This world, and our nation is in a panic. COVID-19 is a global pandemic, and has killed tens of thousands of people and infected hundreds of thousands more across the world. As a healthcare worker, there is much to be concerned about. Hospitals have been rationing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) like surgical masks and N95 masks which help protect us from airborne illnesses. Many among my friends and family are concerned, worried, or even downright panicked. But as I walk into work each day, I walk by hundreds of daffodils, each displaying their own beauty without a care of the coronavirus. Seeing them reminds me of a fantastic lesson Jesus teaches his disciples.
Hundreds of daffodils line the entrance to Jefferson Hospital in Washington Township.
With headlines of impending death and trillions of dollars in economic stimulus packages, you might find yourself among those who are feeling a great deal of anxiety. I'd like to show you how to find peace. I want to show you God. So, let’s take a look at this wonderful passage on anxiety and worry straight from the mouth of Jesus. So put on your walking shoes and come outside. Jesus is going to take us on a walk.
A Walk In The Garden
Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life...
In Matthew 6:25-34 (see also Luke 12:22-34), Jesus tells us not to be anxious. Not to worry. About anything. How can that be? There is one answer to that question, and two examples Christ points to to help drive His point home. His point: God is sovereign over all things, therefore, you have no need to worry. His examples: birds and flowers.
"Consider the ravens," says Jesus, "they neither sow, nor reap, they have neither storehouses nor barns, yet God feeds them." Birds are not like us. They are far simpler then us. We plant crops. We harvest crops. We can manufacture food from ingredients. Birds can do none of these things. They can't store food in winter. They have to rely on what's in front of them- the things God provides for them.
Wildflowers are no different, and, in many ways, they must rely on God's goodness even moreso than the birds. "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow." Flowers do not control the sun. They do not control the water. They do not control the soil they are planted in. If they need more sun or more shade, they cannot walk and move to a better area. They cannot control the pollinators that come and help the plants raise up a new generation. They cannot control when they are harvested and used for food or dye for clothing. They cannot control who walks on them and tramples them. They cannot control the insects that eat them. But God does. "But if God clothes the grass," says our Savior, "how much more will he clothe you? O you of little faith!"
Ah, there's the word. Faith. This is where I may lose some of you, but you should keep reading.
Faith & Anxiety
What is the connection between faith and anxiety?
In what is perhaps the most poignant chapter on faith in the Bible, Hebrews 11:1 begins this way: "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Immediately, before you get to lost in the "things not seen" portion of this verse, I'd like to quote Romans 8:24: "For in hope we have been save, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?" Two things before moving forward. 1) Faith brings assurance, not uncertainty and 2) we place our faith in things that are not seen, or else it wouldn't be faith.
Ironically, both the nature of faith and the nature of anxiety have to do with things we cannot see. In our post-Christian culture, faith, as it is, is looked down upon. Naturalistic worldviews would have us doubt in anything but our senses, but this is simply naïve. We have faith in a great many things on a daily basis.
We live as though we will wake up every morning- we have faith in our bodies to not spontaneously shut down
We don't second guess the numbers we see in our bank accounts - we have faith that the banking system will not spontaneously drain our funds
We expect our cars to start when we turn the ignition - we have faith that the mechanisms in place in our vehicle are in good working order
When we sit in a chair, we expect to sit in a chair (not land on the ground!) - we have faith that the chair will do it's job
All these things have something in common- we exercise our faith on things that we understand to have expected outcomes, despite our seeing or knowing how every detail of those things work.
I am not a biologist. I am not a banker. I am not a mechanic. I am not a physicist or woodworker. I have such limited or lack of knowledge about how any of those things work. Yet I use those things, enjoy those things, and rely on those things every single day.
On the converse, anxiety borrows trouble, not instills confidence (like faith does). Certain fears and anxieties deal with real threats in front of us (ie- a bear is charging at us straight away). These fears are good fears, God-given fears that He has trained our bodies to react to most often without us even making a conscious decision. But there are other fears- the kinds of fears and anxieties that grip us most often. And these fears are very rarely realized, rather they become anxious over the unseen "what ifs?"
