Sing Through the Fear
As I sit here, I can hear the tree frogs singing out by the big pond. They have been singing non-stop for a couple of days now. It’s like they don’t have a care in the world, almost as if they have no idea what is going on around them. Wouldn’t that be nice right about now? Their singing has a peaceful and calming effect on me. I have always loved listening to them, but more so lately.
I cannot put into words how I have felt over the past month. So much has changed, not just for me and my family, but for every single one of us. No one is excluded from the uncertainty that we are facing. Everywhere you look you can find a news story about this virus. Everyone is talking about it all of the time. There’s Facebook posts and memes. There are people on Twitter and Instagram talking about different aspects of this. I have watched people become increasingly panicked over the last 30 days or so. Sadly, the worst traits seem to be making the headlines: hoarding, greed, anger, lying, selfishness. It makes me shake my head. There is a lot of uncertainty, a lot of questions, a lot of fear.
So what do we do with that? How do we handle the anger and fear that we see everyday? Who do we turn to when our own fears are creeping up on us? How do we answer those hard, scary questions our children have for us? What do we do when we start to feel helpless? I don’t have the answer to those questions, sorry. However, I know where we can turn to look for those answers. God has spoken such beautiful words to us about how to deal with our uncertainty, anger and fears. While I haven’t counted for myself, I have heard that the phrase “do not be afraid” is in the Bible 365 times. Maybe you’ve read somewhere that that means we have a “do not be afraid” verse for every day of the year. We won’t be reading all 365 of them here, but I want to take a look at a few of them today. I do encourage you, though, to dig through your Bibles and study those other verses.
One night, several years ago, while tucking my daughter in to bed, she mentioned how scared she was at night while trying to fall asleep. We talked about the possible reasons she could be feeling those fears and how to handle them. We opened her Bible and she looked for a verse about fear, and what God says about our fears. The verse she found has become one of our favorites, one that she and I both cling to:
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9 emphasis mine)
God was speaking to Joshua before he and the Israelites fought their enemies. Joshua and his men were facing matters they felt were so overwhelming and impossible to overcome and God came in and reminded him that whatever His people are facing, wherever Joshua and God’s people go, He will be there with them. Does this sound familiar to you at all? Do you feel like you are facing unimaginable issues? Do you feel like the world is turning upside down and trying to hang on is almost impossible? Are you dealing with scary moments everyday? I know most of you are nodding your heads in agreement. As I said before we are facing alarming times. What we need to focus on, right now, is that we are not walking through these uncertain times alone. God is here, walking with us. We are not alone in this.
In Paul’s letter to the Philippians he writes,
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petitions, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4: 6-7)
That does not sound like an easy task right now. Don’t be anxious? Seriously? I know from first hand experience that that can be difficult. I am one who tends to be a ‘little’ on the anxious side by nature (just ask any of my family members) so when something hits, especially something that hits the entire planet, my anxiety creeps up and takes center stage. So what is an anxious person to do in times such as these?What I have done since this pandemic started is pray. I pray fiercely every day, every moment…okay…all day long. I am continuously having a dialogue with God. I am constantly praying for His wisdom to navigate the barrage of news and information coming in. I am praying for His guidance to get me through the day. I pray for His peace to help me calm my nerves and to be a steady reassurance for my children.
Does this mean I do not have fears, that I am not worried at all? No! Absolutely not! Does this mean if you have fears, if you are anxious that you are not listening to God, that you are sinning? No…let me repeat that…NO! You can be afraid, you can be anxious! We are allowed to have moments of uncertainty, moments of feeling out of control. That is part of the human experience! What we should not do is let those fears, the anxiety and the uncertainty get the best of us. We should not sit frozen, terrified of everything around us. That is exactly what the enemy wants us to do: sit there, frozen and helpless. It is in those exact moments that our God wants us to be on our knees praying, fiercely! In those moments, we take our fears, our doubts, our tears and we lay them at the feet of God…and leave them there…do not turn around and pick them up again, leave them! Walk away from them…and watch what our God can do when we place our trust in Him!
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand…For I am the LORD, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear.” (Isaiah 41:10, 13 emphasis mine)
What stands out to you in those two verses? What I first noticed is that God knows that we are fearful, dismayed, that we are weak…He knows us because He made us! We are His children and He understand us. Think of how well you know your own children, or your nieces and nephews. You know how they will react to something. You know what they are afraid of, what makes them anxious, what causes them to doubt. You also know how to comfort them, how to ease their fears, how to calm them when they feel out of control. How more so does our Father know us! He alone knows our deepest feelings and fears. He alone know exactly how to save us, to calm our nerves, to ease our weary minds.
I read somewhere, on the internet, that the feeling of “I want my mommy!” has no age limit. I think that that is the same for “I want my daddy!”. I know that in this time of separation, of social distancing, I miss my parents deeply. Seeing their faces on the computer or the phone screen and being able to hear their voices is a huge blessing, yet the absence of their physical presence is heavy. I could really use my mommy and daddy right now. And God knows this! He knows we were made for community and togetherness and for family interactions. He knows we work better together, that we survive better when we are in community. He also knows that we miss our family and friends and that the social distancing that we are all experiencing does not help with the fears and anxiety we are all dealing with. He knows because He is our Father and we are His children.
In Jeremiah 3:57 he writes, “You came near when I called you, and you said, ‘Do not fear.’ “ Please do not skip over this very important fact: when we call out to God, He comes near to us! He comes to us when we call and He reminds us to not fear the things of this world. He comes to us and remind us He is our God. He comes to us and reminds us that we can take refuge is His loving, strong, caring arms. I don’t know about you, but that eases my fears and anxiety a little. I can then take the time to sing praises to Him and spend quiet moments noticing what He has continually blessed us with!
“Now write down for yourselves this song and teach it to the Israelites and have them sing it, so that it may be a witness for me against them.” (Deuteronomy 31:29)
God was speaking to Moses, telling him to teach a song of all of God’s blessings that the Iarealites had received so that they would never forget them. They were instructed to teach it to their children as well. Why, exactly, am I bringing up singing during these crazy times? Well, we need to constantly remind ourselves that we are still being blessed by God during times such as these. We need to take the time to focus on those blessings AND remind our children of those blessings. Redirecting our focus away from the unsettling news and onslaught of information and turning it to God will remind us of all we have been given.
I’d like to leave you with these last two verses:
“Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wonderful acts.” (1 Chronicles 16:9)
“I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me.” (Psalm 13:6)
My prayer for you is that during these trying times you will be able to cry out to God. I pray that you will take your fears, anxiety and your tears to the feet of our loving Father. May you let Him care for you and ease your troubled hearts. May you let Him shower you with love and peace that goes beyond all understanding. May you be able to stand in His presence and sing of His goodness. May you feel the blessings He is pouring out over you, new every day. May you be able to, as the trees frogs do, continue to sing a beautiful song to our Lord!
See you on the front porch