Notes for22 July 2017

Fear before the unknown, secret – is specific for Men. Because we can try to get ready in advance for something known, anyway we can know what to expect from known things. A secret danger is always unexpected and unpredictable, it is impossible to “put the straw” and somehow ease the aftergrowths. And it is natural. But this naturalness does not mean correctness before God; it goes from altered falls of human nature, from the habits of life in disbelieving, and therefore in fear. Fear is the main state of a fallen human soul, and man fears not only the real, but also the imaginary dangers. Thus, the imaginary dangers are always more awful, because they are inevitably “secret” (since the known can only be reality).

God does not say to people practically every time they meet “don’t be afraid” accidentally. He summons us to have confidence, since there is no fear in confidence. Indeed, God Himself is most inscrutable for man, and if we are to be afraid of someone, it should be of God alone, and not of some God’s creations and their “conspiracies”. Fortunately God reveals Himself to us through Jesus Christ as a genuine love, which means that we should not be afraid of Him, but instead love - seek the meeting with piety and trepidation.