Dealing with Fears

It was on the 25th of January 1736.

John Wesley, the founder of what came to be known as the Methodist movement,

wrote this in his diary.

This was the most glorious day that I have yet seen.

It's quite a thing to say.

Particularly from somebody who saw quite a lot of things in his lifetime in his ministry.

What was it that was so glorious about that particular day that he saw?

Well, let me tell you what it wasn't.

Nobody, in at least the context of what he was commenting on in his diary,

became a Christian that day, as far as we're aware.

It wasn't any kind of miraculous healings that took place.

No bringing anybody back from the dead or anything like that.

And yet, Wesley said that this was the most glorious day that he had seen yet.

Well, it was a storm.

In fact, it was the third storm in the middle of the Atlantic that Wesley had experienced.

You know, if we ever get nervous or fearful about travelling,

we need to rewind a couple of hundred years

and think what it was actually like for that generation of people.

Wesley and many others set sail from Gravesend to Georgia in the autumn of 1735.

It took them several months.

It wasn't until February that they actually made it right the way across the Atlantic.

And the journey was fraught with storm.

Remember, they didn't have any of the communications to get help

or anything that we would have today.

And it was on the second of the storms that Wesley was actually out on deck

and the storm was so violent that he was swept right off his feet.

So you can imagine by the time they had the third dose of this,

they were all absolutely terrified,

particularly when on this particular third occasion,

the wind actually completely ripped the sails in half.

And so everybody was in chaos, except not everybody was panicking.

Because as Wesley made his way across the boat,

he noticed that all the English people that he was with were panicking,

they were crying and screaming.

Understandably, they thought they were going to die.

But then he came across a group of Moravian Christians,

men, women and children.

And there, in the midst of the storm,

they were singing Christian songs and smiling.

And throughout the journey,

Wesley had noticed that there was something about these people

that was different.

They seemed surprisingly differently calm.

They were outstandingly kind and generous

and compassionate in their everyday actions.

And so in the middle of that storm,

as Wesley saw the way that they reacted to it,

he knew that he wanted what they had.

Fear is a part of life.

Let's not pretend it's not.

Every single one of us is afraid of something or other,

whether it's heights we saw at the beginning,

whatever it may happen to be.

Something will make each of us fearful,

part of our humanity.

And probably we'd be in trouble

if we didn't have some sense of fear in us.

But as we move towards the end of this series

where we're thinking about growing older and wiser,

in other words, what it is to grow more mature spiritually,

what we see in the story that I've just shared

is a story that actually seems to repeat itself

time and time again throughout history,

where people discover that

although they may still feel afraid about different things,

whether it's a storm or whatever,

faith makes a difference in the way that fear

is handled and processed and reacted to.

In some parts of the world,

they have a way of training and conditioning elephants.

And what they do is they take a chain,

a very strong chain,

and they put one end of the chain

around a very strong tree

and the other end around one of the elephant's feet.

And then they put some fruit

near to the elephant

but just outside of the elephant's reach.

And the elephant sees and smells the fruit

and as it does so,

it tries to get near to it.

It tugs on this train,

on this chain.

It pulls away.

But after a few days,

it realises that no matter how hard it tries,

it's not going to get to the fruit.

And so it gives up.

It accepts its limitations

and has been trained and conditioned accordingly.

And when that happens,

apparently you can then remove the chain

and replace it with a rope.

Now, the elephant is strong enough

to snap that rope any time it would wish to,

but by now it's become trained and conditioned

to accept its limitations.

So it doesn't try.

But apparently there's one exception,

and that is if ever fire breaks out

near where the elephant is.

Because when that happens,

then the elephant's fear of fire

will instinctively overtake its fear of pain

and it will just bolt

and the rope will snap.

When that happens,

apparently you can never ever

train or condition that elephant again.

And I hold that image before you

because I think it's a really helpful one

for understanding this relationship

between Christian maturity and fear

and the way we handle fear.

