The Only Thing We Have to Fear is Fear Itself

Who said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself"? Give up? It was Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the opening sentences of his first inaugural address in 1933.  Roosevelt took office at the height of the Great Depression, when many had lost jobs, homes, farms, and worst of all... hope. FDR was convinced that our greatest problem was not the national economic crisis but, "Nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."

We live in a time when fear, once again, threatens to paralyze our ability to think, speak and act as faithful followers of Jesus.  

In my devotional time this morning I read a Bible story that focuses on fear and faith.  Jesus and his disciples got into a little fishing boat and started across the large lake known as the Galilee when... "A terrible storm came up, with waves breaking into the boat."  Everyone in the boat became frightened.  Everyone but Jesus, who was sound asleep.

The others rushed to wake him up, "Lord!" They shouted, "Save us! We're going to drown!" Jesus replied, "Why are you afraid?  You have so little faith!"

If you find yourself on the water with waves crashing over your boat, most would agree that fear is a normal human response. However, the way we respond to our fear can hinder our response to the wind and the waves. Fear can paralyze and prevent us from thinking clearly and acting courageously. 

Marilynne Robinson is an award winning contemporary author who brings a Christian perspective to her writing.  Two of her novels, Housekeeping and Gilead have won the Pulitzer Prize.  Robinson laments that fear has become a national obsession.  In an interview for the New York Times, she says:

"I think a default posture of human beings is fear.  I think this has become prominent in our culture recently --  fear is an excuse; 'I would like to have done something, but of course I couldn't...'  Fear is so opportunistic that people can call on it under the slightest provocation: 'He looked at me funny, so I shot him.'" 

She also laments that the "faith community" has  become infected by the spread of fear.  In an interview with the Religious News Service Robinson had this to say:

"There are Christians so scared of the world that they want to carry a gun... (but I think) it's a little bit unChristian to have thinking and behavior governed by fear."

"How did we get so scared of each other?  I have never felt as if I was in a situation that could remotely suggest to me the appropriateness of lethal violence.  And I'm not living in a gated community in Florida." 

As followers of Jesus we need to continue to wrestle with his challenge "Why are you afraid?  You have so little faith!"  

The Book of Proverbs offers a helpful prescription for the fear influenza sweeping the world:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not lean on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. (Proverbs 3:5)