Fear and Faith - At odds since time began

When my kids were young, I taught them a little chorus from Steve Green with these words: “When I am afraid, I will trust in Him…In God whose word I praise.”

I wanted to get that truth into their souls – that we will sometimes be afraid, but God is trust-worthy. He is worthy of our trust.

When people were first created by God, there was nothing for them to fear. They hung out with every sort of animal, all food was provided for them, and they walked and talked with God Himself. No fear. Peace.

Oh, but then. Then they listened to our enemy and disobeyed the one restriction that God had placed on them, and that’s where fear began. Their first fear was of facing up to God after what they had done, but then they were banished from their perfect and comfortable life and then killing and harm began in the world. And fear grew. Sadly, things have not gotten better, have they?

There are predators, and there are prey. Lions are predators, antelope are prey. Some people are predators and sometimes we are prey to other people. We as women are especially vulnerable, and so we have a heightened sense of fear. That’s good if we are facing real danger. But it can also make us afraid or anxious when there is no danger near us, but we think we’re in danger. That’s where anxiety comes from.

There are real things to be afraid of. People in Mississippi just had big tornadoes go through there, and over 300 people lost their homes, and 17 were injured. Floods happen, earthquakes, fires, extreme cold. Yes, we should be very careful around some people, because they are dangerous. And yes, God uses fear to help preserve our lives.

Fear can be used by some people as a tactic to give them power over you. It can be extremely effective, which is why it’s so commonly used by controlling people. Fear of losing your job, fear of being physically harmed, fear of conflict/aggression – these are some commonly used tactics.

Now let’s talk about how people usually respond to fear, whether it’s real danger or whether we perceive a situation as dangerous:

There are four F reactions when we are afraid: (you may have heard of at least the first two)

Fight (confront the threat aggressively, fists up, try to make the aggressor back off)

Flight (run! escape or avoid the threat, backing away)

Freeze (be very still to avoid being seen, or to avoid notice, or to avoid making the situation worse when we are harmed, or when we are immobilized by fear)

Fawn (attempt to appease or to soothe the aggressor in order to avoid conflict)

It’s sometimes hard to tell if we are really in danger or if we are safe but we are afraid anyway. If we are truly in danger, it’s best to pause a beat if we can, and try to think through a way to get to a safe situation.

Remember Covid? Of course you do. There was a lot to fear, wasn’t there? In 2021 we were still dealing with the riots from the summer of 2020, and my goodness, it felt like everything was upside down and chaotic in our country.

One morning I was standing in my kitchen, struggling with the unrest and anger and distrust that it felt like the country was bursting with. I was talking with the Lord, asking Him what to do with all of those feelings. Very clearly, I heard Him say, “Look down at your hand.”

I looked down and there was a cup in my hand. And I read on the side of it, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5)

So now we change from talking about fear to talking about trust.

If you don’t know Jesus, what I’m going to talk about probably won’t make sense to you. Don’t check out, though. It might be interesting.

The Bible has stories in it where God stepped into situations when He was asked to and did miracles for the people who asked Him to because they were afraid. He is fully capable of doing that, of fixing things. There’s no limit to His power.

Here’s an example:

Elisha Traps the Arameans (2 Kings 6:8-18)

⁸ When the king of Aram was at war with Israel, he would confer with his officers and say, “We will mobilize our forces at such and such a place.”

⁹ But immediately Elisha, the man of God, would warn the king of Israel, “Do not go near that place, for the Arameans are planning to mobilize their troops there.” ¹⁰ So the king of Israel would send word to the place indicated by the man of God. Time and again Elisha warned the king, so that he would be on the alert there.

¹¹ The king of Aram became very upset over this. He called his officers together and demanded, “Which of you is the traitor? Who has been informing the king of Israel of my plans?”

¹² “It’s not us, my lord the king,” one of the officers replied. “Elisha, the prophet in Israel, tells the king of Israel even the words you speak in the privacy of your bedroom!”

¹³ “Go and find out where he is,” the king commanded, “so I can send troops to seize him.”

And the report came back: “Elisha is at Dothan.” ¹⁴ So one night the king of Aram sent a great army with many chariots and horses to surround the city.

¹⁵ When the servant of the man of God got up early the next morning and went outside, there were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere. “Oh, sir, what will we do now?” the young man cried to Elisha.

¹⁶ “Don’t be afraid!” Elisha told him. “For there are more on our side than on theirs!” ¹⁷ Then Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes and let him see!” The Lord opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire. (This is an example of why we call Him “The God of Angel Armies”!)

¹⁸ As the Aramean army advanced toward him, Elisha prayed, “O Lord, please make them blind.” So the Lord struck them with blindness as Elisha had asked.

Okay, that was one of the many times when God’s amazing power was demonstrated. (There’s more to the story if you want to see how it ends.)

