Certainty In An Age of Fear
Note: This post was written in early March. Though facts and anecdotes have changed since then, God’s character hasn’t.
The last few months have brought anxiety to the forefront of our culture in a way that I haven’t seen in years. As Coronavirus spreads to over 100 countries worldwide, it has brought with it a rising tide of anxiety. In my workplace, signs have been posted advising on best hygiene practices and hand sanitizer has been abundantly placed throughout the buildings. Coworkers are cancelling travel plans and making plans for how they will care for their children and maintain work commitments if schools shut down and they are quarantined. Supermarkets are sold out of hand soap and toilet paper as people stock up to prepare themselves for what may be coming.
While this anxiety about a global pandemic is justifiable, it also highlights the tensions that simmer under the surface of our everyday life. Our culture is desperate for certainty, security and control. We seek it in our homes as we alarm doors and install video cameras that we can monitor from afar. We seek it in our finances as we try and plan for a retirement that is still decades away. We seek it in times of crisis from 24 hour news outlets updating us constantly on the every facet of what is going on. For many, this time has highlighted an uncomfortable truth, that we are decidedly not in control of our lives.
Against this backdrop, I have been slowly making my way through a “Bible in a year” reading plan. Working through a reading plan that requires the reading of multiple passages from different books each day has allowed me to see how themes weave their way through Scripture. As I have contemplated the anxiety around me, I have been reminded anew of how consistent God is, how faithful He is to His promises and how certain we can be in our identity as His children.
When Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt they were faced with uncertainty and fear as they were pursued by the Egyptians, faced the seemingly impassable Red Sea and lacked any apparent source of food in the wilderness. Despite this, Moses and the people of Israel had certainty that their God was with them and would fulfill His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God consistently provided for and protected His people despite their fear and hard hearts.
After providing the Israelites with the law as a guide for how to live and worship Him, God provides a clear promise to His people:
I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect. (Leviticus 26:11-13)
The Psalms are filled with beautiful reflections on the hope and security we have in God.
Psalm 36:5-7
Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the clouds.
Your righteousness is like the mountains of God;
your judgments are like the great deep;
man and beast you save, O Lord.
How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
Psalm 46
God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling.
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
God will help her when morning dawns.
The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Come, behold the works of the Lord,
how he has brought desolations on the earth.
He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the chariots with fire.
“Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”
The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
As Christians, we are uniquely positioned to weather this storm. In an age of anxiety, we have hope in a God who is in full control of all things. We have peace in the knowledge that He will protect and provide, that nothing is outside of His control. Let us consider how this time offers us opportunities to reach out to those around us, care for those in need and share God’s love with them. Instead of letting anxiety reign, let’s use this time to reflect on the certainty of our faith in a steadfast, omnipotent God.