Frozen in Fear

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. I John 4:18 (NIV)

There are dreams that are common to virtually every person in the world. At some time or another we all dream we are falling. At some time we all dream that we are out in public dressed inappropriately (or not dressed at all). Another dream common to most all of us is a dream where you are frozen in fear. Sometimes this dream takes the form of being chased by someone and you can't run. Sometimes you are in some kind of danger and find that you can't call out for help. The common factor is that you need to take action, but you cannot because you are frozen in fear.

Now, I'm no psychoanalyst - I have trouble even spelling it - nor do I have a gift for dream interpretation, so I won't attempt to comment on what those dreams mean or what God might be saying to you through them. Except to say this - sometimes in real life we are frozen in fear, and that is, according to God's Word, not of God!

Sponsor Ad 2Do you remember a specific time in your life when you were frozen by fear? I do. When I was about 7 years old the swimming pool where we went in the summers had a high dive. This diving board was 427 feet above the water. Well, it SEEMED to be that high. Other kids would scurry up the ladder and jump off without giving it a second thought. I would climb cautiously up the ladder, walk slowly out to the general vicinity of the end of the board and chicken out. The shame of being a failure at jumping off the high dive was dwarfed by the unreasonable fear that kept me from walking out to the end of the board, much less jumping.

Knowing the facts didn't help me. I saw lots of kids - many younger than me - jump off the board and live to tell about it. In fact, they seemed to have fun doing it. No one was killed or maimed as they hit the water. The facts told me to do it, but I was still paralyzed by fear.

Encouragement didn't help me, either. No matter how many times I was told, "you can do it" by others, I was still paralyzed by fear.

This story has a happy ending, though. My brother, almost two years my senior, said to me, "Come on, let's do this together." Together we climbed up the steps to the high dive and together we jumped off. I found (as is so often the case in life) that what I was so afraid of was really nothing. After successfully jumping with my brother, I immediately climbed back up there. When I reached the top, I saw that the diving board had shrunk. It was no longer 427 feet high - it was only about 15 feet high. I jumped off on my own and never again felt that fear. At least, not on the diving board...

Knowledge didn't help. Encouraging words didn't help. It was love that made the difference. My brother loved me enough to go through it with me.

That's why God's word tells us that there is no fear in love and perfect love - God's love - drives out fear. When you are paralyzed in some area of your life, your Heavenly Father wants to go through it with you and let His love drive your fear away.