Fear Not

From Within so Without

Fear Not/Brian Zater

Chapter 11

November 17

Leviticus 26:

6. I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid.
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Preface

Here the use of the word "afraid" is from the Hebrew, harad, meaning 'to shudder with terror.'

No land will ever know peace that's populated by a people whose primary reaction to most aspects of occurrence in life is fear and negativity. The external environment is a movie screen upon which we project our internal environment, individually and collectively. The inner land makes the outer land.

Peace comes from me getting at the root of, say, cynicism within myself, and healing myself of this dis-ease with love. When I change the way I look at the world, the world I look at changes. That process begins first and foremost within. 

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Here, the use of "afraid" is from the Hebrew harad, a primitive root, meaning 'to shudder with terror.'

Wherever there's fear there cannot be love. And wherever there's love there cannot be fear. This is important to consider, because love is synonymous with obedience; fear, with disobedience. It's true that it's not clearly understood to be quite as black and white as that. There seems to be shades of grey.

We have biological fear, when the baser aspects of our brains detect a threat. And we have emotional fear, when events, situations, circumstances get filtered through a faulty belief system. But the commonality between the two is there's an underlining moment of interpretation of external happenings that results in fear. It's at this level, this first step of the fear-producing process, where sin--falling short of the mark--starts. The truth is, there is a "me" that exists outside of these two underlying fear-producing systems. There's a "me"--once I become aware of myself...my true Self, in God...to whom the holy spirit can reveal when this underlying process is being triggered, the moment it's occurring. In that moment, I can turn my conscious awareness inward. In that moment, I can speak love from a position of faith into that baser brain and faulty belief system. I can rewire how both are constructed and respond to the external world, getting at the root causes of fear.

This is how we can take responsibility with our lives, from the inside out. This is how there can be a measure of disobedience present when we become afraid, because we're choosing to get caught up in looking for external causes to blame, instead of choosing to see the moment as an opportunity to go inward and do some house cleaning.

Understanding this, we then realize that a person can only produce that which is called disobedience from fear. In fact, arguably a lack of love is the most severe expression of disobedience that a person can make. Disobedience, in turn, produces the fruits of its seeds into its sowers' lives. This means an unnecessarily difficult existence is cultivated over time, generating one hardship after another.

This can be thought of as a natural process, one built into the very DNA of the seeds sown. Acorns, for example, can only result in oak trees, not tomato plants. Likewise, hate produces hate and love produces love. And it all starts from that first moment within.

In a field sown with seeds of hate, if the hated respond by sowing their own sees of hate in return, what will the field of both of their lives produce? But when the hated consistently respond with seeds of love, then their fruits are imbued with the power to not only transcend hate, but to transmute hate's sowers into new sowers of love. This is part of the natural process.

Furthermore, reverence for God means a primary willingness to represent His principles of law and love. This is what it means to be obedient. But the best way to define obedience is, "the most excellent way." And this 'Way' is defined in detail at 1Corinthians 13: 3, which is: Real love. This reveals that love is the most important thing we can do. It's more important than all the spiritual gifts and works that a person can do, that, if done without love, amount to nothing.

In fact, gifts and works can become their own sort of idols that replace love, making people into spiritual egoists who use their work as a measuring stick with which they condemn others through judgment.

Love is our primary purpose for being here; arguably, our purpose. And its exercise cultivates its embodiment, making our very 'way' of life--as an expression of loving-kindness and compassion--a satisfaction of all the commandments. (Mark 12: 30-31)

Faith inspires reverence. Reverence inspires love. Love is the highest expression of obedience. Obedience, then, is only our actions born from love. And from these actions our lives are blessed by God, ensuring we will never go hungry. We'll live in safety. We'll never be made to 'shudder with terror.' In other words, "peace in the land" where we can lie down, never to be made afraid by anyone. Even when facing seemingly impossible odds, we'll come out on top, overcoming the challenge. And God will be seen as living and walking amongst us, favoring us. (Leviticus 26: 3-13)

This is what it means to shift from F2F.