Just finished reading Genghis Khan and the Mongol Horde by Harold Lamb (1954), one of the the boys' Sonlight Curriculum Yr 5 readers. This was a man who struck fear while he was alive in the 13th century, killing and ordering the killing of thousands. Years after his death, his name still stood for fear and his commands to conquer and vanquish, to wreak vengeance on his enemies were carried out by his sons, grandsons and generals. The word "horde" meaning a large crowd of people (n. sometimes disapproving) comes from the Mongol word "ordu".
"From the Roof of the World to far-off Baghdad the survivors lived in such fear that most of them no longer tried to protect themselves. The very sight of a nomad horseman made them helpless.
'I was on the road with seventeen other men,' one of them related. 'We saw a Tartar horseman coming up to us. He ordered us to tie up our companions - each man to bind another's arms behind his back. The others were beginning to obey him when I said to them, 'This man is alone. Let's kill him and escape.'
'They replied, 'We are too much afraid.'
''But this man will kill you,' I said.
'Still no one dared disobey the Tartar. So I killed him with a blow of my knife. Then we all ran away and saved ourselves.'" (page133)
Yes, there is a fear that paralyses: fear of men, what they can do to us, what others may say or think of us. If we seek the approval of men and their praise or honour, we will have no freedom to be truly ourselves or be truly at peace within. But there is a fear that sets us free from all other fears and lets us be ourselves.
Jesus said to his disciples in Matthew 5, "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." (Matt 5:28-31)
Psalm 112: "Praise the LORD.
Blessed is the man who fears the LORD,
who finds great delight in his commands.
...
He will have no fear of bad news;
his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.
His heart is secure, he will have no fear;
in the end he will look in triumph on his foes." (Ps 112:1,7,8)
Proverbs 9: "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." (Prov 9:10)
O Lord, teach me the fear of You, to delight in obeying your word, to be able to say with Peter and the early disciples, when the crunch comes, "We must obey God rather than men." (Acts 5:29)
Update: Genghis Khan's mausoleum found - CNN report here.
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