Sunday, October 18th, 2009...9:43 pm
Which Fear?
High Calling Blogs Book Club:
The Wisdom of Wilderness, by Gerald G. May
Chapter Three: Night Fear
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Fear cultivates closeness.
Let me clarify: There is a fear which cultivates closeness. This kind of fear results in deepening intimacy. Intimacy. Intimacy with God is my greatest desire—the desire which burns white-hot at my very core—and fear gets me there.
Fear, a way to intimacy?
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1. A funny noise in the night worried me.
2. I laughed at the funny anecdote.
Of course, there is a funny, and there is a funny. The funny of #1 is funny-strange, and the funny of #2 is funny-ha ha.
Similarly, there is fear, and there is fear. Sometimes in this chapter it seems May means fear-terror. He actually uses the words “terror” and “terrifying.” In these cases, the way May relates to fear is beyond my comprehension and experience.
Yet other times I wonder, does May really mean that kind of fear? Does he mean fear-terror or fear-respect? If it is the latter, then yes—ohhhh yes—I can relate.
The secret [or intimacy] of the LORD is for those who fear Him.
- Psalm 25:14
Fear-respect. This is the kind of fear that leads to intimacy and closeness. The psalmist says it is so of the Lord. I have also experienced that it is so of human relationships. If I treat someone with disrespect, that person will certainly not want a deeper relationship with me. Likewise, if people treat me with disrespect, no WAY will my secrets be for them! We only share what is deeply important with those who “fear” us—that is, fear-respect.
If it is so with God, and if it is so with people, perhaps it is true of nature as well. If I respect the outdoors, I will have a fuller appreciation and a more intimate experience with the wilderness. I must fear-respect nature in order for me to enjoy God’s creation the way He intended. If I disrespect nature, I will find its pleasures distant, perhaps hostile.
No, I want the wilderness to tell me secrets. I will respect the wilderness.
(But I think I am still unable to connect with what May wanted to communicate in this chapter…)
...to Know-Love-Obey God
3 Comments
October 19th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
Hmmm. Very insightful, Monica. I never considered the differences in these types of fear in the context of May’s story. Perhaps, one breeds the other? Encountering a bear would certainly strike that terror kind of fear in me. But escaping unharmed would evoke the fear-respect, and likewise, the gratitude that May describes.
This chapter was a bit unusual in that May sort presents us with these mysteries of the voices in the night and the other things he hears/dreams.
But I’m still enjoying the writing and the story.
October 19th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
“I want the wilderness to tell me secrets.”
Yes. Me too.
October 19th, 2009 at 10:35 pm
[...] Monica’s Which Fear [...]
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