Living in fear
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The Bible has a lot to say about living in fear. Most folks will reference 2 Timothy 1 verse 7: For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Or maybe the Lord's Prayer, about fearing no Evil.
Of course, this is right. No one should live their lives in fear. Not in fear of other men or of any natural event, including famine or plague. Fear can numb the mind and kill the spirit. It can cause people to do irrational, hurtful things. It can turn love into hate. enough of it sows distrust and throws sand into the gears of society.
But the Bible also talks about prudence. Consider Proverbs 13:16 : Every prudent man dealeth with knowledge: but a fool layeth open his folly. There are many verses in the Bible about prudence.
So what is the take away from these two readings? I invite you to do a little searching and read some more passages about both fear and prudence. In my opinion, the Lord gave us a brain for a reason and we ought to be able to deal with the two concepts at the same time. On one hand, we need to live our lives, not fearing every shadow, every person or even every viral particle. On the other hand, prudence dictates that while living that life, we act prudently in taking whatever precautions we can, to ensure that we are not foolhardy in the face of danger.
The wise man weighs the risks, while simultaneously living his life as commanded by God, to the best of his ability. As mortals, that is the most we can do. The rest is in God's Hands.
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Fear is the mind killer.
Back when I used to go to church, I remember one of the sermons pointed out how many times the phrase 'Fear Not!' is used in the Bible - I think it was 365.
Prudence or caution is something else entirely.
