Have No Fear

The boys and I went fishing one day last summer. We tried down at the park but had no luck. So then we crossed Third Avenue at the bridge and went back by the railroad bed. There is a deep hole there that we thought might yield a few fish. We joined Sam Holsinger, who was already fishing there. And soon, we were joined by a group of five or six boys who came to swim in the hole. They waited patiently until we were done fishing.

I said, “Go ahead boys, we’re done.” And they jumped in – from the top of the railroad culvert where the creek ran under the railroad bed.. It’s a big jump. It’s a little scary. But those boys were doing it with little or no hesitation. Now, I knew most of those boys. And most of them aren’t really right, you know? Well, they’re boys. Take Ethan Butterbaugh, for example – he was there. Not only did he jump; but he climbed up on top of the round, inch-wide metal railing on top of the culvert and then jumped. I watched him do this once or twice, and as he climbed on that thin railing in his wet sneakers I told him I wished he wouldn’t do that. He asked me why.

“Well, your feet could slip on that metal and you could fall off balance face first into that cement.”

He said no, that wouldn’t happen.

“How do you know?” I asked.

Because it hasn’t happened to me yet, he said, with supreme confidence.

And that my friends, is the invincibility of youth. No fear. Nothing will happen to me. Cause, it hasn’t happened in the last five minutes. I’m not picking on Ethan or the other boys. When I was younger I did plenty of stupid things on dares, and plenty of stupid things on my own initiative. Growing older hopefully provides us with the wisdom to refrain from not doing as many stupid things as we used to do. As we get older, there is an opposite danger from the danger of youth – we learn to play it safe whenever possible. And when life isn’t safe, we grow afraid. In fact, when things aren’t as secure as we are used to, we not only grow afraid,, but we become afraid of that feeling of being afraid. And we will do most anything to avoid feeling that way.

God tells us not to be afraid. He doesn’t say don’t take risks, because that would be saying don’t live. Life is full of risk and unknown danger. But life is also full of opportunity. God tells us that we are meant to live in a reality, not of fear, but of love.

“God is love, and those who abide in love, abide in God, and God abides in them. . .There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. . .” 1 John 4.16,18


I have often wondered what this means. . .perfect love casts out fear. How does love get rid of fear? Well, think about fear. Not all fear is bad. For example, if are walking the woods, and you come upon a bear with cubs, fear puts you on alert, and tells your brain, “Now is not the time to be stupid.” Fear has a purpose. But too often, fear ends up controlling us. I was listening to an interview on the radio with former NFL linebacker Bill Romanowski. Romanowski played most of his career for the Denver Broncos. Steelers Fans may remember the AFC title game in which “Romo” spit on Kordell Stewart. I never liked Romanowski after that game. But as I listened to this interview, I understood him a little better. He talked about always playing angry.

“Why did you play angry all the time?” he was asked.

“Because I was always afraid,” Romanowski responded. “It was either play afraid or play angry.” That choice between anger and fear makes sense if you are an undersized linebacker in the NFL. But that choice doesn’t make sense for the rest of us. Unfortunately many people do make that bargain with the devil. Many people live much of their lives angry because mostly, well, they are afraid.

The secret of conquering our fear is to know that we are not alone. We are loved.

It helps to know that you are not alone. Fear tends to separate us from others and fear magnifies are sense of loneliness. We live lives that are more isolated. Robert Putnam’s classic book on our modern society, Bowling Alone, notes that volunteerism and participation in community groups are at their lowest levels in the past fifty years. The result of our not joining is our not belonging. We feel more isolated and are prone to distrust others and distrust our future. There is a confidence that comes with serving alongside others at Kiwanis or Little League or Bowling League. There is power in community. That great theologian, Yogi Berra, put it this way, “If you don’t go to somebody’s funeral, they won’t come to yours.”

Now, just being with people helps, but it doesn’t get us all the way out of the valley of Fear. The Israelites in the Wilderness of Sin are an example for us. They had each other, and they had Moses, and they had a string of success stories in their immediate past to give them confidence – and yet they feared. Their fear manifested itself in their complaining. They complained because they feared. They were low on water, in the desert, and they were afraid. They said, “What, they’re weren’t enough graves in Egypt? You had to bring us out into this wilderness to die?”

And the people were getting angry. Moses thought they were about ready to stone him to death. Moses was beside himself.

“Moses called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” Exodus 17.7

This test of water was one of three tests that came to Israel on the journey in the wilderness. Two the tests concerned water and one concerned food. At a place called Marah, they found water, but it was too bitter to drink, until God showed them how to make it sweeter. Marah is Hebrew for bitterness. Then they came to a place called Elim that had fine water and nice shade, but they were hungry. So God sent the bread from heaven called Manna. Manna is Hebrew for “what is it?”. This was fine until they got tired of bread and wanted meat. So, to recap, the places where they went they ended up calling Bitterness, What is It?, Quarreling, and Testing. Do you see a pattern here?

Was it the places themselves that were unpleasant or did the people bring their unpleasantness with them?

Their question, “Is the Lord with us or not?” reveals everything we need to know about their spirits. They were afraid. They tested God. They acted like God had never done anything for them.

I hear this attitude today. We get caught up with all the trouble on the news and the 24/7 blame game that so-called commentators play. Folks, it is possible to watch too much news and listen to too much talk radio. Because too much leaves you with the wrong attitude. Too much leads to cynicism and despair. And friends, that is simply not permissible for the believer. No matter how hellish this world appears, this world is still my Father’s world! This world is still in the hands of the Almighty, who suffers no rival gods to be in charge. Even the Devil himself bows and comes calling when the Lord God summons him. The present troubles, no matter how great and terrifying, are nothing to be afraid of.

“Beloved do not believe every spirit, but test them to see whether they are of God. . .Little children, you are of God, and have overcome them; for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” 1 John 4.1, 4

So the believer knows that no matter how bad things seem, God is in charge. God is here.! We may have to fight the battle, but we know the war has already been won.

Philip Yancey recounts the story of a German prison camp in World War II. Unbeknownst to the German guards, the American POWs had built a makeshift radio. One day news came that German high command had surrendered, ending the war – a fact that, because of a communication breakdown, the German guards did not yet know. As word spread among the prisoners, a loud celebration broke out. For three days, the prisoners were hardly recognizable. They sang and waved at the guards, laughed at the guard dogs and joked over meals. On the fourth day, they awoke to find that all the Germans had fled, leaving the gates unlocked. The time of waiting had come to an end.

Yancey asks this question: “As we Christians face contemporary crises, why do we respond with such fear and anxiety? Why don’t we, like the Allied prisoners, act on the Good News we say we believe? What is faith, after all, but believing in advance what will only make sense in reverse?”

Say: God is here!