“I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.” (Galatians 4:11)
Although God has not given us a spirit of fear, there are some things that should strike fear in us. Paul was afraid when he saw his spiritual children walking away from what he had taught them. All he had invested in them was in danger of being lost.
The enemy can certainly use the natural concern parents’ have for their children to torment them. The Israelites were petrified that the “giants” in the land would destroy their families. “And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?” (Num. 14:3)
Can God keep our kids? Absolutely! Do they have to fall prey to the evils of the day? Absolutely not! But, we do have an adversary, who has every intention of seducing them with what the world has to offer. We cannot fight him on their behalf while gripped by a spirit of fear. The battle is the Lord’s, and if we are going to see our children preserved in an evil day, we cannot resort to carnal weaponry. Before we expect them to walk in the fear of God, we must walk in His fear – cautiously and carefully making sure that all we do is of His Spirit, and not from our own anxious heart.
Behind much foolish action is an ungodly fear of what man can do to us and our families. Jesus warned His disciples: “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Mt. 10:28). The fear of man brings a snare. It has us rising up in fleshly, foolish excitement to strap on our swords and carnally battle flesh and blood. Such swords only destroy ears.
Yes, we live in an evil day, where iniquity abounds and the love of many, even our own children can wax cold. But we must know that the greatest enemy our children face is not outside them – it is in their own abandonment of the fear of the Lord. Our whole duty is to exemplify before them what it means to walk in the fear of God, not the fear of man.
“In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge.” (Proverbs 14:26)