Thinking God’sWay, Lesson 4

Thinking God’sWay is a series of Bible studies that help believers meditate on theWord of God for the purpose of Christian growth. Each lesson features a verseof Scripture in English and the original language (whether Hebrew or Greek). Italso provides basic background information, followed by basic word definitionsand other key insights. Each lesson concludes with some questions formeditation and for applying the truth to life.

InitialThoughts

Many peoplewant to press their opinions upon you and pressure you into following theirpersonal agenda. We call this peer pressure and it happens all the time – notjust to teens!

When thishappens, how should you respond? Proverbs 29:25 helps answer this question by describingwhat happens when you another person’s personal agenda dominate your life, andit then it describes what happens when you trust the Lord instead.

Key Verse: Proverbs29:25

In English(NKJV)

The fear of manlays a snare,

     but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe.

In Hebrew

חֶרְדַּ֣ת אָ֭דָם יִתֵּ֣ן מוֹקֵ֑שׁ

וּבוֹטֵ֖חַ בַּיהוָ֣ה יְשֻׂגָּֽב

English andGreek Together

The fear (חֶרְדַּ֣ת) of man (אָ֭דָם) lays (יִתֵּ֣ן) a snare (מוֹקֵ֑שׁ),

     but whoever trusts (ּבוֹטֵ֖חַ) in the LORD (בַּיהוָ֣ה) is safe (יְשֻׂגָּֽב).

Background Information

This statementappears in the Old Testament book of Proverbs, which provides an extensivecollection of insights for a wide variety of situations. They teach you how tolive in a skillful, successful, and satisfying way.

Mostimportantly, they teach you how to make choices in light of what you know aboutGod, for “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (Prov 1:7). SinceGod is who he says he is, does what he says he does, and rules over everyaspect of our lives, we should give him the respect he deserves by makingchoices that reflect this awareness.

Keywords andtheir Meanings

Mounce’sComplete Expository Dictionary of Old & New Testament Words (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006) together with an interlinearBible, like The NKJV Greek English Interlinear New Testament (ThomasNelson, 1994) is an excellent way to get accurate definitions for your Biblestudy based upon Greek and Hebrew meanings.

• Fear(חֲרָדָה):“panic, fear, terror, horror” – as in trembling or shaking due to anoverwhelmingly stressful, dreadful, or horrific situation.
• Man (אָדָם): “man, human being;humankind, people.” This is a general reference to any person, whether male orfemale.
• Lays(נָתַן): “to give, put”. Thisword has a broad range of meaning and adapts to a variety of situations. Inthis case, “put” or “place” makes better sense than “give,” and “bring” isanother good option. “Lay” is a good choice because that is one way to describe“putting a trap down” – you “lay a trap.” Ultimately, the point is that the “fearof man” places a trap into your life where there wasn’t one before.
• Snare(מוֹקֵשׁ): “snare, trap, thatwhich captures prey; by extension: ensnarement, entrapment (of a person).”
• Trusts(בִּטְחָה): “trust, confidence.”It derives from a Hebrew stem, בָּטַח, that, that means “totrust, rely on, put confidence in.” This same stem can also mean “to stumble,fall to the ground,” which provides us with an interesting play on words. Onone hand, the act of “stumbling or falling to the ground” parallels steppinginto a trap (from the A-line), while also providing a contrasting conceptinstead, one of “putting your trust in” or “falling onto” the LORD.
• TheLORD (יהוה): “LORD (Yahweh), theproper name of the one true God; knowledge and use of the name implies personalor covenant relationship; the name pictures God as the one who exists and/orcauses existence.”
• Safe(שָׂגַב): sometimes the Hebrewform of a word alters its meaning. The Qal form means “to be too strong for.”However, this occurrence is in the Pual form, so it means “to be kept safe,”especially by being “lifted up high” for the purpose of protection.

Other KeyInsights

This statementis written in a format called Hebrew parallelism. In this case, it features twolines (a “couplet”) with opposite ideas, which is called an antithetical(or contrasting) couplet. When you study a couplet, call the first linethe “A Line” and the second line the “B Line.”

The Hebrewparallelism format helps you to memorize Scripture and think about it in areflective, thought-provoking way. When you think about a proverb, don’t justask questions about the individual words and lines, but also ask questionsabout how the lines relate to each other.

Questions forMeditation and Reflection

How would youdescribe the word fear in your own words? Recall one or two examplesfrom your life when you experienced this kind of emotion.

Another Hebrew wordfor fear (יָרֵא)appears in Ecclesiastes 12:13, where it says, “Fear God and keep hiscommandments.” This word means “to be afraid,” but in a respectful, honorificway due to the awesomeness of whatever or whomever you are fearing.

The word inProverbs 29:25 (חֲרָדָה)is different because it focuses on the basic human instinct to shake andtremble when you are scared of someone or something, regardless of whether it deservesto be feared and regardless of whether it is noble or awesome. You would usethis word to describe the phobias in your life, like being scared of mice andcockroaches, or heights and tight spaces. What are you afraid of?

Why do peoplefear other people and let them wrongfully control their lives?

