Overcoming Fear

Franklin Delano Roosevelt began his presidency during a time when the country was facing a tremendous economic challenge. The stock market had crashed 3 years earlier, and the impact had devastated the economy to an extent that makes today's headlines seem mild. Unemployment was at 25%, about half of all mortgages were in default, and thousands of banks and savings and loans had failed. As Roosevelt stepped up to the microphone at his inauguration, some of the first words he spoke became immortal:

"So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."

FDR recognized that economic difficulties naturally tend to stir up feelings of fear, and he wisely sought to address these feelings directly as he assumed the presidency. But what about his answer? Is "not fearing" fear the best way to deal with it? Don't the threats continue to exist, even if we refuse to be afraid? Are our own efforts always adequate to produce the "advance" that we desire? And for the millions of real people (Christians included) who struggle with fear amidst today's myriad of uncertainties — doesn't God give tools for not just denying fear, but actually overcoming it?

FDR's words that day became part of our national consciousness because they were a call to courage in the face of some very scary circumstances. Such a call from a leader in the midst of crisis is appropriate and commendable. But to call people to hope apart from a concrete reason to hope can just be an expression of wishful thinking and does nothing more to help our situation than shivering in fear does.

In order to understand this truth, we need to understand that when we are afraid, there are generally 2 components at work simultaneously. First, there is a threat of some kind; a set of circumstances that makes us feel that something bad might to happen to us. Second, there is an awareness that we lack the resources to keep the bad thing from happening. For the citizens who heard FDR share his address that day, the threat was that they would have to face financial ruin and all that that entails. They also were aware that they couldn't realistically stop financial catastrophe from visiting their home. Thus, they were scared. Was their fear justified? Yes, it was. The truth is that in spite of Roosevelt's New Deal programs and his call to abandon fear, the country's serious financial troubles would persist for another 10 years or so after this speech. And was it the effort and courage of the American citizens that stemmed the tide and ended the Great Depression? No. History suggests that it was the tremendous infusion of money into the American economy from WW2 spending that finally brought financial relief.

The Bible records many examples of fearful people who placed their hope in themselves and were sorely disappointed with the outcome. Peter was so petrified the night of Jesus' arrest that he first impulsively attacked the authorities who came to take Jesus and later disowned Christ 3 times to save his own neck. Yet the night before, Peter had boasted confidently that even if all the other disciples abandoned Jesus, he would never do so (Matthew 26:33) He had very good reasons to be afraid the next day, and the sad outcome was not avoided by his soaring rhetoric and expressions of self confidence. When push came to shove on the night of Jesus' betrayal, Peter's fears kicked in as his resources failed.

Contrast Peter's brazenness with the boldness of three young Hebrew captives, who bravely and calmly faced the threat of being cast alive into a fiery furnace, "Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king." (Daniel 3:17) In place of self confidence, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego announced their faith in God to deliver them. They believed that they could place their very lives into the hands of God, and that He had the resources to keep them from harm.

But was theirs a blind leap of faith? Were they simply denying the danger that they were in (in the name of courage)? Or were they ignoring the possibility that God might not choose to spare them? No, because the next words they spoke indicated that theirs was a faith that squarely faced the reality of the whole situation, "But if not (i.e., even if God does not deliver us), be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up." They had made up their minds that they were going to trust and obey God, resting in His wisdom, and content to accept His perfect will whether it meant deliverance or martyrdom.

In these days of financial uncertainty, God issues a call to courage for us as well. But it is not a baseless "hope for hope's sake" or an injunction "not to fear fear" that He offers. According to the Word of God, fear is not overcome by denying the dangers that we face nor by placing undue confidence in ourselves or anything else in all creation. It is overcome by facing the threats honestly while also fully recognizing God as our Guide, Companion, and Deliverer. We will not slay the dragons of fear in our lives by "efforts to advance rather than retreat" but by laying hold the promise of God's presence, His wisdom and His loving care.

Let your conversation (conduct) be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. (Hebrews 13:5)

Keep yourselves in the Love of God

Flashing lights greeted the kids and me as we headed towards the intersection of Highways of 95 and 53 last Monday. The familiar road was not even properly blocked off yet, but emergency vehicles were arriving from every direction. We immediately knew that someone had just experienced a tremendous shock, and perhaps was facing a tragedy. We began to pray for safety for the victims and asked God to work in their hearts even through this terrible circumstance. Heavy hearted and a little shaken, we drove on home only to receive an email asking for prayer for the local Christian mother who had just been in a car crash. The next day, when I realized that the family mentioned was one that we had met through homeschool soccer, I just put my head in my hands and wept. Another Christian family in our community facing a major crisis, the fourth in a string of tragedies over the last weeks left me stunned and grieving.

It was a little over three years ago that we faced a similar series of crises within our own extended family. After about 6 months of "mysterious" symptoms, Tim's 45 year old brother was diagnosed with liver and colon cancer. As the aggressive cancer quickly spread throughout his body it was clear that unless God intervened, he would only have a few months to live. We traveled east to be with him and his family, spending three precious weeks with them before we had to return home. While still reeling from this tragic situation, we received word that my mother had a spot on her lungs that the doctors believed might be cancer. Further tests would reveal that it was. Six short weeks later we headed back to Illinois for the funeral of Tim's brother. Surprised by the suddenness of the situations; we moved through those days struggling to show love and support our families in spite of our own shock and grief.