What if I don't wake up tomorrow?
What if someone steals my identity and my bank account is gone?
What if my tire blows on the highway and I get into a crash?
What if......
What if I or someone I love contracts the coronavirus?
Yeah, it just got real. Let me start providing some insightful solutions for you before you throw yourself into a panic.
Faith in God
To place faith in God is to place faith in the Ultimate Being controlling all things. There is not a single moving molecule that God does not have complete control over. There is no other person in whom we can place our faith that brings us the level of assurance like God does. Let's examine a short verse from Isaiah and explore several different characteristics of God that make Him the best object of our faith.
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. -Isaiah 41:10
Here we see at least four attributes of God that give us good reason to hope in Him:
God is personal - "I am with you..."
God is powerful - "I will uphold you..."
God is good - "...with my righteous right hand."
God is reliable - "I am...I am...I will...I will...I will..."
GOD IS PERSONAL
God declares his presence first and foremost as the reason not to fear. No other god that man has ever thought of has been so close to their worshipers as the One True God. He walked with Adam in the garden (Gen 3:8), He pledged himself to Abraham (Gen 17:7). He was with Moses (Ex 33:14) and was in the midst of the people of Israel (Deut 7:21). He was with David (2 Sam 7:9) and his sons.
His presence only intensifies from there. As the New Testament account of John opens, "And the Word (Jesus, God) became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth," (John 1:14). God comes to earth to save His enemies unto himself. Then, as he ascends, he promises, "...you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you," (Acts 1:8). Not only the Apostles received the Spirit, all believers receive the gift of the Holy Spirit: "...when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory," (Eph 1:13-14).
God is with us. Always. And that is the first line of protection we have against fear and anxiety.
GOD IS POWERFUL
God is near, but he is not weak. He has the strength to carry us through. He knows we are weak, he knows we are needy, he knows we cannot carry on in this life on our own, and so he sustains. With words he spoke Creation into being, and by his power Creation is sustained (Gen. 1; Heb. 1:3). He floods the earth, and he dries it up (Gen. 6-9). He sends plagues on the unrighteous and parts seas (Ex. 7ff). He raises up nations and throws nations down for his glory. He made the Leviathan and the Behemoth (Job 40-41). The wind and the waves obey him (Mk. 4:35-41). This God, this Powerful One promises to uphold us.
Powerful without personal is terrifying. Powerful without personal would mean that his powerful, terrifying Judgement is indiscriminate. It would lend itself to a capricious God, unbound and without commitments. But as we saw in the prior section, God has bound himself to us in very personal ways. God dwells with His people. He loves His people. His desire is for us. He makes himself known to us so that we can know Him (Gal 4:9). And that effectively changes how we view His power. His power is not against us. It is against the unrighteous. It judges Satan, demons, evil, and the unrepentant hearts of man. The God who, in His power, made the supernova, shields His children like a mother hen shields her chicks with her wings (Prov. 25:4; Matt. 23:37).
GOD IS GOOD
You can have a bad friend. You can have uncontrolled power. God does not, because God is good. He is not just good, he defines good. Good is unfathomable apart from God; without Him, there is no moral compass. This is true of all peoples in all times. This may surprise you because of our postmodern, post-truth society, but "goodness" is not subjective. It is clearly defined, it's definition is unchanging, and it is not defined by us, but rather by the Good God. We need a trustworthy God. A God that won't backstab us. A God that is a faithful friend we can trust. A God that won't use His power against us for our detriment. God's goodness adds another layer of predictability to God. It speaks to us in our sufferings and anxieties because it means that what is happening to us and around us will ultimately work out for our good if we are truly a child of God (Rom. 8:28). This gives us hope in suffering. Without a good God, there is no hope in suffering. Every alternative is mindless, purposeless, meaningless, but not so with God.
