We see our modern decorations. Ghosts dancing around trees, carved pumpkins (some happy, some frightful), witches and goblins suspended in mid-air, skeletons hanging from trees, zombies with ghoulish, gashed faces stalking the living. A fascination—perhaps playful—with the aura of death and graves and spirits.

It’s a time when we are supposed to be afraid. In the movie Halloween Sheriff Leigh Bracket tells Laurie Strode, “It’s Halloween; everyone’s entitled to one good scare.”

Fear is an interesting experience; on most days we avoid it like the plague. We are told

Fear is a natural, powerful, and primitive human emotion. It involves a universal biochemical response as well as a high individual emotional response. Fear alerts us to the presence of danger or the threat of harm, whether that danger is physical or psychological. Sometimes fear stems from real threats, but it can also originate from imagined dangers.

But when we are afraid, our heart races, adrenalin spikes exponentially increasing our alertness. Whether it’s a snake, or thinking about the future, or boarding a plane, or the presence of a crowd, fear quickly shouts, “You can’t handle this…run (if you can) to safety.”

So why would God ever allow any of us to be in a frightening, fearful situation?