INAPPROPRIATE EXPECTATIONS

Several years ago Carol and I spent an evening visiting with friends. Walking into our host’s living room I glanced at the television which was tuned to a 24-hour news station and saw what appeared to be the scene of an explosion in New York City. Crawling across the bottom of the screen were the words “explosion, injuries, death, possible terrorism.” The anxiety level of America skyrocketed for a few minutes. Eventually it was discovered that a steam pipe, nearly one hundred years old and buried ten feet underground, had ruptured with great force.

We live in a world that breeds fear and anxiety. No matter where you turn, it seems there is a catastrophe rising, or at least the newscasters say there is. The news media have such a negative outlook that virtually everything is viewed with the idea, “How can we sensationalize this?” Take the evening news for example; news people no longer just report the news, they also report the news they think is behind the news. This kind of spin takes an accident and elevates it to a disaster; it takes a spring thunderstorm and elevates it to an impending life-threatening, killer storm; it takes an obscure report by an unknown group of “experts” and projects it as though it is certifiable truth.

The Bible has very interesting things to say about the times in which we live. “Men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven will be shaken” (Luke 21:26).

While the Scriptures do say there will be an increase of catastrophic events and life will become more and more difficult in the end times, this verse seems to say that men’s hearts will fail not because of the actual events but because of the “fear and the expectation” that a disaster of some kind may be coming. And if you watch the evening news and listen too much to talk radio, you may just feel like the whole world is going to hell in a hand basket, and it is happening “right now.” If it’s not the conservatives whining about the cataclysmic disasters that the liberals are creating, then it’s the liberals whining about the catastrophic disaster the conservatives have created.

The word fear in Luke 21:26 means to live in dread, to be terror-stricken. This kind of fear causes one to see unfounded evil coming from all directions. We get the English word phobia from the Greek word for fear; phobia means “an exaggerated and usually illogical fear of an event or item.”

So, what is God’s message for us in a moment like this? Psalm 46:1-3 is about as comforting and straight to the point as any passage in the Bible:

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling” (NKJV).

Refuge

The Hebrew word for refuge is sometimes translated to mean “fleeing to a shelter with the idea of tarrying there for protection” (see Psalm 57:1). The word is occasionally translated “trusting” (see Psalm 37:40). The primary idea is that a place is not a refuge unless you can trust it. The word is also sometimes translated “hope.” This would tell us that the word refuge embraces the idea of a place we can flee to with confidence that we will be safe.

Strength

The word strength that is used here has strong meanings. Among several, it means to be vehement or powerful, like the intense or power-filled wind that divided the waters of the Red Sea. It also means “to provide defense and refuge.” The Holy Spirit is often described “as a wind.” Acts 1:8 says, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” You have more strength than you think because the Holy Spirit came to dwell in you at salvation and He brought His power-pack with Him.

God is not just a hiding place for us in times of stress; He is a calming strength for us to draw on.

Very present help

God is not just somewhere in our neighborhood, He is right there with us at all times.

I am a father of two children. My daughters know that I am available to help them whenever they need it; all they have to do is call. Several times during the last twenty years Carol and I have lived 1200 to 1500 miles away from our children. We could speak by phone and, if need be, get on a plane and be with our family within six to ten hours. Now that we live close, it would still be 15 or 20 minutes before we could get to their house in a time of urgent need.

Too often we relegate our understanding of God and how He works to what we understand in the natural, and that is a mistake on our part. You need to embrace the fact that God is there with you all the time. You respond to that, saying, “I don’t understand how that can be”—but you don’t need to understand! God is God and you are not. There are lots of things about God and His ways that we, in our natural minds, are incapable of totally thinking through and grasping. God said, “I will be a very present help in trouble.” Therefore, He is.

God’s promise to His people is that He will be a trustworthy place of safety, a mighty strength for us to draw on, and that He will be a very (meaning abundant) real presence in times of stress and trouble.

“God is . . . therefore we will not fear!”