GOD IS RELIABLE
Without consistency, these other attributes are less of a comfort. We do not make a practice of putting our faith in unreliable things. Only the foolish do such things (Matt. 7:24-27). Rather, we put our faith in things that are things that are evidenced, things we have confidence in, as per Hebrews 11 we read earlier. God pledges Himself to His people 5 times in the one verse in Isaiah 41:10. "I am...I am...I will...I will...I will..." these are not just empty pledges. No, God is pledging Himself, and teaching us that His Word is reliable and trustworthy.
In Genesis 12 and 15 we see such an amazing pledge of God to Abraham and to all his descendants- the Abrahamic Covenant. God had Abraham cut animals in half and set them on altars in two rows. Abraham descended into a deep sleep, and he saw God consecrate the covenant by passing between the two halves of the severed animals. It makes a statement- If I break this covenant to you and your descendants, let me become as these animals. God sets up a concrete visual that shows us how serious He is about keeping His Word. Consider this paragraph regarding the Abrahamic Covenant from gotquestions.org :
Five times in Genesis 12, as God is giving the Abrahamic Covenant, He says, “I will.” Clearly, God takes the onus of keeping the covenant upon Himself. The covenant is unconditional. One day, Israel will repent, be forgiven, and be restored to God’s favor (Zechariah 12:10–14; Romans 11:25–27). One day, the nation of Israel will possess the entire territory promised to them. One day, the Messiah will return to set up His throne, and through His righteous rule the whole world will be blessed with an abundance of peace, pleasure, and prosperity.
God made a promise to Abraham, and He was faithful to fulfill that promise. And if He is faithful in that, He surely is faithful to us. He is with us. He is our God. He will strengthen us. He will help us. He will uphold us. His Word is true and faithful.
So... (The Conclusion)
It is my hope and prayer that you'll take that walk with Jesus. Let him take you outside, show you His creation. Stoop down with Him, look at the flowers, and know that God cares for you. Lift your eyes to the sky, see the birds, and know that God cares for you. Wake up in the morning and take that first breath, and know that God cares for you. He is faithful. He is good. He is powerful. He is personal. And He takes care of you. Coronavirus or not.
Now, these are all conditional. It is also my hope in prayer that these truths make you curious. You, the reader, will fall into one of three categories.
You are a Christian, and know these things are true, and live them out. During these uncertain times, you live confidently, as you know your God reigns over all things, and will not let anything happen that He does not have control over.
You are a Christian, but you are stumbling, falling, forgetting who God is and what He has done for you. You forget that God keeps His promises. You think He is going to withold from you His presence or His goodness. You're forgetting, dear one, who God is. So for you, you must turn your eyes to God. Repent of your little faith, and become faithful again so you may find the peace to be a productive son or daughter of God, and with the comfort with which He comforts you, you also may comfort others (2 Cor. 1)
You are not a Christian, viewing these truths as an outsider, and are quite frankly confused by all this. You also must repent, but your repentance is much deeper. You can have this peace that God gives to His children, but first you must become His child. To do this, you must acknowledge that God is revealed in His Word, and that He acts as the final Judge and Jury of the evil in this world. You must acknowledge that your heart and desires are sinful- that you are a sinner, and that you cannot save yourself. You must acknowledge that Jesus Christ is God, and that He is the Father's rescue plan for all of humanity. Sid demands payment- it requires your life. On the cross, Jesus exchanges your life for His, conquering sin and death. You must believe this. You must believe that He rose again 3 days later, for what good is a dead God? He lives, and reigns over all things, according to the Word of God.
When you believe these things, confess your sins to God himself. You don't need a priest. Jesus is the Great High Priest. Talk to Him.
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our ins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9)
"If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved...Everyone who believes on him will not be put to shame...everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." (Romans 10:9, 11, 13)
Do this and find peace.