Like the rest of us in Minnesota, I woke Monday morning to the news of our impending weather for the coming day. In line with the predictions from Sunday night’s prognosticators, my Monday wakeup weatherman told me that we six-months-a-year shiverers were going to experience Mississippi sweltering in less than seven hours. The heat index would rise to nearly 100°. Oppressed by the heat and humidity, our Minnesota Nice would soon melt to Nordic Nasty. And there’s not a thing we can do about it.
The high temperature in Minneapolis / St. Paul Monday, June 29, 2020 was 82°. Most of the day the thermometer barely made it into the 70s.
Trained experts whose one job is predicting the weather missed it by this.................................................................................................much.
The weather forecasts came with the standard declarations – drink lots of water, don’t leave children or pets in hot vehicles, stay indoors, check in on the elderly and the ill, all great suggestions had there actually been a problem. Not wanting to miss out on the opportunity to scare people, our phones and smart speakers pinged the warnings of the pending heat advisory.
Alas, all for naught, but “pay attention to us on our next warning, if you please.” For those wanting to defend the prognosticators by noting weather is not predictable, you are correct, sir. Now, would you note the unpredictability of elections, pandemics, the economy, climate change, the benefits of getting an athletic scholarship or a degree from a prestigious university? “If,” “maybe,” “could,” and “should” are the sucker punch words they use to take your breath away.
Fear is a powerful motivator, maybe the most powerful motivator we can define. Fear is a lie that has been used by the devil and those without Christ to provoke humanity to all kinds of behaviors it was not previously inclined. It started in the Garden of Eden when Satan who is “more cunning than any” said to Eve, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5-6).
Satan: Eve, if you don’t listen to me and take that yummy and beautiful piece of fruit, you won’t have all you could have, and you won’t be all you should be. You are missing out, Eve. Really, I’m serious.
Fear is a powerful control mechanism. Remember Abraham’s instruction to Sarah?
Abraham: Sarah, here’s how this is going to go down. If these Egyptians find out that you are my sister, they will kill me and take you as one of their wives. Don’t you see what will happen to us? You’ve got to say we’re brother and sister, not husband and wife. Would you do that, Sarah? For me? For us?
The last four months have highlighted the extreme power of fear to motivate and control. Fear drove many of the responses to the coronavirus. For example, government policy placed elderly people who contracted COVID-19 in senior care facilities where the disease spread to the already compromised with the result being 1129 of the 1435 deaths in Minnesota attributed to COVID-19 occurred in long-term care facilities. Fear made that policy. The examples extend to education, economics, and additional health guidelines.
Fear has driven government policy toward rioters and anarchists who have acted with brazen impunity in cities across our great country. For fear of losing political clout or of making matters worse, city and state executives allowed criminals to destroy, injure, and even kill. Fear of the mob’s response to their God-given responsibility to put down evil (Romans 13:3-4) controlled their inaction leaving them impotent.
Rarely do decisions and policies enacted from fear produce a desired outcome. Worse, for the Christian, living in fear conveys a lack of trust in the Creator who is sovereign over his creation. Knowing what we know about fear’s capacity to motivate and control, is it any wonder God tells us over and again not to fear man or creation but only to fear him? The Scripture texts seem endless. Consider two.
Psalm 118:6 The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?
and
Luke 12:6-7 Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.
If we could audit our decision making and actions to determine where fear of man or the creation wrongly motivated or controlled us, I think we might be shocked to see the sheer volume of occasions. We are so impacted wrongly by fear, and it doesn’t have to be that way. Our Father who is in heaven invites us to make our anxiousness his problem (1 Peter 5:7), relieving us of fear that motivates and controls.
May God grant us the freedom that comes from fearing only him and never the creation or man.
I’ll catch you later. I need to go put on a sweater.
As always I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.
Mike VerWay
Pastor for Preaching & Vision