it. I don't fear the rooftop, but I do fear the sudden jolt on the ground should I fall off of it. I can't help it, and I cannot ignore it. But neither can I ignore the choice of faith, either, which is far more secure and has done much more for me than staying paralyzed by fear. I might get hurt, yes. But there are worse things that befall me when I remain locked up in my fears. The worst thing is to be an unwitting servant of hell by remaining under Satan's control and not yielding my trust in God.
What are you fearful of today? Has your fear of the unknown, or difficult economic times displaced where you should be placing your trust? Don't ignore your fears, but override them by your trust and faith in God today.
Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, I am fearful of many things as I come before you today. I fear losing my position, my livelihood, my ability to provide and to take care of my family. Yet in all these things I see that you can provide and care for them much better than I can. So today I yield to You my trust so that my fears will be displaced instead. May I walk today by faith and not by sight that I may please You most of all. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Have a blessed day!
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