Because when we come to absorb

a sense of healthy respect for God,

when we understand his presence,

when we understand his lordship,

when we understand his power

and his authority over all other things,

it puts other things into perspective.

Sure enough, those fears,

those concerns may still sort of lurk

a little bit around,

but they're held in check.

They're put in perspective

as we encounter the reality of God

and his authority and his power in our life.

So let's have a look at the psalm

that we have before us.

And I just want to pick out

one little bit of that psalm.

And it's verses five and six.

For you, O Lord, are my hope,

my trust, O Lord, from my youth.

Upon you I have leaned from my birth.

It was you who took me from my mother's womb.

I think there's something really,

really intriguing and really important there

that the psalmist makes reference

to being born.

I've never stopped and thought about that.

You know, I doubt we remember it.

But every single one of us was born.

And according to our Christian faith,

we're not just here by random fluke.

We're here by design, by God's design.

But it was his desire

that we be brought into this world.

And we can say more than that.

Our existence doesn't just have to do

with God's desire

whenever it was when we were born.

It has to do with God's desire every day.

As long as you are in this world,

you're in this world

because God desires you to be in this world.

Your existence is part of God's plan and purpose.

Now, we might not always understand that.

There will be times when we'll find that

very, very difficult to make sense of

when things are getting difficult.

But the psalmist here is calling us to,

when times are tough, to reflect on that,

to remember that you're not here by accident

or by random chance,

that you're here by God's design.

And so he's brought you this far.

He continues to sustain you right now.

And whatever may fear you about what lies ahead,

know this, you are here now

by virtue of the reality that God,

God, the author, not just of you,

but of the whole universe,

desires you to be here.

But then the psalmist takes that even further

because he says,

I have relied upon you.

Or as I think it's a better translation,

the NRSV,

it says,

I leaned upon you.

That he puts this image of how from his youth

he had learned gradually to lean on God.

Now, we all lean on something.

Whether we are Christians or not,

whether we believe in God or not,

everybody leans on something.

You know, occasionally people will pull out this criticism

and say, you know,

Christianity is just a crutch for weak people.

Well, of course it is,

because everyone's weak

and everyone leans on something.

It's just that we don't always recognise

that we're leaning on something.

But look into any human life.

Sooner or later,

you will realise that every human being in history

leans on something for strength and for support.

The question is,

is that thing that we lean on a reliable source?

Probably most of the time,

we're not even conscious of what we choose

to actually rely on,

what we lean on,

what we lean into,

particularly when we're feeling afraid of things.

There's a verse in Proverbs 3

that says,

Trust in the Lord with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding.

Don't lean on your own understanding.

And this is where I think it's very subtle.

We probably, an awful lot of the time,

don't recognise

how much we actually do lean

on our own understanding.

Let me tell you a story.

I think we can probably all,

probably this will resonate with all of us

to some extent.

There's a story about a guy who was

not a Christian,

but he had a lot of friends who were.

And he found that he was always

getting into conversation

and discussion with them

about Christian faith.

Weeks went on, months went on,

when they were gradually, gradually

challenging him

as he found that the questions

that he was asking

about why they believe in God

they actually seemed to be able

to put forward, to his surprise,

some pretty plausible answers.

And he was gradually, gradually, gradually

beginning to think

maybe there's something in this.

And so they were starting

to challenge him more and more

and say,

why don't you do something about this?

Why don't you just take a step of faith?

Why don't you just try,

just try God.

Come along to church with us

sometime if you like.

That's not what it's about,

but try and see.

Just give it a go.

Just say a prayer

and give God a chance.

Why don't you try it?

Well, this guy was climbing up

the career ladder gradually

and he happened to apply for a job

that he desperately wanted.

It was a big job.

It was a very, very important job

and one that he'd been after

for a long time.

And he was invited for interview.

So the morning came

where he was ready to go

for his interview.

He drove, he left early,

but he knew that parking

was going to be a challenge.

