By Pastor Greg
They say people are more afraid of
public speaking than they are of snakes.
But that statement doesn't seem to make
sense to me. I mean, you don't
see someone walking around a church and suddenly shouting, "Watch out!
A podium!"
Oh, ha, ha. Amusing. But we really are fearful people. We’re afraid of so many things. We are afraid of heights, afraid of mice,
afraid of germs, afraid of getting sick, afraid of water, afraid of
thunderstorms, afraid of clowns, dogs, lions, tigers, and bears. Oh, and fear.
We are afraid of being
afraid. In 1933, President Roosevelt
said, “The only thing we have to fear is
fear itself” … and spiders. Don’t
forget spiders.
My worst fear is laughing at a joke
I don’t understand, and then asking someone to explain it.
People will tell you that it is
natural to be afraid. Without healthy
fear in our life, we would do dumb things, like stick paper clips into an
electrical outlet or put our foot in a
circular saw. But see, that’s healthy fear; it keeps us safe. However, there is a type of fear that
separates us from God. It’s the kind of
fear that caused Adam and Eve to hide from God
and caused Jonah to run from God.
Jonah was a man baptized by many
different emotions: indifference, hatred, anger, and fear. His life was immersed in many destructive
emotions. And what I man is that these
emotions controlled his actions and behaviors.
For example, Jonah allowed fear to separated him from God. (Jonah
1) The Lord
gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Get up and go to
the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen
how wicked its people are.” 3 But Jonah got up and went in the
opposite direction to get away from the Lord. He went down to the port of
Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went
on board, hoping to escape from the Lord by sailing to Tarshish. 4 But
the Lord hurled a powerful wind over the sea, causing a violent storm that
threatened to break the ship apart. 5 Fearing for their lives,
the desperate sailors shouted to their gods for help and threw the cargo
overboard to lighten the ship. But all this time Jonah was sound asleep down in
the hold. 6 So the captain went down after him. “How can you
sleep at a time like this?” he shouted. “Get up and pray to your god! Maybe he
will pay attention to us and spare our lives.” 7 Then the crew
cast lots to see which of them had offended the gods and caused the terrible
storm. When they did this, the lots
identified Jonah as the culprit. 8 “Why has this awful storm
come down on us?” they demanded. “Who are you? What is your line of work? What
country are you from? What is your nationality?” 9 Jonah
answered, “I am a Hebrew, and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made
the sea and the land.” 10 The sailors were terrified when they
heard this, for he had already told them he was running away from the Lord.
“Oh, why did you do it?” they groaned. 11 And since the storm
was getting worse all the time, they asked him, “What should we do to you to
stop this storm?” 12 “Throw me into the sea,” Jonah said, “and
it will become calm again. I know that this terrible storm is all my fault.” 13 Instead,
the sailors rowed even harder to get the ship to the land. But the stormy sea
was too violent for them, and they couldn’t make it. 14 Then
they cried out to the Lord, Jonah’s God. “O Lord,” they pleaded, “don’t make us
die for this man’s sin. And don’t hold us responsible for his death. O Lord, you
have sent this storm upon him for your own good reasons.” 15 Then
the sailors picked Jonah up and threw him into the raging sea, and the storm
stopped at once! [1]
I’ll be honest, part of me
understands why Jonah ran from God (verse 3).
I’m not sure what I would have done if I were in his shoes.
Earlier in his life, Jonah had
spoken a prophecy from God (2 Kings 14:25).
However, he delivered that prophecy from the comfort of home. And his message was positive – a blessing
from God. But, this time God was sending
Jonah into a foreign land … into the very heart of Assyria. He was to go to Nineveh; a city filled with
the vilest and cruelest people you will ever meet. These heartless
people would slaughter their victims, cut off their heads, and pile them
outside the city. Those who survived
their attacks were burned alive or skinned alive. Nineveh, a city
first built by Nimrod (around 2,300 B.C.), has always been a city filled with
warriors (see Genesis 10:8-11).
And God told Jonah to go and
deliver a message of judgment.
I’ll admit, I’d be a little afraid
as well.
Rather than obey, Jonah ran from
God, as if there was some place a person could go to escape God (see Psalm
139:7). Sure, he ran mostly because of
hatred (see Jonah 4:2). However, it seems
Jonah also ran because of fear.
It’s obvious Jonah did not trust
that God could protect him in this foreign land or watch over him in his
travels, and this lack of trust
caused him to be afraid.
This hatred, combined with fear, kept Jonah from being obedient to the Lord, caused him to ignore God, and interrupted Jonah’s prayer life (in the middle of the storm, it was
the sailors who called him to prayer - Jonah 1:6). A lack of obedience to God, ignoring His
calling, and a broken prayer life was
caused by fear. Do you think we are plagued by this
today? Absolutely. I see it in my own life. Maybe you see it in yours.
We too have been baptized by
fear. We respond to God out of fear, not
faith. We are afraid of what God might ask us to do, how He might ask us to
change, or where He will tell us to go.
And when a Christian is filled with fear,
they are no longer obedient to God, they ignore God, and their relationship
with God is interrupted. Yes, those
words are a bit harsh, but you know they are true. We’ve both lived them. When this kind of fear takes control, a
Christian finds it easier to blend in with society rather than following the
Lord’s teachings. When controlled by
fear, a Christian seeks their own comfort and safety and disregards the needs
of those around them. When filled with fear, a Christian becomes distant
to God. They hold God at arm’s length,
fearing what might happen if they get too close. They practice religion but don’t have the
relationship. A Christian who is afraid
of all the risks involved is a Christian who no longer trusts God; they don’t
believe God can do what He has promised.
This is what fear produced in Jonah. This
is what it does to me. Maybe fear is doing the same thing to you.
We are people naturally afraid,
but we were not created that way. It
seems fear was a product of the Fall;
the results of Adam and Eve’s sin (compare Genesis 3:10). Since fear
is the result of sin, then our fears reflect our sinfulness; when I am
afraid to obey God, when I ignore God, or when I
keep God distant on my life, I confirm that sin is part of my basic human nature.
Unfortunately, there is no simple
solution to overcome this fear. Because
we are still sinful people, some of the things God asks us to do will cause us
to be afraid. Obeying the Lord will not
be easy. When God asks us to trust Him
and be faithful, there will be moments of worry and fear. Yes, there will be fear, but our trust
in God must overcome that fear.
It’s been my experience that the
Lord does not eliminate the fear.
Instead He asks us to trust Him in spite of that fear. And when God does as He has promised, the
lesson is invaluable. Fear is overcome
through trust. The more we trust
God, the less we are handcuffed by fear.
As Paul learned to trust
God, he could eventually write, “And I am convinced
that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life,
neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about
tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No
power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation
will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in
Christ Jesus our Lord.[2]”
(Romans 8:38-39). You learn that when you learn to trust.
I find
it interesting that God confronted Jonah’s fear by having him thrown overboard,
and then be swallowed by a great fish.
And to
think, he was afraid of Nineveh.
I
wonder how God might confront our fears.
[1] Tyndale House Publishers.
(2007). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (3rd ed., Jon 1:1–15).
Carol Stream, IL.
[2] Tyndale House Publishers.
(2007). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (3rd ed., Ro 8:38–39).
Carol Stream, IL.
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