However, amidst the sorrow and unanswered questions, God provided comfort for us through the ministry of a godly Presbyterian pastor at the church we were attending at that time. Sunday after Sunday as he faithfully proclaimed the love and providence of God, our hearts were refreshed and revived. His messages seemed to echo the words Corrie ten Boom, "There is no pit so deep that God's love is not deeper still." How desperately we needed to be reminded of the amazing vastness of God's love and power. It would have been so easy to allow emotional fatigue and the heartbreaking circumstances to determine our outlook. However, we recognized that God was calling to us to keep ourselves in His love. "Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." (Jude 21)

On the surface, this seems like a strange command for God to make. How can we help but be in the love of God? The Bible tells us that at His very essence, God is love. If God is love and God is omnipresent, how can we be anywhere but in the love of God? And yet, Scripture in other passages explains that it is possible for us to harden our hearts and pull away from the wellsprings of His love. It is a temptation that we all face. Unexplainable suffering or difficulties often cause us to resist the love of God and this can lead us to a place of fear or unbelief— a place where we cannot help but feel "away from" or "outside of" the love of God. An honest appraisal reveals that at the core of turning away from the love of God is always our own sin.

So what are we to do if in the midst of the greatest trials of our lives we find ourselves faltering? We must go to the One knows all about our struggles with doubt and believe He loves us anyway. But we have to go honestly . . . . broken, weary, weeping. We need to turn to Him and ask him to do in us what we cannot do in our own strength …to teach us to abide in Him. Perhaps that is why many early Puritan pioneers often answered each other's enquiries as to how they were doing with the simple phrase . . . "Being kept."

• "Being kept" in the love of God, to know His peace and even joy in the middle of life's painful twists and turns.
• "Being kept" from doubts, fears or unbelief.
• "Being kept" from sinful responses to our painful circumstances whether it be anger, jealousy, or pettiness.
• "Being kept" from relentless pleasure seeking in an effort to numb the pain of life
• "Being kept" from gossip and slander, when we want to lash out in frustration at our circumstances.
• "Being kept" from sin, so that we might experience the fellowship and comfort of God.

And in the end, when we stand facing God and eternity, we will look back at our feeble attempts to "keep ourselves in the love of God", knowing that it was God, Himself, the Author and Finisher of our faith who ultimately did the keeping.

"Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen." Jude 1:24

When Eternity invades the Present

I stood there looking over the shoulder of my fourteen year old daughter, examining the digital pictures I had taken at the NIHEA graduation last June. I didn't know many of the 8th graders on the screen, but upon hearing such unsettling news, we just had to check... We zoomed in on one of the certificates that the kids were holding and there it was written in calligraphy, plain enough to read: Isaac Norris. I turned away and began to shake, overcome with emotion. I didn't even know Isaac, but there was something about seeing his smiling face, and that he was standing there a few feet away from my daughter on the same stage, that just un-did me. It could have been my daughter who was taken, it could have been my wife that was fighting for her life in a Seattle hospital. And suddenly a sense of kindredness in the suffering of Isaac's father, Craig, and his whole family piled down on me. I decided it was a good time to go work on the car--and have a good cry.

I cannot begin to unravel the mystery of this tragic event in the Norris family. My best guesses about the purposes of God in allowing it feel like stabs in the dark. But as I found myself touched by all that I had in common with the Norrises, certainly all who have heard about their loss have found some sort of common ground and felt a shudder. Why is this? For one thing, we all are similarly touched by the results of sin. It might not be the level of suffering that we see the Norris family undergoing, but how many have not experienced what a ruthless destroyer sin is, whether it be our own sin or the sins of others? In our weakness we groan with creation "waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." (Rom. 8:23) We long for the day when there will be no more pain, or tears or sorrow, no more injustice, no more death and no more sin. But we are not to wait in a "sterile, solitary, grit-it-out" sort of way. We must remember that we follow in the footsteps of One who experienced all the good and bad of life, and felt the same sick feeling in the pit of his stomach at the tragic results of sin. "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." (Heb. 4:15) And it is this same Savior who calls to us saying,"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matt. 11:28

Another reason that such an event shakes us at our foundations is that for a brief moment, eternity invades the present. Most of us live our lives in some manner pretending that this life will not be followed by another. We live in low-level denial of the judgments that we will face and the eternal consequences (both good and bad) of our choices now. Even as Christians we are often so busy looking after the temporal things which are seen, that we have little time or energy for the unseen things which are eternal. And then we lose a loved one, or have a close call on the highway, or receive a terrifying result from a medical test. And suddenly our denial system comes crashing down and we are forced to acknowledge what we knew down deep all along; we are sons of eternity, made by God and returning to Him one day. We have to soberly admit that we are not sons of earth as much as we are sons of heaven, and that preparation for the world to come, both for ourselves and those around us, is the most important business of our lives.

"So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." Ps. 90:12