Transcript
(this transcript has been lightly edited for readability)
Talking About Fear in a Time of Trouble
We find ourselves in a time of trouble. This is Paul Tripp and I thought it'd be worth talking about fear. And this I want to say to you as the world has been cast into all levels of concern and panic about the pandemic that is spreading around the world.
Here is, I think, some biblical advice for you. Be afraid, but don't give way to fear. Now, that may seem contradictory to you but let me explain. It's not unbiblical, it's not a lack of faith to be afraid. Fear is one of God's good gifts to us. Let me just talk about three appropriate, healthy, spiritually appropriate kinds of fear.
First is the fear of God. That's a fear that I would call holy reverence. It's being in awe of God, His glory, His presence, His power, His sovereignty, His commands, His presence, His power, His sovereignty, His commands, that causes us to submit our lives to Him. To joyfully worship Him with disciplined, keep His commands, to run to His glorious grace. That fear of holy reverence is something that should be in the heart of every human being.
There is a fear that I would call rapid response. It's a kind of fear, a mom would have when she finds her child falling down the steps, and she runs to grab him before he's injured. It's that spontaneous ability to respond. We don't have to think, we don't have to analyze, we don't have to consider, it's fear that drives us in action. That's a good thing. Praise God that we have that.
Appropriate Concern
There's a third kind of healthy fear, it's what I would call appropriate concern. It's the kind of fear that grips us It's the kind of fear that grips us when we are faced with danger. Oh! We're not in a wild crazy panic, we're not losing our minds, but we're sobered by what we're facing. And because we're sobered by what we're facing, we think, we analyze, we consider, and we decide, and we make good choices to protect ourselves and our loved ones in a moment of danger. Holy reverence, rapid response, appropriate concern are three kinds of fears that are healthy, God-honoring. God's given us the ability to be afraid because He loves us because He wants to protect us, because He wants those fears to draw us to Him, to draw us to one another, and to draw us to make wise decisions in the face of danger.
But the second thing I said to you is don't give way to fear. There is another kind of fear. And I would characterize this fear as trouble-meditating, God-forgetting. It's when we allow our minds to be now controlled by the danger that we're facing, it's all we think about, it's all we read about, it's all we talk about, our thoughts and our meditations it's all we talk about, our thoughts and our meditations are now controlled by fear, by whatever we're facing, and the more that we think about it, the more that we meditate on it, the larger it gets, the more impossible it seems and the more frightened we become.
The problem there is not that we're not facing danger. The problem is a problem of meditation. We've allowed whatever we're facing to control our meditation. And because of that, that kind of fear is God-forgetting. We forget that there is a Lord of glory and wisdom, and goodness, and power, and grace who sits on the throne of His universe. No difficulty of any kind, no trouble of person, place, or thing. No pandemic has the power to negate His good and glorious promises to His children. As you look horizontally, things may seem completely out of control. But when you look vertically, you understand this world is under careful control.
Now we don't understand that. We may not, until we're on the other side, fully understand why God would allow these kinds of things to enter our lives. But we know who He is. We know what He can do. We know what He has promised. We know that He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. So we must not let our meditation on trouble dominate us so, that we become God-forgetful.
Faith Never Requires Denying Reality
I want to say it this way just to bring balance to this topic. Biblical faith will never require that you deny reality. If you have to deny reality in order to come to personal peace of heart, you may have temporary peace of heart but you have not exercised biblical faith. I love Romans 4, where we have the example of Abraham. Abraham had staked his entire life on one single promise of God. And that would be that he and Sarah would have a son, and out of that son would come a great nation, and out of that nation, all of the nations of the earth would be blessed. Everything that Abraham did, all his choices and decisions were based on this single promise, yet the son did not come. And Sarah was way beyond her child-birthing years. And the Bible says something interesting, it says that Abraham considered the deadness of Sarah's womb, and that tells you something. This man did not deny reality. He stared the impossibility of this situation in the face. But then it says, he grew strong in faith, be more and more persuaded that He, who made the promise, was able.
Now, that tells you something about Abraham's meditation. We know that the struggle for Abraham during this period of time was messy. But it came to the point where he became convinced that God could do what He promised to do even though it looked horizontally, naturally impossible. Now, why did he become convinced? Because the more he meditated on the presence, the power, the promises, the glory of the God who had made the promise, the more he became convinced that He was able to do it.
You see, you don't have to deny reality to be a good faithful follower of God. Biblical faith is honest about what we face. The Bible is shockingly honest about the difficulties we will face in this fallen world between the already of our conversion and the not yet of our home going. But we must look at those realities through the lens of who God is, who we are as His children, and what He's promised us. This is why David says, "In this moment of terrible personal trouble this is what I want to do." This is Psalm 27. "I want to run into the temple and I want to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord." You see he wanted to have his estimation of what he was facing tempered by his reminder of who God is.
You could say it this way, that you will never properly understand the ugly things that you face in this fallen world unless you look at them through the stunning beauty of your creator, your Savior. He's beautiful in love, He's beautiful in wisdom, He's beautiful in power, He's beautiful in praise, He's beautiful in faithfulness, He's beautiful.
Be Afraid but Do Not Give Way to Fear
So what I would say to you, as you're making decisions to deal with a difficult thing that all of us are facing today, is be afraid but don't give way to fear. Fear of God at this moment is a beautiful thing. It'll draw you toward Him. Those rapid responses in moments of danger are a God-given gift. To think and develop appropriate concerns that allow you to make wise decisions is a good thing. But don't allow yourself to be trouble-meditating and God-forgetting. God is on His throne. No pandemic can alter the fact that He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. May you rest in Him. May you make good decisions. But may this thing not resolve in you being God-forgetful. And because you're God-forgetful in a panic, may God help us to live out His wisdom as we face this thing today. Be afraid but don't give way to fear.
