What Do I Do With My Fear?
It seems in nearly every circle of people I am a part of, there is a palpable anxiousness right now. We are watching things unfold that are frightening. We don’t know who to believe. We are asking ourselves lots of questions…maybe not even uttering them aloud because somehow that seems to make them more viable. Questions about our freedoms, our jobs, our health, our family, our churches and schools, our country, our world.
It all feels so overwhelming. There is an electric silence going on. So many unspoken pleas while we hold our breath waiting for the “second shoe to drop”. We stare in disbelief at the footage of the violence, inequity, and rage. We feel like the disciples, when the waves were breaking over the bow of their little ship. Tossed violently from wave to wave, drenched and shaking, they confront the Lord Jesus…” Don’t you care??? We’re dying out here!!!”
He had been asleep below deck. He owns the sea. The one they were adrift upon, and every other one that covers the globe. He is the Master. He moved up onto the deck, looked from face to desperate face, and then He turned to face the turbulent waters, and drew a breath. The same breath He exhaled to bring life to Adam. Then, three simple-but-mighty words: “Peace, be still!” And there was a great calm.
If you know anything about physics, or have simply witnessed the behavior of water when it resolves to stillness after violent agitation, you know it doesn’t happen instantly. Everything must sort of de-escalate and eventually there are only slight ripples where there had previously been enormous swells and crashing waves. Who could cause an instant calm? Only One who transcends physics because He wrote all the rules.
This was the problem with the disciples. It is indicated in Mark 8, where they marveled among themselves, “What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!”
This is the problem with us as well. Our fears arise when we have forgotten who He is. That He’s so much bigger than whatever is worrying us. We must remind ourselves.
One of my favorite passages regarding this is Psalm 34:1-8:
“I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.”
What happens when you magnify something? I recently had a sliver in my thumb and I could not see it well enough to remove it. When I grabbed a magnifier, what happened? It made the thing bigger. Suddenly I saw it clearly. I observed all the details.
When we magnify the Lord, these things are accomplished in our hearts as well. We see Him in all His majesty…our souls are reminded of His immensity. We see Him clearly and recall His vast resume’ as “Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise”. We must continually re-educate our hearts about this, because self always wants to sit on the throne.
Today, make your fears flee away by spending some time truly worshiping. Invite others to join you, as the Psalm encourages. Do it visibly, audibly, so that the adversary sees. He is not omniscient, but is observant. Sing out loud, “All Glory, Laud and Honor” to Him and you will find deliverance from your fears.
- Master, the tempest is raging!
The billows are tossing high!
The sky is o’ershadowed with blackness,
No shelter or help is nigh;
Carest Thou not that we perish?
How canst Thou lie asleep,
When each moment so madly is threat’ning
A grave in the angry deep?
- Refrain:
The winds and the waves shall obey Thy will,
Peace, be still!
Whether the wrath of the storm-tossed sea,
Or demons or men, or whatever it be,
No waters can swallow the ship where lies
The Master of ocean, and earth, and skies;
They all shall sweetly obey Thy will,
Peace, be still! Peace, be still!
They all shall sweetly obey Thy will,
Peace, peace, be still!
- Master, with anguish of spirit
I bow in my grief today;
The depths of my sad heart are troubled—
Oh, waken and save, I pray!
Torrents of sin and of anguish
Sweep o’er my sinking soul;
And I perish! I perish! dear Master—
Oh, hasten, and take control. - Master, the terror is over,
The elements sweetly rest;
Earth’s sun in the calm lake is mirrored,
And heaven’s within my breast;
Linger, O blessed Redeemer!
Leave me alone no more;
And with joy I shall make the blest harbor,
And rest on the blissful shore.
Diane Heeney is a pastor’s wife, living and serving in Wyoming. She blogs at Strength for Today, where this post first appeared. We republish it with permission.