Fear v. Wisdom: How we react in crisis

Introduction

I see a lot online these days, truth be told that’s about the only way I see anything outside the few block area of my apartment complex where I walk these days, anyway, I see a lot online that are, as most public discourse these days, on two opposite ends of a spectrum. One end of the spectrum is about fear and tragedy and anxiety and who is to blame for all of these things, and the other end of the spectrum is about a media conspiracy to incite fear and anxiety and who is to blame for these things!

It seems, if you just read online, that there are two possible things facing our world right now:

Armageddon, the end times, the extreme lack of government competence that is allowing this powerful virus to wipe us all out!

Nothing to be concerned with, just the lying news media trying to scare us all into staying home and crippling the economy and our freedoms for… um… reasons? Maybe?

The truth is, neither of these can be further from the truth. As often happens with the truth, it is somewhere in between these two extreme, and very few people are actually talking about it. At least, very few people are talking about it as loudly as those on the extremes.

The Truth

The truth about our current situation, according to the best information available from the medical professionals working tirelessly to make us aware of them, is that we are still in what is called the “acceleration phase” of this pandemic, and most of what happens next is mostly up to us.

The truth is, in the U.S. at least, if everyone who possibly can chooses to stay home and avoid contact with anyone outside their residence from now until COVID-19 is under control, the rate of infection will level off, hospitals will be able to treat people who are badly struck by this virus and most will, in fact recover. However, if we continue to decide to make small exceptions here and there to do what we want against the recommendations of our local health experts, if we decide that this virus doesn’t affect us, then the rate of transmission will continue to rise and with a high number of cases, many people who could’ve recovered from this virus with proper care will not have access to it, and needless deaths will occur.

That’s it, that’s the truth as I know it. This is neither the end of the world as we know it or “just a bad flu season”, and recognizing the nuance there is the difference between fear and wisdom.

Fear

Today I’m going to discuss how fear and wisdom are the two main responses that we can have to times such as these, and what the bible says about each. We will start today in the book of Matthew, where the disciples respond to their circumstances out of fear, instead of wisdom and faith.

Matthew

Matthew 8:23–27 ESV

And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”

Now, it may seem like the disciples were overreacting, after all, Jesus Christ Himself was aboard their boat! So to add a little context, let’s learn more about what a swamped boat looks like.

Video start

Now as you can see, this is also a relatively small fishing boat, probably smaller than the one the disciples on, you sure won’t fit 13 people on it, but it’s the same phenomenon.

Look how the waves are crashing over the gunwales and flooding the deck of this boat, try and imagine how much bigger the waves would have to be to do this to a boat capable of holding 13 or more people! Add to that the crashing thunder and torrential rain and what the disciples were facing might be closer to scene from The Perfect Storm.

Perfect storm video start

And so they’re terrified, as any sane person would be, and they run to Jesus because even in their fear they know Jesus is the most powerful person on that boat and if anyone can change this situation its Him! But Jesus rebukes them and says “why are you afraid?” Why are we afraid, well Jesus there’s a big storm and our ship is in danger and I don’t know how it works for god-men but for us humans having your ship sink in the sea in the middle of a big storm leads to this pesky and silly condition called DROWNING! But notice, Jesus didn’t rebuke them for waking Him, He was concerned only that they did so with fearful hearts.

The Bible instructs us that we should live fearing only God. In fact, this is so fundamental to our faith in God that when God was making his covenant with Abraham, He told him to “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield.” (). God’s people are not to live in fear of the world, because we follow the One that created it, and He is our shield! No true harm will come to us, the people of God, nothing that He will not overcome on our behalf.

We recently saw in our study of The Story that God punished the people of Israel for being too afraid to enter the promised land when all of the spies except Joshua brought back a fearful report of a powerful nations that they didn’t think they could defeat! God punished this fear and lack of faith by adding 40 years to their stay in the wilderness, allowing no one who fearfully refused to follow God that day to enter the promised land. God was with them! They had no reason to fear, as their children would learn when they conquered each and every city that God led them against.

