Dealing with Fear

Isaiah 6:1-8 Psalm 138 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 Luke 5:1-11

Dealing with Fear

I’d like to start today’s talk with a true story about a missionary who served as a registered nurse in a predominantly Muslim area. While she faithfully did what was required of her as a medical practitioner, she struggled to share her faith with her patients as she was afraid that she would be rejected or only end up muddling things. From time to time, she would feel guilty about her lack of spiritual interaction with her Muslim patients, but then she would tell herself that her gift was not evangelism. She was a nurse. Let the pastor and the church leaders talk to the people about Jesus.

But then, one evening, a Muslim woman came to her with her child who had been burned. The missionary started caring for the burns on the child and then, after sending up several telegram prayers, she turned to the mother and simply said, "I am doing this in the name of Jesus who loves you." After a few minutes of explaining, the Muslim woman said with a laugh, "Oh, that's his name. Well, I've been waiting for you for quite some time."

This Muslim woman then explained to the puzzled nurse that she had grown up in folk Islam. When she was 14, she was given as a bride to a shaman (more commonly known as a witch doctor) who was 30 years older than her. Her father wanted him to put a curse on a neighbour for planting crops on his land, and she was his method of payment. The curse worked - the neighbour’s oldest son dropped dead. 

One night, shortly after her marriage, in a dream she saw a man dressed in white, shining like the sun who came to her and told her, "I am the way, the truth, the life. Follow me." She told the stunned nurse that He then showed her scars on his wrists and feet. He told her he was God and that one day he would rescue her. He told her one day someone would come and tell her his name.

She then turned to the missionary and said, "I have been waiting for you patiently ever since."

Fear does different things to different people. It can embolden us or frighten us, galvanise us into action or paralyze us, or it can mobilise us or immobilise us. The Missionary Nurse neglected to share her faith with others because she was frightened, paralyzed, and immobilized. 

But this missionary nurse is not alone. “Do not fear” or “Be not afraid” is the most repeated command in the whole of Scripture. Obviously, God thought we needed to hear that and often! 

Now, of course, it is very easy to say, “do not fear”, especially if the one to whom you are speaking, is not you! But there are ways of dealing with fear. Let’s look at four ways as they appear in our Scripture readings for today.

The first comes from the book of the prophet Isaiah. King Uzziah (also known as Azariah) was the tenth king of Judah. Although he shared his throne with his son Jotham, after he had contracted leprosy, he reigned in total for fifty-two years. As with the demise of any long reigning monarch (think of Queen Elizabeth of England), fear can creep into the psyche of the nation as they face an uncertain future. Who will reign over them now? Add to this local uncertainty, the rise of another king, Tiglath-Pilesar III of Assyria. Would this unknown ruler be a problem for Judah? You can almost smell the fear as the political future of the nation hung in the balance. 

But fear provides an excellent opportunity for a prophet to speak the truth. And this is exactly what happens in Isaiah 6. The Lord reveals himself to Isaiah in a spectacular vision of power, authority, splendour, and majesty. This vision conveyed a powerful truth. Regardless of who may reign in Judah or in Assyria or anywhere else in the world for that matter, God was enthroned above and over them all. Even though the message then entrusted to the prophet was predominantly a negative one, hope lay in the fact that while the sovereign God of the universe might discipline his wayward people from time to time, he would always remain faithful to his promise. As the book of Isaiah unfolds, God demonstrates his love in a series of prophetic statements that predict a compassionate restoration in the future.

So, the first way to deal with fear is to see God for who he is. He is not some local minor deity or a fallible and finite human ruler…he rules over everything, and it is always his good will that will be established. But there is more to God than just his sovereignty.

Our God is good and kind and compassionate and forgiving and merciful and loving and gracious and holy and always only does what is right. His purposes for us are only ever for good, never for evil. He works all things together for our benefit. His plan is to prosper us and to save us and to restore us and to revive us. Listen to the words used by the Psalmist to describe God in our Psalm for today. Your steadfast love. Your faithfulness. Our God is exalted above everything. He is a God who hears and answers prayer. Although he is glorious and mighty and above and beyond all, he regards the lowly. He preserves us in times of trouble. He delivers us and He will fulfil his purposes for us because his steadfast love is eternal. He will never forsake us.

When you focus on the character and the attributes of God, fear tends to fade into the background quickly!

