We are living in a time of unprecedented fear.
I don’t think I’m the first person to write that statement. Not the first in the last week. Not the first in the last decade. Not the first in the last century.
I feel like I am living in a world that I no longer know how to navigate. Getting groceries requires a planned strategy. I haven’t spent time with a friend in real life other than my husband and children in the last 7 days. The future is unknown and unsettling. Every morning as reality floods in, I have to ask the Holy Spirit for a deep well of grace to get me through the day. To smile at my 6, 4, and 1 year old as if nothing is wrong. To continue teaching them their Kindergarten and preschool work when I would rather lay on the couch. To react to the messes and questions, the disobedience and boredom in love rather than anxiety and frustration.
Unprecedented is defined as “never known before.” While global pandemic is certainly not a circumstance I thought I’d live through, I take some comfort in knowing I’m not the first one. We aren’t the first ones. This is a fear that has been known before. We will get through this.
I am familiar with fear.
I definitely didn’t need a real pandemic to activate my fear. It’s always been around.
I was the kid who couldn’t separate reality from fantasy when it came to scary stories or movies. Even reading Sherlock Holmes gave me healthy nightmares for a time. I still have to tuck my feet under my legs and plug my ears to survive a scary movie with my thrill-loving husband.
As a child, one of my greatest fears was thunderstorms. I realize now I had somewhat of a phobia of storms, anxiously watching the sky, glued to The Weather Channel. I headed to our basement at the first large boom of thunder. The sun could still be shining, the rain only beginning to sprinkle. But I would huddle there near the cold, unfinished concrete shaking, sweating. I would feel the physical fear of present, palpable danger.
Except, there wasn’t really any danger present. I have never experienced a tornado. I have never had a tree fall on my house. And except for some power outages and wind damage, I have never felt any traumatic affects from a storm.
As an adult, I find myself struck with that same feeling sometimes, the rapid heartbeat, the involuntary nervousness, the inability to catch my breath. And all of a sudden I’m right there, in the middle of another present and palpable danger. Just like when I was a child, I experience a physical reaction to an intangible emotion.
The fears I have as an adult are different. They are most often wrapped up in concern over the future or what others think. They are fears about what might be real, what might happen. Just like I once watched the sky for dark, heavy clouds that I believed might turn into something more dangerous, my adult fear is caught up in predicting the impending struggles to come.
Fear never shows up alone.
Worry is fear’s best friend. While fear is often felt in a powerful physical reaction, worry is a battle of the mind. Worry is energetic, constant in its pursuit of thought space. Worry can disguise itself as planning or logic. Worry steals our minds and our time.
And worry and fear have a third buddy that is guaranteed to always be around: doubt. Fear, worry, and doubt. They are the perfect combination to keep us imprisoned in our feelings, ineffective in our lives, and impoverished in our spirit. Satan loves fear, worry, and doubt. Because they are big emotions, they feel powerful, gripping us to the floor, defeating us. But God gently reminds us these emotions have no real power, no real present or palpable danger.
What does the Bible say about these three words?
Fear: 1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.”
Worry: Philippians 4:6 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Doubt: Matthew 14:31 “And Peter answered him, ‘Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”’29 He said, ‘Come.’ So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, ‘Lord, save me.’ 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?’ 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.’”
God has an opposite word for these three emotions.
The opposite of fear is love. The opposite of worry is peace. The opposite of doubt is faith.
1 John 4:18 clearly says there is no fear in love. Pure love, perfect love, God’s love, drives fear away. Philippians 4:6 tells us the antidote to worry and anxiety is peace. Not just any peace, but true peace that only comes from Jesus himself, the Prince of Peace. Matthew 14:31 gives us a picture of Peter sinking down into the water because doubt gripped him. He could have kept walking with only a little faith.
Love, peace, and faith.
When we say them next to their opposites—fear, worry, and doubt—love, peace, and faith may sound trite, even weak, in their ability to overcome the realities around us. We are living in a pandemic. And when this passes we can be certain that new, harsh realities will arise. Can love, peace, and faith really solve anything?
I think so.
Love—God’s perfect love—is stronger than anything on earth. It has proven itself powerful enough to cover sin, to defeat death. Our personal fears are no match for it. Peace that comes from God is a force that’s so real and yet so unexplainable. It’s a supernatural experience beyond our understanding. Faith feels impossible—and it kind of is impossible—believing what should not, cannot, or will not be like it is right in front of us. Love, peace, and faith are powerful words. And they are able to defeat what feels like the sucker punch of fear, worry, and doubt.
It helps me to identify the opposites, to define what God says about these negative emotions that often flare up in my desperate humanity. It reminds me that although they seem big, they are ultimately a choice. I have power over my emotions. That’s a statement I have a hard time believing sometimes. I fail so often at controlling those strong emotions.
But it is true. I have power not just to control my emotions, but to lay my emotions down before Him. To acknowledge that what I’m feeling may seem big, powerful, and overwhelming, but it can’t touch the reality of the Almighty God.
Lord, when I feel the weight of fear, worry, and doubt, may your Holy Spirit replace it with the power of love, peace, and faith.