September 4, 2024
I don’t know about you but I’m more than a little tired with the glut of conspiracy theories out there. Whether about vaccines, politics, environment, or culture wars, a kind of social media swampland is incubating an ecosystem of fear. Indeed, it’s fear that fuels conspiracies. When someone with almost evangelical fervour tries to convince me of a current conspiracy I ask, “So what are you afraid of?”
When I was a teenager my dad once said to me, “Fear God and nothing else”, and then reminded me that “the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom”.
I was rereading the book of Isaiah recently and came across something I had highlighted in past readings, “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what it fears, or be in dread. But the Lord of hosts, him you shall regard as holy; let him be your fear, and let him be your dread” (Is. 8:12,13).
For God there are no surprises because He is omniscient. There is nothing outside of His control because He is sovereign. He can and does handle all eventualities because He is provident. He can be trusted.
Fear Him. Fear nothing else. Let your sleep be sweet.