By
Lauri Lemke Thompson
Thanks Lauri for the article!
“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer
soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service
of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of
man and woman.”
So Thomas Paine wrote in 1776, but his words fit the
pandemic of 2020. The sacrifices you are personally making by following the
stay-at-home guidelines may not be as great as some who fought the American
Revolution, but we are at war against an invisible enemy – and you may truly
save many lives. So, first – thank you.
That said, many of us are feeling some anxiety. Little
wonder. According to Dr. Frank Minirth
and Dr. Paul Meier in their book Worry Free Living, “Anxiety is linked
more to the future, while depression is linked to the past. Depression is the
past superimposed on the present, and anxiety is the future superimposed on the
present.” Not knowing what will happen in the coming weeks and months with this
seemingly runaway virus quite naturally can bring anxiety.
Matthew 6:34 says “So do not be anxious about tomorrow.
God will take care of your tomorrow too. Live one day at a time.” (The Living
Bible) This is sound wisdom and an utterly reliable promise, but conquering our
anxieties can be tough.
But What Will Happen?
Linda Dillow wrote a book called Calm My Anxious
Heart. In it she points out “Certainly we are to pray, plan and prepare for
tomorrow, but we are not to worry about what might happen….Walking with
God through today’s twenty-four hours is difficult enough.”
“It is tomorrow,” said F. B. Meyer, “that fills men
with dread. [But] God is there already. All the tomorrows of our life have to
pass Him before they can get to us.”
What a comfort to know that God wants us to toss our
worries onto His incredibly broad shoulders. In I Peter 5:6-7 we are told “Humble
yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due
time. Cast all your anxiety on Him for He cares for you.” (New International
Version).
Matthew 24:6 addresses our current situation and is
meaningful in a couple Bible versions. “See to it that you are not alarmed” is
the New International Version. In The Message it is stated thus: “Keep your
head and don’t panic.” But even more clear (or blunt?) is well-known Christian
Author Max Lucado’s unofficial interpretation in his book Fearless: “Don’t
freak out when bad stuff happens.”
Pollyanna and Chicken
Little
Further, Lucado advises: “Life stinks, but it won’t
forever….Avoid Pollyanna optimism. We gain nothing by glossing over the brutality
of human existence. This is a toxic world. But neither do we join the Chicken
Little chorus of gloom and doom. ‘The sky is falling! The sky is falling!’
“Somewhere between Pollyanna and Chicken Little, between
blind denial and blatant panic, stands the level-headed, clear-thinking,
still-believing follower of Christ. Wide-eyed yet unafraid. Unterrified by the
terrifying. The calmest kid on the block, not for lack of bullies, but for
faith in his older Brother.”
Franklin Graham of Samaritan’s Purse (the ministry
that set up the 68-bed emergency field hospital in New York’s Central Park for
Covid-19 patients) stated in several TV interviews “We want people to know God
still loves them. He’s not mad at them, and He wants to help them through
this.”
His beloved father, “America’s Pastor,” Billy Graham,
said it well in his booklet called “Victory: Preparing for Resurrection
Sunday” when he declared “God never abandons us when life becomes
difficult. He is always with us and wants to help us, even when things seem to
be going wrong.
“He does not guarantee to reverse every misfortune,
but if Christ lives in our hearts, we have His promise that nothing ‘in all
creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ
Jesus our Lord’ (Romans 8:39).”
“What a guarantee!” Reverend Graham went on. “Instead
of being fearful about the future, at Easter we can trust and believe that God
is working a purpose in our lives. We can have hope!”
Easter and Promises
Speaking of Easter, consider the words of Lee Strobel
in his book The Case for Easter: “If Jesus overcame the grave, He’s still alive
and available for me to personally encounter. If Jesus conquered death, He can
open the door of eternal life to me too.” (Strobel, a journalist who was a confirmed
skeptic about Christianity, doggedly researched the matter and finally
concluded its claims were true).
God’s Word, the Bible, offers so many great promises
to us in this extremely challenging time. Healthy fear keeps us washing
our hands and keeps us out of public places unnecessarily. Unhealthy
fear, though, may make us forget or doubt those great promises.
“Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let
petitions and praises shape your worries
into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense
of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle
you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.” Philippians 4:6-7 (The
Message, boldface mine).
So stand strong. We need faith-filled courage for
these days. Not feeling courageous, you say? “Courage is simply fear that has
said its prayers,” according to Dorothy Bernard.
