Day 1:
I will fear no evil...
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear... (1 John 4:18).
Mbengal lived in the ditch below our house.
The psychological toll of this “knowledge” was enormous, not to mention the practical implications. That ditch was the closest access point to our friends next door, and to the fields beyond where we roamed free for many hours together.
I cannot trace Mbengal back to a single point of origin—the combination of neighborhood folklore and vague suggestion was enough to plant him firmly in my imagination. That I never saw him made no difference—my inventive mind supplied what actual evidence could not, and the Mbengal of my dark imaginings haunted my dreams, and dictated my play schedule with real and gripping terror.
I met Mbengal again years later. Only now, he went by the name, “The Zug under the rug” and he lived in the dark spaces of my son’s room. And this time, from my vantage point as an adult, I knew exactly where he came from—I watched him jump from the seemingly harmless pages of the Dr. Seuss classic, There’s a Wocket in My Pocket (Random House, 1974), into the dark imaginings of my child. There, in customary fashion, he took root.
Also from my vantage point as an adult, I realized that Mbengal does not only live in child-size haunts. He is just as likely to invade the dark spaces in the minds of the old as well as the young. He skulks in every deep ditch of anxiety, lurks in every dark closet of despair. And regardless of his disguise, or his nom du jour, his true name is Fear.
I read somewhere that the Bible has 365 verses that tell us not to fear—one for every day of the year. Someone has even said there are actually 366—to account for leap years! I won’t undertake the task to count them, but I am struck by the fact that in several places, the command “fear not,” (“do not be afraid”) is given over and over again. In many of these instances, additional instructions are given to counter fear, “Be strong,” “Take courage.”
These messages to a nation on the move from slavery towards a land of promise were consistent throughout the books of Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Joshua. In the first chapter of Joshua alone, the command was central as leadership passed from Moses to Joshua, “Be strong and courageous" (Joshua 1:6); "Be strong and very courageous" (Joshua 1:7). And then that often-quoted verse:
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).
So why does Scripture place so much emphasis on combatting fear? Likely because the God who made us, and knows us, understands how prone we are to fear, and knows what a paralyzing and debilitating emotion fear can be.
Mental health experts classify fear as a universal emotion, and they agree that some level of fear may be healthy, and even helpful in protecting us from danger. But they, too, recognize how destabilizing fear can become.
In the classic children’s book Watership Down, (Rex Collings Ltd., London, 1972), author Richard Adams coins a word in “rabbit language” to describe the petrified, frozen nature of immobilizing fear. That word, “tharn” captures so well for me the essence of fear, and I use it occasionally to process what I, or someone else may be feeling.
I’m so glad for the 366-plus defenses against fear in the Scripture. Of them all, my favorite is the reassurance, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear…” (1 John 4:18).
God, who is Himself Love (1 John 4:8) "casts out" our fears. He moves us from “tharn” to joyful and productive service. He shines His light on the Zug under our rug. He expels our Mbengals and creates a safe path over the ditch. He leads us beyond impeding fear to roam free in the fields of His love and grace.
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