We fear what people can do to us if we act contrary to their wishes (see Psa 118:6; Matt 10:28). You fear the bully at school will punch your face if you won’t give him the answers to your homework assignment. You fear the professor in college will reduce your grade if you express a biblical worldview in your classroom feedback. You fear your boss will fire you if you report workplace violations. In other words, we naturally choose “the past of least resistance,” thinking it will go easier or turn out better if we do.

How does thismindset and emotion set a trap in your life?

This sort of fear motivates you to “save” or “protect” yourself by making decisions that avoid negative reactions. Yet in doing so, you end up being trapped in a more subtle, limiting, and destructive way. Though you may avoid “resistance” on the front end, you increase resistance over the long run. First, one such “self-protective” act leads to another, giving the people you fear a greater power over your life. Second, you diminish your ability to do what is right, increasing the potential for blackmail and establishing crippling habits and patterns of life that become more difficult to break.

What are someresults that occur when the fear of man entraps you?

You may losethe ability to speak the truth to others because you have lost credibility. Youmay lose the flexibility to pursue new opportunities because an illegitimateperson controls your life. Ultimately, you will fail to achieve your God-givenpotential.

Why does thisproverb link use the word trust in contrast with fear?

Though thesewords don’t mean the same thing, they both feature a similar concept. When you makechoices due to the “fear of man,” you are – in a backwards sort of way –expecting the bully, atheistic professor, or unethical boss to protect andadvance your life if you cater to him or her. Trusting in the LORD conveys asimilar outlook because you are expecting God to protect or advance your life instead.

How doesknowing the meaning of LORD encourage you to trust in him instead of fearingother people?

As scary andfrightening as some people in your life may be (and as real and inescapable asthey may seem to be), the LORD is the more reliable person by far, even thoughyou can’t see him in a physical way. First, he made everything,including the people you’re afraid of. So to fear any other person over the LORDis to fear someone who is infinitely inferior in every way. Second, he is aloyal, faithful, covenant-keeping God. He is entirely reliable and always hasyour best interest in mind.

How can youknow what the LORD wants you to do and whether his will is different from whatother people are pressuring you to do?

You can knowwhat the LORD wants you to do by developing a personal familiarity with hisWord (Psa 119:105).

What is thedifference between doing what the LORD wants you to do and doing what youwant to do?

Sometimes werightly turn away from peer pressure in its many forms, but for the wrongreason. We want freedom to do what we want to do rather than what Godwants for us. We hope to break free of the toxic, selfish, controlling peoplein our lives, but only to live a self-gratifying life of our own makinginstead. This, too, is a kind of enslavement to our selfish, sinful nature andis a foolish and destructive pathway of a similar kind (Psa 14:1-3).

This happenswhen a child wishes to rebel against the loving discipline of a parent, aspouse wishes to abandon their marriage, or an employee wishes to dump theirjob because they want to “do their own thing,” “be themselves,” and “not haveanyone tell them what to do.” Yet that is not what this proverb encourages usto do. Instead, it encourages us to know the difference between what Godwants you to do (as revealed in Scripture) and what other people wantyou to do.

Consider, forinstance, how Peter encourages believers to submit themselves to their employers,even when their employers are crooked, harsh, and unjust (1 Pet 2:18-25). Ultimately,our goal should be to do the will of God, even when other people pressure usotherwise. We should “obey God rather than men,” even when the outcome seemsdangerous or life-threatening (Acts 5:29).

What does theword safe tell you will happen when you choose to trust in the LORD whenother people are pressuring you otherwise?

This is afascinating word, isn’t it? First, it describes something that happens toyou. In this case, the action you take is to “trust in the LORD,” whichmeans you do whatever the Word of God teaches you to do in a given situation. Doingso is like “falling onto the LORD,” similar to the “trust fall” fad a few yearsago, which is still used as a team building exercise sometimes. This consistsof falling to the ground, expecting someone nearby to grab you and keep youfrom falling.

When you dowhat God’s Word teaches you to do in a given situation – despite crippling andfrightening human pressure to do otherwise – it may feel like a “trust fall,”but when you know the nature of our all-powerful, all-creating,covenant-keeping God, you won’t fall at all – you’ll be lifted high above thedanger you feared, free to move forward to continue fulfilling God’s purposefor your life.

A PersonalTranslation

Before youconsider how to apply this truth to your life by allowing it to change yourmindset and approach to life, write out a personal translation. Use what youhave learned  to write this verse in yourown words.

Questions forPersonal Application

1. What are some ways that the “fear of man” influences the decisions you make? In particular, who is putting this pressure on you?
2. Describe how these instances are entrapping you and holding you back from spiritual progress?
3. Howwell do you know what the Bible teaches about the decisions that you are facing?
4. Areyou wanting to release yourself from human pressure to do what you wantto do or to do what the LORD wants you to do?
5. Whatpersonal attributes of God do you need to acknowledge and rely upon that willenable you to make godly, biblical decisions even when you are facing strongpressure to do something else that other people want you to do?
6. Whatare you afraid might happen if you don’t do what people are pressuring you todo? How can the LORD keep you safe?