Fear is Contagious

 

My program of choice this year (and last year) for reading through the Bible is called Bible Recap. It takes us through the Bible chronologically, keeping us on track to finish the Bible by the end of the year. I tend to read ahead. In part because something could come up and throw me off track, such as sickness or a trip that keeps me busy. In part because this program makes reading through the Bible so much more fun and informative. The hostess, Tara-Leigh Cobble does a little recap after each day’s reading, as well as at the end of each week and each book. She includes other helpful links, as well. So many times, I catch myself saying, “Ohhh! Now that makes sense.” I don’t just take her word as gospel, because I was taught to never let anyone spoon feed you the Bible. But her perspective is refreshing and she takes my thinking outside the box, where it’s been trapped for decades.

That’s my jumping off place into today’s points to ponder because I’m using a few quotes from Tara-Leigh.

“Fear is contagious.” – TL

This jumped out at me because I find it to be so true, and I imagine it’s always been true. One person gasps and what does everyone else in the room do? They first turn to see what caused the gasp, but their heart may have already started beating faster and their breathing probably went shallow for a few seconds until they justified the fear.

Look at the garbage our news channels bring us every day. I call it fearmongering, and I seldom watch it. I recall hearing that it was during the Vietnam War that war was actually brought into our living rooms for the first time. Yes, we wanted to be informed, but I think the media realized it found a gold mine when they saw we’d tune in nightly to see the horrors. That may have even affected how movies and television shows were made. Headline: Americans love to be afraid, let’s scare them. It’s gone way too far, at least in my opinion.

Another quote Tara-Leigh made caused me to grab a pen and make note. “Fear always magnifies the enemy and diminishes God.”

We’d just read the stories of the Israelites journeying through the desert. It was a much longer journey than it needed to be. Fear kept them walking in circles for decades. I’ve heard that it was only about a two-week journey from Egypt to the Promised Land!

What caused their fear? A report. Like a gossip report or a news report. Their report came from men who had been sent into the Promised Land to see if it was all that God promised it would be.

Twelve men went to spy out the land, but only two came back with a good report. The other ten brought fear with their words. While Joshua and Caleb insisted that they were well able to conquer the land as God told them they would do, the other ten spies brought reports of giants in the land that they could never conquer. The people chose to believe those ten spies rather than God’s promise to them. Do we do that?

Then Tara-Leigh wrapped up her pep talk by telling us that, “God is bigger than what keeps us from what He’s called us to.”

I had to sit in that thought for a few minutes and revel in how true it is. She encouraged us with the same reminder that God gave His people way back then: “Practice remembering what the Lord has done and Praise Him for it.”

I feel like I’ve stolen her message, but it’s been God’s message to us all along.

If a doctor ever tells me I have cancer, I can be encouraged and not fearful because the last time a doctor told me that, God took care of it. He took care of it His way, and quickly. Why should I fear another such report?

Let’s create a memory book. I say this because if I don’t write something down – I know I’ll forget it or get the memory wrong.

Let’s dispel our fear by following God’s instructions to practice remembering what He’s done and praise Him for it!