Here’s one story among many about Jesus from later in the Bible:

Jesus Calms the Storm (Matthew 8:23-27)

²³ Then Jesus got into the boat and started across the lake with his disciples. ²⁴ Suddenly, a fierce storm struck the lake, with waves breaking into the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. ²⁵ The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

²⁶ Jesus responded, “Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!” Then he got up and rebuked the wind and waves, and suddenly there was a great calm.

Do you think the disciple’s trust in Jesus grew in that situation? Sure did. Here’s what it said -

²⁷ The disciples were amazed. “Who is this man?” they asked. “Even the winds and waves obey him!”

There are times that I wish Jesus would appear and fix everything that is a problem for me. But then I wouldn’t need to learn to trust Him. And He is more invested in who I am becoming than making my life smooth. After all, if there had been no storm to frighten the disciples, their faith in Him would not have grown. He is more interested in my character than my comfort.

If everything was perfect in life, I wouldn’t need to trust Him. And God really values trust.

Here’s another story from Jesus’s life that tells not only of His power, but also the value He has for us trusting Him:

The Faith of a Roman Officer (Matthew 8:5-13)

⁵ When Jesus returned to Capernaum, a Roman officer came and pleaded with him, ⁶ “Lord, my young servant lies in bed, paralyzed and in terrible pain.”

⁷ Jesus said, “I will come and heal him.”

⁸ But the officer said, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come into my home. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. ⁹ I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.”

¹⁰ When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to those who were following him, he said, “I tell you the truth, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel...¹³ Then Jesus said to the Roman officer, “Go back home. Because you believed, it has happened.” And the young servant was healed that same hour.

But Jesus didn’t stay here on earth. He returned to heaven, and He sent the Holy Spirit to have a different role in our lives. After Jesus left, things became really tough for the followers of Jesus. They started being killed because they knew that He was truly the Messiah, and they wouldn’t stop telling people about the love of God, and that we can become part of God’s family if we ask Him for that. Yes, that resulted in their deaths. Their problem didn’t go away. In fact, the deaths they died were awful.

And that danger hasn’t changed for many followers of Jesus since He came to earth over 2,000 years ago. Followers of Jesus are still being persecuted and killed simply because they will not deny that He is their Savior. In the country of Nigeria, for example, over 50,000 believers have been killed in the past 15 years.

So why do we follow Him? It’s not because it makes life smooth and easy. It doesn’t. But following Jesus means that He is with us at all times, as is the Holy Spirit. Sometimes, though not very often, He does communicate with us. Like when He told me to look at the cup in my hand. More important, I KNOW that He is with me. I know that He loves me and I can trust Him. That really matters to me.

My first marriage put my life in danger. Yet here I am, damaged, but wiser. I learned a lot of lessons through those awful years.

Being a single mother was scary at times! This was before there were programs to help single parents. I faced having no money, no childcare, traveling alone with my young son, making decisions alone. Being alone, loneliness – but there was always Jesus to talk to and help me.

Even as a believer and a very imperfect follower of Jesus, I was often afraid.

King David wrote, “But when I am afraid, I will put my trust in you.” (That’s where the lyrics to that little children’s song came from.) “I trust in God, so why should I be afraid? What can mere mortals do to me?” Psalm 56:3&4

Jesus said, ²⁸ “Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell…the very hairs on your head are all numbered. ³¹ So don’t be afraid; you are valuable to God. Matthew 10:28-31

I have kept all the Bibles that I read through, and I was recently looking at the one I started in 2021, the same year that the Lord told me to look at the cup in my hand – remember that it said, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and don’t rely on your own understanding.”

As I began to read through it that year, I started noticing the words, “Don’t be afraid” over and over, so I started writing those words at the top of the pages. I never counted them, but it’s said that those words, “Do not be afraid” occur 365 times in the Bible. That’s no accident, is it?

There is a very strong message here – God is with His children. He will never leave us or forsake us. Even when we are in really bad situations, He is with us. And He doesn’t want us to be afraid. He wants us to trust Him.

Here's another Scripture for you, and there are many many more I could refer you to:

James 1: 2-4 -  Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. ³ For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. ⁴ So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be mature and complete, needing nothing.

Fear is real. But Faith helps us look at it differently. The more we trust God as we go through life, the more we learn that He is worthy of trust, even when we do not understand. Even when things don’t go well. Even when followers of Jesus die because they will not deny Him.

Heaven is on the other side of death for us who know Him.

2 Corinthians 5:1-10 says:

5 For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. ² We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. ³ For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies. ⁴ While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. ⁵ God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit.

⁶ So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. ⁷ For we live by believing and not by seeing. ⁸ Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord. ⁹ So whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please him. ¹⁰ For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body.

See? Earth is not all there is. And fear is not from God.

1 Peter 5:7 says, “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.”

2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.”

That little chorus I taught my kids where they were young was worth it to put that truth deep in their hearts. “When I am afraid, I will trust in Him…”

Fear and Faith, still at odds since the beginning of time.