Fast forward to the end of The Story (spoiler alert!) John tells us that in his vision, that when Jesus appears in his vision He says to him saying “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. (). God told Abraham at the beginning of the covenant that he should not be afraid, and Jesus tells John the same thing in his vision of the very end. We have nothing to fear because the Lord is our shield, because Jesus is the master of death.

Wisdom

revelation

How then, should we respond in challenging, dangerous, frightful times? Well let’s go back to our main reading for today in Matthew.

Matthew 8:23–27 ESV

And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”

Notice that Jesus, unlike most of us when woken abruptly from a nap, does not rebuke the disciples for waking Him. He doesn’t mind being woken to calm the storm, their boat was in danger! No, Jesus’s concern was not that the disciples woke Him to save them from the storm, it was because their fear betrayed the fact that they were afraid He might not be able to.

Let’s say the crisis in your life is a schoolyard bully. I know, I know, it’s an overused example in youth lessons and very rarely do the intricacies of interpersonal conflict among the post-modern American adolescent boil down to “give me your lunch money or I’ll pummel you” but allow me the cliche to make a point. What the disciples did, was run from a bully to their big brother and hide behind him saying “oh I hope you can take this guy” when what was expected of them was to stand beside their big brother, smirk back a the bully and say “oh, you’re in trouble now!” See the difference? Which one conveys more faith in our protector?

So clearly we are to respond in faith, we are to do everything first and foremost with faith in God and His goodness and His promises. By our faith we are freely given the gift of God’s good mercy, and we have nothing to fear! Faith in God in all things is one of the surest ways to abide by the greatest commandment:

Matthew 22:36–38 ESV

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.

But in addition to that there is a second commandment!

Matthew 22:39–40 ESV

And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Matthew 22:39-

We show our love for God by putting our faith in Him, we love our neighbors by using the good wisdom that God has provided to serve them and show them mercy in every way that we can. We show wisdom by waking the Lord Jesus in the storm so that he can calm the seas, we show wisdom when we carefully avoid physical interactions with others that could cause a dangerously sneaky disease to spread without our knowledge. We show wisdom when we take simple steps to serve our most at-risk neighbors by bringing them groceries, ensuring they have access to anything they need without needing to expose themselves to unnecessary social interaction.

() When Paul found himself in a crisis, it often looked a lot like a Roman prison cell. While Paul and Silas were jailed in Philippi, a great earthquake came upon the city and shook the prison to its foundations. The doors sprang open and the prisoners were no longer held. When the jailer, place in charge of the prison came to check and saw all the doors opened, he prepared to kill himself, for a quick death was preferable to the punishment he would face for allowing all of his captives to escape.

In this crisis however, Paul responded in faith in wisdom rather than fear. He had faith that God would protect him from his captors, and he was wise enough to understand the consequences that their escape would have on the jailer, so Paul and Silas and all of the prisoners stayed put. Paul calmed the jailer, his captor, saying “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.”

As a result of this wisdom, mercy, and grace, the jailer and his entire household were converted and baptized. Paul and Silas were soon set free as well.

Just because we have nothing to fear from this virus, does not mean it doesn’t require our response as Christians. To love our neighbors means to use our own wisdom, and the best advice offered by the best medical professionals, to physically isolate ourselves and to reach out in other ways to show love to each other in a difficult time.

Conclusion

That said, I hope you all are staying healthy, happy, and sane in this time as we work to respond to a global crisis with faith and wisdom. I eagerly await the day when I can see you all again face to face, and we can worship together once again. Until that time, this week I want to recommend all of you to check out the Regen Harmony videos posted by the Acapella Company on YouTube. This is an incredible gathering of young people to sing hymns of praise to the Lord and this Lord’s day is a perfect reason to find the loudest speaker in your house and play this music full blast! Singalongs are highly encouraged. Links to some of their videos and to the Dwell bible app that I mentioned last week are below in the description. Shoot me a text today and let me know how you’re doing. I mean it when I say that, and literally none of you have yet. Yes, I’m calling you all out because I know your parents are watching. Shoot me a text today and let’s catch up, I miss you all, I love you all, let’s close in prayer.