Emotion Wheel: Fear
Notes
Transcript
Emotion Wheel: Fear
Emotion Wheel: Fear
I mentioned that for most of my life I struggled to be in touch with my emotions.
I linked an emotionless life to godliness.
I believed that God was able to move past emotions and simply make the decisions that needed to be made.
But I found myself struggling with that belief.
Eventually, I grew up and discovered that I did feel things.
But I had no language for how I felt.
Until one day, I discovered something on the internet.
It was called an emotion wheel.
Here is what one looks like.
I used to be embarrassed to admit that I needed something like this to put a name to how I felt.
Then I noticed how many of these exist on Google. Try it. Google emotion wheel, click on images, and see how many exist.
What this told me was many, many people need help 1) naming what they feel, and 2) communicating how they feel with others.
I guess I am not alone!
And I learned something about emotions from my friends at DM:
***Emotions are information***
We are going to take one primary emotion around the center of the wheel each week and explore it through a biblical character.
Last week we did Anger.
This week, we are going to cover Fear.
Let’s be interactive.
When I say ‘fear’ what is the first thought in your mind?
Was it a person? A situation? Yourself?
And object, like money, house, car?
How about here in church?
If I were to suggest ‘fear, God, scripture, Jesus’ do any of those conjure a different answer in your mind?
How many of you associate Fear, Terror, Dread with God?
Let’s dispel that idea right now.
The first occurence of ‘fear’ happens in Genesis 15:1
Some time later, the Lord spoke to Abram in a vision and said to him, “Do not be afraid, Abram, for I will protect you, and your reward will be great.”
In Gen 35:3 the terror of God fell on cities so they would leave Jacob and his family alone and not attack them.
What kinds of things happen when people ‘fear God?’
The midwives in Exodus 1:17 feared God and they did not kill the newborn male children.
So, God blessed them with families (Ex 1:21)
Often in the book of Leviticus we see the phrase, ‘you shall fear your God: I am the LORD.’
It follows some commands:
Do not mistreat the deaf or blind
Honor your elderly among you
Do not wrong each other
You shall not take interest from others
You shall not rule ruthlessly over slaves
How about the New Testament.
There are a couple of places fear shows up…
But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
You know what is interesting?
Abraham was very old, married for a long time, and never able to have children.
God tells him, ‘do not be afraid.’
Joseph is young, about to be married, and his fiance not supposed to be pregnant
God tells him, ‘do not be afraid.’
Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not been able to bear children for him. But she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, “The Lord has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.” And Abram agreed with Sarai’s proposal. So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian servant and gave her to Abram as a wife. (This happened ten years after Abram had settled in the land of Canaan.) So Abram had sexual relations with Hagar, and she became pregnant. But when Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to treat her mistress, Sarai, with contempt. Then Sarai said to Abram, “This is all your fault! I put my servant into your arms, but now that she’s pregnant she treats me with contempt. The Lord will show who’s wrong—you or me!” Abram replied, “Look, she is your servant, so deal with her as you see fit.” Then Sarai treated Hagar so harshly that she finally ran away.
Hagar flees from Sarai and she is found by the LORD in the desert.
God heard her cries and she names her son Ishmael. God will hear.
“Where is Sarah, your wife?” the visitors asked. “She’s inside the tent,” Abraham replied. Then one of them said, “I will return to you about this time next year, and your wife, Sarah, will have a son!” Sarah was listening to this conversation from the tent. Abraham and Sarah were both very old by this time, and Sarah was long past the age of having children. So she laughed silently to herself and said, “How could a worn-out woman like me enjoy such pleasure, especially when my master—my husband—is also so old?” Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, ‘Can an old woman like me have a baby?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”
The Lord kept his word and did for Sarah exactly what he had promised. She became pregnant, and she gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age. This happened at just the time God had said it would. And Abraham named their son Isaac.
Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born.