Simon Peter is a person with whom we all tend to identify for various reasons. But have you ever wondered why it took him so long to respond to Jesus’ call to be his disciple? He had witnessed several signs and wonders and yet, he still did not forsake everything to follow him despite the invitations. So, what was the problem? Now, this is speculation on my part, but given the nature of the miracle, the miraculous catch of fish, I think Simon Peter’s major fear was one of future provision for him and his family. This is not strange for men in particular. What if I make this career change and I then run out of money? What if I leave my home, my family, my work, my whatever, and things do not work out? I must admit, I succumb to this type of fear regularly, especially now.

So, how did our patient and kind and understanding Jesus, deal with Simon Peter’s fear? Well, by showing him that he could provide even in the most impossible situation. Fishing in this part of the world usually took place during the night as the fish would dive into the cooler depths of the lake once the sun began to bake on the surface. The fishermen had toiled all night long and had caught nothing. In Simon Peter’s mind, their time for catching fish for that day was over. They would have to try again later that night. That’s basically what he said to Jesus. “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing. It’s over Jesus. Trust me, I’m the professional fisherman here. What you are asking is impossible.”

But remember Simon Peter had seen Jesus do amazing things before, so he capitulated, and the rest is history. But I think what caused Simon Peter to drop to his knees and surrender was the fact this was his number one fear…and Jesus had exposed it for what it was. When the one you walk with is God such fear is irrational. This is not the only time we see this type of fear in the disciples…think of the storm…think of the Gadarene demoniacs…and think of the cross. 

But Jesus deals with this type of fear by doing what he does best. The exact opposite of what we are afraid of. He provides, he calms, he conquers death…

Which leads me our final passage from Paul’s letter to the Church in Corinth. What does humanity fear most of all? Death, right? Just about every faith since the dawn of time deals with this fear by promising some or other form of afterlife. Most non-biblical faiths affirmed the soul’s immortality, but without a physical, bodily resurrection. Some even denied that there was such a thing as an afterlife…modern atheists are not quite so modern after all! But for many, the afterlife was an unknown, unpredictable, shadowy place.

Most Jewish believers on the other hand, did believe in a bodily resurrection, but at the end of time and they usually associated this with their understanding of the Messianic era. Those who died before this end would ‘rest with the fathers” or “fall asleep” until the fullness of time…some still hold to this idea of “soul-sleep”. But still, death was mysterious…death was the great unknown…and therefore death was feared most of all.

But what Paul says in chapter 15 of his first letter to the Corinthians is that Jesus rose again from the dead in bodily form in time…not at the end of time. There were eyewitnesses to the fact. They saw him die. They applied a suffocating amount of herbs and spice to his body, wrapped him up in a shroud, and then laid him a sealed tomb. If he had been breathing, even shallowly, someone, more than likely one of the soldiers, would have noticed. But then, to their absolute amazement, he appeared to them and many others, not as a ghost or a spirit, but as a resurrected human being that could touch and be touched. 

But more than that. He even appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus, after he had already ascended into heaven to be seated as reigning universal monarch. He had not only defeated our greatest enemy…he had exposed it for what it is…a door to an eternity in his presence, not an end of our existence. It was not unknown – it was not unpredictable – it was not shadowy. His bodily resurrection revealed what the afterlife is like.

The fact that he rose in bodily form in time smashes our fear of death to pieces. We will not enter some strange shadowy, disembodied, ghostly existence…we will be changed, transformed, renewed, restored…bodily. Jesus is the first fruits, as Paul says…a guarantee that as he is, we will be.

But there is still more! As Jesus conquered the usurper…the so-called ruler of this world…the one who stole our vice-regency through deception…Jesus now reigns in human form at the right hand of God the Father as our Lord, our King, and our Saviour. All authority in both heaven and earth has been given to him and he reigns now, at the present moment, to place all his enemies under his feet. 

What’s there to fear when such a God is near, hey?

So, in conclusion, the most effective way to deal with fear is to refocus. To take our eyes off the problem and to place them firmly on him. As such, fear is rendered irrational, if we see our Lord enthroned, if we acknowledge that he is steadfastly committed to faithfully fulfilling all his promises, if we understand that nothing in all of creation can ever separate us from his love, that our Lord provides whatever we may need, and that our Lord resurrects the dead who are in him.

So, may I ask: What is troubling you today? What fear has robbed you of the peace that passes all understanding. One of my favourite Psalms is Psalm 103. Verses 13 and 14 tell us that “The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him. For he knows how weak we are; he remembers that we are only dust.”

So, come clamber up onto his great big fatherly lap today and gaze upon his magnificent greatness. If God is for us, dearest beloved brethren, who can be against us? 

Let us pray.

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2-2-22