Yanked out of sleep, I sat straight up in bed.  I could hear wild howls coming from Shep, our Australian Shepherd. “What on earth is going on?” I mumbled so as not to wake the boys.  Fumbling in the dark, I pulled the curtain back and peered out into the dark night. I glanced back to the nightstand. The clock said 12:30. “What’s out there?”

Does fear ever overtake you in the night when you hear a noise and don’t know what is going on?  David says that if we live in the secret place, we will not be afraid of the terror by night.  Let’s see what he’s talking about.

AFRAID is Strong’s #3372 and it looks like this:   It is a primitive root verb meaning to fear, to respect, to reverence, to be afraid, to be awesome, to be feared, to make afraid, to frighten. The most common translations are to be afraid, to fear, to fear God.

 Yod 10 = The outcome or completion of something. Means: Hand, Right Arm, Power, Right hand of God’s power, a Deed Done, To Work, to Cover, Allow, Hollow, Open Hand

Resh  200 = Insufficiency, Poverty. Picture: Head Means: Head, Chief, Beginning, Highest, Most Important, a Person, Human Reasoning vs. Obedience.  (When we allow human reasoning to be our master, our head, poverty of the Spirit results.)

  Aleph 1= God – Echad – Unity, Unique (no other like it) Means: Ox head—Strength or Leader, Most Important, First – The Strength and Power of the leader

When we dwell in Him, we are not Afraid, because God (Aleph), the Supreme Head(Resh) over all, extends His Right Hand of Power(Yod) in our behalf.

But, when we are not dwelling in Him we are afraid because the things we are facing seem Bigger and more Powerful than us. It gets in our Head where Human Reasoning causes us to feel Insufficient.

Let’s look at this word terror. Surprises are in store.

TERROR

6343     ‎pachad (pakh’-ad); from OT:6342; a (sudden) alarm (properly, the object feared, by implication, the feeling): KJV – dread (-ful), fear, (thing) great [fear, -ly feared], terror.
<6342> ‎pachad (paw-kkad’); a primitive root; to be startled (by a sudden alarm); hence, to fear in general: KJV – be afraid, stand in awe, (be in) fear, make to shake.

  Pey 80 = New Governmental Order.  Means: Mouth, to Speak, Open or Beginning.

  Chet  8 = New Beginnings. Means: Fence, Gate, Tent wall to Separate, Protect, Cut off. Torah

  Dallet  4 =  Earth or creation.  Means: Door, Gate, Impoverished man, to come from indicates a pathway, a place of decision, or an entrance to life or death. 

Terror comes with Spoken Words (Pey), threatening Separation and lack of Protection (Chet) and tempting us to feel helpless, like an Impoverished man(Dallet).

That is exactly what I was feeling on that dark night and many other nights to follow. Night is often the time for our greatest fear attacks. But night in this scripture doesn’t always refer to nighttime hours. Let’s take a look:

NIGHT is Strong’s #3915 and it looks like this:   It is a masculine noun meaning night, midnight. This Hebrew word primarily describes the portion of the day between sunset and sunrise.  Figuratively, it signifies the gloom or despair from an absence of divine guidance.

Did you catch that highlighted sentence in the middle of the definition? When there is an absence of divine guidance, we are especially vulnerable to attack.

Let’s see what the letters tell us:

  Lamed  30 =  Blood of Messiah, Dedication to a task.  Means: Staff, Goad or Stick, to Teach or Instruct, Authority, to Control, Urge Forward, a Tongue

  Yod 10 = The outcome or completion of something. Means: Hand, Right Arm, Power, Right hand of God’s power, a Deed Done, To Work, to Cover, Allow, Hollow, Open Hand

  Lamed  30 =  Blood of Messiah, Dedication to a task.  Means: Staff, Goad or Stick, to Teach or Instruct, Authority, to Control, Urge Forward, a Tongue

Night is when the enemy comes to goad us, leading us away from the light (Lamed) and the Strength of God’s Right hand of Power (Yod). He wants to put us in the dark.

The bouts of sleeplessness increased. I discovered that Shep barked at every hopping rabbit or skittering skunk. I was never sure what the source of his agitation was. People looking for an address, others with flat tires or breakdowns of some kind pounded on our door long after bedtime. My husband often found me pacing the floor when he arrived home from work after a swing shift.

After several months of this, I had enough. Coming to my senses, I remembered my God, Who was well able to protect me. I decided to face my fears head-on with the LORD.

The next time wild barking shook me from my sleep, I sat up in bed with determination. “God, I don’t know what is out there but I am tired of being afraid and I really need to get some sleep. From here on out I am putting You in charge of all of this. If there is something that I need to do, wake me up. If not, help me sleep. Thank You Father, Amen.”

From then on, I don’t ever remember waking up afraid. If I did hear the dog or the pounding on the door, I’d ask God what I needed to do. Normally He’d tell me to go back to sleep, which I did. A couple of times He led me to talk to people through the locked door, give them the directions they needed, or place a phone call for a relative to come to help them.  But the fear factor faded.

Another night, a year later, I had a dream God used to speak to me about fear:

~~~Journal Notes~~~

I woke up from a weird dream about a dark cloud descending. People were afraid. I was afraid too but started praising God.  When I did, the dark cloud turned to tiny birds and flew away.

When I woke up I heard Him say, “You must not be afraid of anything. In the future, you will see many things that will frighten you, but as you worship, you will see beyond the circumstances and know that I am Holy and transcendent over all that you can see. Only as you lift your eyes to Me will fear, dissipate, and leave like a flock of birds. Look to Me and live.”

In these present days of uncertainties and bumps in the night, let’s remember our changeless Almighty God.  He is ever-present and always willing and ready to help.  If we are truly dwelling in Him, we have nothing to fear from the lies of the enemy.  I’ve come to love this scripture and turn to it often.  It points me back to the promises of Psalm 91:5.

I will both lie down in peace, and sleep;
For You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.  Psalm 4:8

Shalom ♥

Next we will consider the arrows that fly by day.

*Photo by Peter Oslanec on Unsplash