When Isaac grew up and was about to be weaned, Abraham prepared a huge feast to celebrate the occasion. But Sarah saw Ishmael—the son of Abraham and her Egyptian servant Hagar—making fun of her son, Isaac. So she turned to Abraham and demanded, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son. He is not going to share the inheritance with my son, Isaac. I won’t have it!” This upset Abraham very much because Ishmael was his son. But God told Abraham, “Do not be upset over the boy and your servant. Do whatever Sarah tells you, for Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted. But I will also make a nation of the descendants of Hagar’s son because he is your son, too.” So Abraham got up early the next morning, prepared food and a container of water, and strapped them on Hagar’s shoulders. Then he sent her away with their son, and she wandered aimlessly in the wilderness of Beersheba. When the water was gone, she put the boy in the shade of a bush. Then she went and sat down by herself about a hundred yards away. “I don’t want to watch the boy die,” she said, as she burst into tears. But God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, “Hagar, what’s wrong? Do not be afraid! God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. Go to him and comfort him, for I will make a great nation from his descendants.” Then God opened Hagar’s eyes, and she saw a well full of water. She quickly filled her water container and gave the boy a drink. And God was with the boy as he grew up in the wilderness. He became a skillful archer, and he settled in the wilderness of Paran. His mother arranged for him to marry a woman from the land of Egypt.
Hagar has a moment of fear and God shows up.
How nice would that be.
Okay, this is a biblical story that is not the norm. But it is relatable.
A single mother in a culture that is not likely going to take her in
She is not from this land, she is from Egypt
She cannot provide for him, so she cries out to God.
Let’s explore a few things:
What would a typical Christian response be?
How about 1 John 4:18
Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.
Or
Then, turning to his disciples, Jesus said, “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food to eat or enough clothes to wear.
Or
Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
Some would call Hagar a ‘sinner.’
This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you. For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. So never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord. And don’t be ashamed of me, either, even though I’m in prison for him. With the strength God gives you, be ready to suffer with me for the sake of the Good News.
You see that little verse there. We could hop on Google right now, search that verse and the word sin and find all kinds of sources, some very popular, that will say fear is a sin because it is a lack of faith.
Here is how it would go with Hagar:
Hagar, why are you worried and afraid of your future?
Yes, you were taken from Egypt as a slave to Sarai
Yes, she severely mistreated you
Yes, God said it was okay for you to be kicked out
Yes, you have run out of water and food
Yes, the boy is not doing well
But don’t you know you are sinning by being afraid?
Where is your faith in God?
God loves you, as you can tell since he okayed your exit
Why don’t you love God?
If you loved God you would have no fear, because perfect love casts out all fear.
And on and on.
But this verse in 2 Timothy has NOTHING to do with that kind of fear.
It is stripped from its context and used like a hammer to make people conform.
Let’s look at the rest of it.
The fear has to do with sharing the gospel.
So this passage in 2 Timothy has nothing to do with regular anxiety, dread, and fear.
Fear is something built into all of us, even scripture affirms this.
Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.”
Some will say, but that is after they ate, so sin changed them.
No. Because Eve, before she ate, had fear.
The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?” “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’ ” “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman.
She knows what death is. She knows it is not good. She knows the command and the consequences.
She is convinced that what God said was not true.
That removed the fear of the consequence.
Eve had fear before she ate. That fear had to be removed by the serpent for her to act.
Fear is part of our makeup.
Fear is what helps us survive.
******
We often confuse fear, anxiety, and dread.
We should know the difference
Anxiety: the threat is in the future
Fear: the threat is now—in the present
When we are anxious we usually shift into worry or avoidance.
Worry is described as a chain of negative thoughts about bad things that might happen in the future.
Avoidance is not showing up and spending energy fleeing from something that is already consuming us.
Anxiety shifts into dread as the time approaches, because the probability of it happening is increasing.
Dread shifts into fear.
Whatever it may be that is the root of anxiety, dread, and fear, they exist for a reason:
It helps every species, including humans, to be cautious and survive.
Fear is a signal to act or not act.
It can help us make wise choices in and out of relationships
Let’s look at what scripture says about fear.
(we will close with these)
The first of wisdom is the fear of the LORD; good understanding to all who have done it. (Ps 110:10)
The fear of the LORD is the first of knowledge; wisdom and discipline fools despise (Pr 1:7)
The first of wisdom: purchase wisdom, and of all you purchase, purchase understanding (Pr 4:7)
The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the LORD; knowledge of holiness is understanding (Pr 9:10)
Properly understood fear leads to life
Fear of the Lord is a life-giving fountain; it offers escape from the snares of death.
Whatever it may be that is the root of anxiety, dread, and fear, they exist for a reason:
It helps every species, including humans, to be cautious and survive.
Fear is a signal to act or not act.
It can help us make wise choices in and out of relationships
Emotion Wheel: Anger
Emotion Wheel: Anger