Fear.

A quick google search yields the following definitions:

1) An unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat.

2) Be afraid of (someone or something) as likely to be dangerous, painful, or threatening.

Yikes.

But also accurate.

There’s a lot going on in the world that, in my opinion, can be traced back to fear. Sure, it may show up as anger, sadness, depression, avoidance, and the list could go on, but many times, if we zoom in closer, I think fear is what’s underneath.

The piece in the definitions about causing pain particularly stands out to me because it could be easy to think of that as physical pain, but I think the fear of emotional pain is an even bigger motivator. 

What started me thinking about all of this was this simple verse:

When I am afraid,

I put my trust in you.

Psalm 56:3 ESV

So very simple. So very profound.

When all these other emotions are swirling around, and we come to the conclusion that we’re actually afraid of something or afraid to lose something, what do we do?

In reality, more often than not, I turn towards ways of mentally escaping (phones can be so handy in that way can’t they?) or disengaging or trying to control or so many other instances, even if they’re only small moments of fear. Fear truly is an “unpleasant emotion” as the definition states.

When I ask myself, “What’s underneath?” and fear is the answer, this is what I want to return to in those moments. I want this verse to be my anchor, to be true of me.

I’m grateful for the reminder this verse brought me. We have a choice of what we do with the fear and where we put our trust in those moments. This is not to disregard the fact that there are many instances in the world today that have very real reasons for fear to be the root. That is very true. The choice still remains.

Lord, when I am afraid, I choose to put my trust in you.