Let Him Be Your Fear

The youth theme this year is “Look Unto Christ” and comes from this scripture: “Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not” (Doctrine and Covenants 6:36). I thought of this yesterday evening as my children were all discussing, and becoming frightened by, the fact that a car was stolen from someone in our neighborhood and people were seen on camera trying to get into houses. This was also coupled with a discussion about the terrible Palisades fire that has caused horrific damage and danger, causing even more things to increase the fear of my children. But the Lord doesn’t want us to live in fear, and like in this scripture, He has repeated numerous times in this dispensation that we should not fear or be afraid no matter what is happening around us. In the same section He also said, “Therefore, fear not, little flock; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are built upon my rock, they cannot prevail” (Doctrine and Covenants 6:34). To Peter Whitmer He also said, “The time has come that it is expedient in me that you shall open your mouth to declare my gospel; therefore, fear not, but give heed unto the words and advice of your brother, which he shall give you” (Doctrine and Covenants 30:5). In another revelation to all the Saints the Lord said, “Fear not, little flock, the kingdom is yours until I come. Behold, I come quickly” (Doctrine and Covenants 35:27). He also encouraged us with these words, “Therefore, be ye strong from henceforth; fear not, for the kingdom is yours” (Doctrine and Covenants 38:15). Another section includes this injunction: “Fear not, little children, for you are mine, and I have overcome the world, and you are of them that my Father hath given me” (Doctrine and Covenants 50:41). To Jared Carter specifically the Lord said as he was leaving on a mission, “Wherefore, let your heart be glad, my servant Jared Carter, and fear not, saith your Lord, even Jesus Christ” (Doctrine and Covenants 79:4). And in a revelation at the time of great tribulations in Missouri among the Saints in Zion, the Lord, declared, “Wherefore, fear not even unto death; for in this world your joy is not full, but in me your joy is full” (Doctrine and Covenants 101:36). We should not fear even death, for in Him we shall have joy, whether in this life or the next. All these scriptures, and many others, highlight that the Lord really does not want us to fear, despite the calamities of our day. We should focus on faith in Him, not the fear that can easily beset us from what is happening in the world around us.

               There is a kind of fear that we should have, though, very different from being afraid of what is happening in the world. Isaiah summed it up in these short verses: “Say ye not, A confederacy, to all to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of Hosts himself, and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread” (2 Nephi 18:12-13). We need not fear what the world fears, but we should fear the Lord. Of course, this is not the kind of fear that that makes us afraid but that fills us with respect and awe and reverence for the Lord. Our greatest fear should be to do that which is not pleasing in the sight of the Lord. In 1831 there were Elders who had traveled to Jackson County, and the Lord said this of them: “But with some I am not well pleased, for they will not open their mouths, but they hide the talent which I have given unto them, because of the fear of man. Wo unto such, for mine anger is kindled against them” (Doctrine and Covenants 60:2). They feared man more than they feared God, and so they kept silent when they could have been preaching the gospel to those around them. The Savior, on the other hand, was unafraid of what men thought when He was on the earth, and He declared to a group very antagonistic to Him: “And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.” Some believed Him, but many reviled Him. He was not afraid, though, and declared His divinity: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:29, 58). This caused them to cast stones at Him and seek to kill Him, but that did not prevent Him from opening His mouth as the Father wanted Him to. When we, like Him, learn to care only about what God thinks of us, we know that we will have overcome the world as He did.