Do you believe God is God and if you do, do you believe God is good?
Afraid?
Do you remember one of the first times you were really, truly afraid? Maybe as a kid, you were afraid of the dark? Or afraid to be alone?
I remember the first time I took my son to get his first haircut. He was terrified. I tried to tell him that it didn’t hurt. That there was nothing to be afraid of. But he had never done it before. It was the fear of the unknown.
After all, it hurts when someone pulls your hair! Wouldn’t it hurt if someone cut it! He wouldn’t let anyone touch his hair.
Until… until I went first. I sat in the chair and I let the barber cut my hair first. After seeing me get my hair cut he was still a little worried, but not as scared. Because I had gone before him.
How do we react?
What happens when we face a crisis? How do we react?
It’s been interesting to watch people’s reactions to Covid-19 over the past week, including my own! It seems to me that whenever a crisis of any kind comes our way, people will generally fall into two categories.
People will either…
1 // Underreact
I’ll be honest, I tend to not worry enough about things like this. So I’ll confess that initially, I wasn’t worried. I’ll also confess, I wasn’t educated about what was happening in other parts of this world in regard to this virus.
Or…
2 // Overreact
Many people tend to overreact. These are the people who tend to go to extremes. So right now, if you turn on the radio or you turn on the TV, chances are you’re going to hear people overreacting to our current situation. This is the way much of the media works. Whether it’s sports, or politics, or weather, whatever the news story may be, they tend to overreact to everything.
My question is, how are we supposed to react as followers of Jesus? Or maybe better stated, how should we respond?
Our response…
The good news is that we can respond to this current crisis and really any crisis that comes our way because we are followers of Jesus who prepared us for moments just like this while he was on the planet.
Before the cross…
Just hours before he would be arrested, Jesus spoke these words…
“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me.”
— John 14.1
Jesus is speaking to his disciples hours before he is about to die. The cross is right around the next corner. They are about to face a crisis like they have never faced before. And they know how dangerous this moment is.
They know there are people plotting to kill Jesus. They know their lives are at stake, too. And into this moment filled with fear, into this moment of uncertainty, into this moment where they are scared and worried and unsure, Jesus says…
“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me.”
Before persecution…
And not only does Jesus speak those words into that moment… but John is writing down these words of Jesus to be read by churches everywhere at the end of the 1st century.
With the temple in Jerusalem being destroyed, more persecution on the way for Christians, and o yea… the big question they were facing was how are we supposed to be followers of a Messiah who is no longer physically present? How do we follow an absent Lord? Where is Jesus now?
John, living in the middle of that crisis, remembers these words of Jesus…
“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me.”
Before I leave…
But John doesn’t stop there… if you keep reading, you hear the reassuring words of Jesus again. Words Jesus gives his disciples before he leaves them.
“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” — John 1.27
Don’t be troubled or afraid.
I’m leaving you with a gift – peace of mind and heart.
Don’t let your hearts be troubled.
Trust in God, and trust also in me.
I think what Jesus saw in his first disciples and what John may have seen in the hearts and lives of believers in Jesus at the end of the first century was this… their core problem in the middle of the crisis was a lack of TRUST in Jesus.
Trust in God, and trust also in me.
This is a time for us to TRUST.
This past week our kids were on Spring and every Spring Break our family has a tradition of going camping. And when I say, “Go camping,” I mean… go find a place out in the sticks, set up a tent and completely unplug from the world around us and camp.
I’m talking… our kids got so bored from not having screens that they actually talked to each other! At night, they’re singing songs from their favorite movies, their looking up at the stars at night for constellations, their playing in the creek, they’re doing stuff they would never do at home because we’ve brought them out in the middle of nowhere, taken away all the devices, and said, “Have fun!”
For the most part, Alisha and I were unplugged too. So it wasn’t until we were on the way home on Thursday that we began to realize the gravity of what was happening in the world in regard to Covid-19.
I’m driving us home and Alisha is checking email and social media on her phone, and then I start getting phone calls about church and what we’re going to do. And our kids are in the car with us and they’re beginning to realize, ok… this is different. Something is really serious.
My son is checking in on our favorite sports teams on his phone and he’s telling me about all the sporting events that are being cancelled… Ok, things are really getting serious.
Now, we’re about an hour from home. We’re mostly caught up on the news. We’ve got more questions than answers. Everyone is tired. It would be really easy to let fear and fatigue take over.
But the night before during our family devotional, I asked the kids to share their favorite worship songs and why they liked those songs. So, with an hour left to go in the trip, we just started listening to those songs. And it was amazing to hear how the lyrics to those songs spoke to the fear in our lives and reminded us to put our trust in God.
one kid said… play Raise a Hallelujah. Here are some of the lyrics to that song…
Raise a Hallelujah
I raise a hallelujah, in the presence of my enemies
I raise a hallelujah, louder than the unbelief
I raise a hallelujah, my weapon is a melody
I raise a hallelujah, heaven comes to fight for me
I’m gonna sing, in the middle of the storm
Louder and louder, you’re gonna hear my praises roar
Up from the ashes, hope will arise
Death is defeated, the King is alive!
Another one said… play Famous For. Here are some of the lyrics to that song…
Famous For
There is no fear ’cause I believe
There is no doubt ’cause I have seen
Your faithfulness, my fortress
Over and over
I have a hope found in Your name
I have a strength found in Your grace
Your faithfulness, my fortress
Over and over
Make way through the waters, Walk me through the fire
Do what You are famous for, What You are famous for
Shut the mouths of lions, Bring dry bones to life and
Do what You are famous for, What You are famous for
I believe in You, God, I believe in You
Do you believe?
Do you believe God is God and if you do, do you believe God is good?
If you believe God is who He says He is, it changes everything for you.
And if you believe He is good, then you can trust him.
That doesn’t mean we aren’t smart. That doesn’t mean we don’t listen to our doctors and health professionals. What that means is that we respond in appropriate ways. We look to the interest of others ahead of our own! We live in unselfish ways. We put our hope in God. We look for ways to serve others, especially the weak and the marginalized.
Why? Because this is love.
It’s believing in God, trusting in His name, and living our lives in service to Him and to others.
Our Father Goes Before Us
I don’t know what you’re afraid of today. There’s A LOT to be afraid of.
But just like that day I took my kid to get a haircut, you can rest assured that your God has gone before you.
Jesus could say, Don’t let your hearts be troubled because he was about to go ahead of them to the cross. But not just to the cross, he would go before them to the grave, and he would be the first to be resurrected from the grave!
He would go before them.
And I think if Jesus were here today, he would say the same thing to us…
Don’t be troubled or afraid.
I’m leaving you with a gift – peace of mind and heart.
Don’t let your hearts be troubled.
Trust in God, and trust also in me.
Today, it’s my prayer that we can be people full of faith in the middle of the crisis, living as people of peace, trusting in Jesus’ name.
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