I used to be deathly afraid of human skulls. (No, seriously.)
I don’t know when it started, but for the longest time—no, hang on a minute, I’m still a little leery of them—I was petrified. I couldn’t watch all of “Return of the King” because... of that scene where the Dead are, you know, alive. There were a ton of skulls in that—whole mountains—and there’s me, hiding in the dining room and knowing I wouldn’t sleep that night. (And, of course, Rebecca loved the movie, and would insist upon watching every single scene. Go figure.)
I don’t know when it started, but for the longest time—no, hang on a minute, I’m still a little leery of them—I was petrified. I couldn’t watch all of “Return of the King” because... of that scene where the Dead are, you know, alive. There were a ton of skulls in that—whole mountains—and there’s me, hiding in the dining room and knowing I wouldn’t sleep that night. (And, of course, Rebecca loved the movie, and would insist upon watching every single scene. Go figure.)
And then—this was recent—I was finally starting to watch The Mummy movies (you know, the dead people, not mothers) and Rebecca agreed to warn me whenever there were mummies (dead dead or undead, didn’t matter which). Now, I’m hidden in the dining room again, and she calls out reassuringly “it’s okay Anna, there’s no mummies in this scene.”
Being the trusting, naïve fool that I usually am, I believe her. Guess what? I managed to be right on time for the entrance of an ARMY—not kidding, a literal army—of mummies marching across the screen. (Use your imagination for the scene that followed between me and my apparently blind sister.)
Rebecca protests her innocence, and I’ve given her the benefit of the doubt, but still…
Anyway, this was the only verse that helped me whenever I couldn’t sleep. “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”
God doesn’t try to control us through fear. He most certainly could, being the God of the Universe and ALSO having the unique advantage of creating us, and thereby knowing our inmost beings—and all our inmost fears—so if He wanted to, He could very well do so. Fear of the future, fear of the past, fear of losing loved ones, fear of death, fear of betrayal, fear for your health, fear for your finances, fear of heights, fear of water, fear of bugs, fear of the little old lady next door…He knows them all. He created us. If He wanted to be head honcho—figuratively speaking, He’s already the headest honcho there is—there’s a million billion ways He could be and not have any resistance whatsoever. That’s one of the reasons I love Him. Because He doesn’t threaten us. He doesn’t control us through our fears. He’s the God of the Universe, but He’s my Father. And—as any child who’s lucky enough to have a good father knows—fathers don’t threaten their children with the monsters under their bed or in their closet. They chase them away. They shine the flashlight on them and poof! Gone. Disintegrated. Atomized. Blown into smithereens. Killed dead. (Take your pick. I always went for disintegrated.)
That’s what God does. He shines the Light of Truth on all His children’s fears, if you ask Him to, and—guess what?—(yes, the sound effect is necessary)…poof!
He hears your cry for Him in the middle of the night, and He comes. He always comes, and He always chases the monsters away. He hears you when you want a drink, and He gives you the Water that forever satisfies. He hears you when you’re hungry, and He gives His children the Bread of Life.
Because that’s what God is. He’s Power and Love. He gives His children a sound mind when they’re half-crazy with the after-effects of a ‘nightmare’. He removes the spirit of fear. That’s what He does, and that’s what He is.
Always and forever.
Even with skulls.
