Fear Not

The Extended Perspective

Chapter 43

December 19

2 Kings 19:6Isaiah said to them, "Tell [King Hezekiah], 'This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid of what you have heard--Those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.'"

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Preface

The expanded perspective that faith provides allows for a big-picture view of life that fear makes impossible to see. The more faithful we become, which only means the more fear we're able to let go of, the more aware we become of the interdependent details that make up all of existence. Then the more emotionally comfortable we'll be with holding within our mind's eye: all of the interplaying reliances that occur every moment of every day that allow for the existence of life. We see the role the sun plays in photosynthesis with the trees. From this we see the role the trees play for us to breathe. Imagine if the sun told the trees, or if the trees told us, "You owe me."

The trees also rely on the wind, the rain and the soil in which they're rooted. But the soil is useless without the roles played by animals, insects, viruses, bacteria...and so many other things.

Imagine if a tree began to narrow its focus, so to speak, down to crediting only its massive size and strength for its survival, for it having overcome storms, fires and pestilence, dismissing and forgetting the sun and the soil and all the things in between. What if it threatened to keep its oxygen to itself, refusing to share?

We humans tend to do this often. We may start out faithful, mindful of and thankful for God and all that stems from out of Him, giving full credit to where its due. But along the way, maybe from encounters with others who've forgotten why there's air in their lungs, we begin to take life's provisions for granted, forgetting why we're alive.

Whether triggered by choosing fear in response to an unwanted event, or arrogance in response to a series of successes, the narrowing of focus removes the space in which an expanded perspective can reside.

The loss of faith creates a narrow-focused brain, mitigating the connection we'd otherwise have to the flow of our faith. This narrowing can be triggered from the outside in, or from the inside out. Either way, the tighter, more narrow our internal space, the more compacted and strengthened fear becomes.

Depending on the given cause for the narrowing--traumatic or successful--the fear will manifest as either withdrawal or attack, timidity or arrogance.

King Hezekiah, alongside God's prophet Isaiah, maintained the expanded perspective of faith, never losing sight of and gratitude for God being the sole reason for all they had and were. King Sennacherib, on the other hand, lived in a narrowed state of mind. After a series of victories over numerous fortified cities that had forgotten God and turned to idols and evil, Sennacherib could have never fathomed that his actions were sanctioned by God, serving His purposes. Instead, from arrogance, Sennacherib assumed credit for himself, due to the size and strength of his military force.

To him God didn't exist. In his mind, he was God, and any others were seen as a threat to his authority.