And as he drove

into the multi-storey car park,

and that was the only option

that he had for parking

for the purposes of this interview,

he looked at his watch

and he realised that he was beginning

to cut it rather fine.

And as he began to drive

around the car park,

which was beginning to fill up,

he was feeling really rather anxious.

And so he began to think

about some of the conversations

he'd had with his friends

about prayer.

And he did something

which I don't know

whether any of us

are going to own up to.

I will own up to, okay?

He prayed what I would call

a parking space prayer.

Has anyone done that?

I do it all the time.

And I'm not going to try

and be all pious and holy with you

and say,

I only do it when I'm working,

I'm visiting somebody in hospital.

I don't!

I do it all the time.

The reason I think it's okay to do that

is because I think God's interested

in every area of our life.

So long as that's not

the only kind of prayer

or the main type of prayer

that we pray,

I think that's okay.

Because life is an ongoing

conversation with God.

He's there in everything.

So I...

Anyway, this was the first time

that he'd done it.

And he found himself

clutching this wheel

with very, very sweaty palms,

knowing that you only have minutes to go

before this job interview.

And he prayed out loud

because he thought,

that's safe,

there's no one else in the car

and the windows all wound up.

God,

I don't know if you're there or not,

but if you can just give me

this car parking space,

which I need,

give me this space,

then I will become a Christian.

It goes round,

circles round one more time,

there's still nothing there,

so he prays even loud,

Lord God,

if you are Lord,

if you are God,

if you're real,

please hear my prayer,

just give me that space

and I will completely

commit myself to you.

The moment he said,

Amen,

he saw a car,

bearing in mind

this was early in the morning,

he wouldn't expect people

to be leaving,

he saw a car

flash its reversing lights on

and it started to back out.

Space provided.

So he closed his eyes

and he said,

it's all right,

Lord,

I've found one.

Seriously,

do we ever do

that sort of thing,

that kind of dynamic,

where we want God

on our terms?

Now,

well,

this sort of thing,

these circumstances

happened because,

well,

it was because I did that

or because that person

did that.

There's an explanation

behind that.

It's not really God

involved in my life,

surely.

Surely.

wanting God

in our own terms

is about

leaning

on our own

understanding,

which thousands

of years ago,

the writer of Proverbs

knew

was a possibility,

that we can choose

to lean on our own

understanding

instead of

leaning on God.

Listen to this poem.

It's about

leaning on our own

understanding

and having God

on our own terms.

I would like to buy

three dollars worth

of God,

please.

Not enough to

explode my soul

or disturb my sleep,

but just enough

to equal a cup

of warm milk

or a snooze

in the sunshine.

I want ecstasy,

not transformation.

I want the warmth

of the womb,

not a new birth.

I want a pound

of the eternal

in a paper sack.

I would like to buy

three dollars worth

of God,

please.

To lean on God

rather than our

understanding

is about vulnerability.

vulnerability.

I'm not going to

pretend that's easy,

but the psalmist

knew that

when the psalmist

described

God as the one

that we can lean on

like a rock,

like a fortress.

But that involves

being willing

to lean

and to trust

when we're

feeling afraid.

A boy was in

a burning building.

He was terrified.

Everybody else

had escaped,

but he was there

standing on the

window ledge.

He was quite

some way up

in this building

and he was terrified

about how he was

going to get out

of this house.

There was smoke

everywhere and then

through the smoke

he heard his

father's voice

shout out to him,

just jump,

jump.

Understandably

he didn't want to

and he shouted out

to his dad,

I can't see you.

His dad shouted

back,

no,

but I can see you

and that's all

that matters.

Sometimes we can be

in those situations

where all we can do

is trust.

I'm not saying

for a moment

those are situations

where we desire

to be

or we should

seek out

or we should,

but sometimes

they happen.

but God

does

call us

to seek out

opportunities

to trust.

and our

temptation

to get

to

hope