Maybe We Need More Fear
There is a virus spreading across the world for which there is no antidote.
From a medical perspective, this could mean death for those who are elderly or have compromised immune systems. Socially speaking, this event could change the way our culture interacts substantially for the foreseeable future. Economically, this could put us into a financial crisis unlike anything we’ve ever experienced.
“Am I a carrier, right now?”
“Do I know anyone who might not make it through this?”
“Am I going to be able to adapt to the new social norms?”
“Did I put my money in the right place before all of this happened?”
“And what if, after all the jokes, there really is no toilet paper?”
There is another virus spreading across the world. And with every click of another article, with every headline that comes across the screen, with every sentence that begins with “did you hear…”, we are all at risk for becoming carriers.
It’s called fear.
To be clear, this virus has been lying dormant in many of us. It tends to suppress itself when we live under the illusion that we are in control. But, when faced with the unknown and fueled by “what if’s” disguised as certainties, the virus can present itself. It invades rational thought and takes over where love was meant to dwell. Fear feeds on insecurity in the face of that which cannot be known and cannot be controlled. This virus is highly infectious as well.
You probably already know this, but to we don’t yet have an antidote for COVID-19. In order to create one, we will have to adapt the virus itself and reinject it into ourselves. As counterintuitive as it sounds, the antidote to the Coronavirus is found by adding more of the Coronavirus (in its adapted form) into the body.
In contrast, fear has already been cured. Or, to put it more accurately, each person has the recipe for making his or her own personal antidote to fear.
And, as it turns out, the cure for fear is more fear (adapted, of course).
Before we talk about the cure, let’s talk more about the virus…because the cure is found within a better understanding of the virus.
Pressing Into Our Fear
Fear is an emotion; a reaction triggered by a feeling of uncertainty. The initial feeling of fear is to be expected and can actually be a healthy thing. God has given us the capacity for emotions. He has not designed or commanded us to control how we initially feel about a thing. The feeling, in and of itself, is meant to help us see who we are in light of any given event. God doesn’t condemn our initial emotions; He invites us to dive deeper into what we feel so that we can learn more why we feel what we feel. The initial feeling of fear is a brilliant moment of honesty. The goal isn’t to avoid how you initially feel when confronted about the chaos of the world…the goal is to press into it. Your fear matters to God because you matter to God. In order to embrace our fear, we have to ask the question,
“What do I fear?”
Stewarding Our Fear
What happens next is a movement into the very nature of what it means to be a “Christian.” The holistic Gospel centers upon the Lord Jesus Christ. To believe in the Messiah is to believe that he is our master (Lord), our savior (Jesus) and our king (Christ). After we embrace the reality of our fear, if we are joyfully desiring for Jesus to be our Lord, the next move is to ask God,
“Is this fear legitimate to hold onto?”
It’s a rhetorical question…but’s important to ask it and wait for the answer. In the Bible, the phrase “Fear Not” (or an equivalent) appears over 70 times. Knowing the Lord’s guidance now presents us with a decision of whether or not to submit to him.
If I choose to disregard Jesus’ guidance rather than submit, there are bigger questions to be asked. The first questions might be, “Why am I following Jesus if I’m not willing to embrace the life he is offering me?”
But if I decide that my fear is a life-sucking virus that must be dealt with in order to grab hold of the life Jesus offers, then it’s time to make the antidote.
The Antidote to Fear
Perhaps over the past few days you’ve heard someone say something like this, “There’s just too much fear out there!”
But what if there’s not enough?
And what if we’ve misdirected our fear?
But how do we go about dealing with our fear?
What can overcome this emotion?
Remember the 70+ times that the Bible says “fear not”? That’s a lot of times, right?
Well it turns out that the Bible tells us TO FEAR far more often than it tells us to not fear.
In fact, over 170+ times the Bible guides us to “fear God.”
Exodus 20:20 Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you
Isaiah 8:12-13 “do not fear what they fear…But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear”
Matthew 10:28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Both the Hebrew and Greek word carry the same connotation: to be in awe. When something is bigger than us, more powerful us, unable to be tamed by us…we find ourselves to be in awe. But because we live in a fallen world where chaos runs rampant, we experience terror when we are face to face with something greater than ourselves. The key to properly fearing God is to understand that, through faith in the Gospel, God is both worthy of fear (awe) and postured towards friendship with us as his children.
If the awareness of the power of the coronavirus is more prominent than the power of God at any given moment, this speaks only to how far we have been deceived from the reality of how things really are. God is greater that the coronavirus. God is able to tame the coronavirus. God is to be feared far more than the coronavirus.
This leads to a third and final question:
“Do I fear God more than _____?”
And if we learn to tap into the fear of God in the moments when we are tempted to feed the fear of anything or anyone else, we will experience the peace promised by Christ.
Here’s a practical suggestion for engaging the chaos of fear regarding the coronavirus (and beyond):
Print out the attached PDF called “Fear Not.”
Cut at each dividing line so that each verse stands alone. Put all of the “Fear Not” verses in a container (#1).
Print out and do the same with the second PDF called “Fear God.”
These verses should be in a separate container (#2).
Each time a news story, a conversation, a post or a thought leads to fear, take a minute to press into the fear. Ask the Lord to help you answer the question, “What do I fear?”
After you press into your fear, ask the second question to the to the Lord, “Is this fear legitimate to hold onto?” As you listen to the answer, draw one verse at random out of container #1. Take 60 seconds to meditate on this verse. If you desire, look up the verse for greater context. Let the Lord help guide you in truth over the need to replace this fear with faith.
The third question to ask is this: “Do I fear God more than ______?” As you wrestle with this question, take out two passages from container #2 and read them each slowly for 60 seconds. Allow the power and presence of God to draw close…allow God to become the object of your fear.
As you experience victory, use these questions and passages to guide those around you who have not experienced a fear greater than that of the coronavirus. Let the fear of God infect all of the earth!