There's a Hill outside of the City

I woke this morning to the radio news announcing a survey: "Are you praying to God to get you through these tough economic times?"--and this wasn't a religious station, either. When "tough times" are the subject of every conversation, the words "prayer" and "God" are mentioned considerably more often than when times are good.

Not everyone, of course, turns to God for help in hard circumstances. Some people prefer to shut their eyes and pretend nothing is really wrong, that "things are bound to work out somehow [without my having to help by changing anything in my own life]." Some people slide into depression and convince themselves that everything is hopeless anyway; others sulk because life isn't giving them what they think they deserve. And so many adopt the "borrowed trouble" tactic--a fearful obsession with what might happen, a loan that exacts horrendous interest rates physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually--that worrying sometimes seems to be America's national pastime.

None of these approaches necessarily ignore God completely--it's easy enough to spiritualize any of them, to assume that "God never lets churchgoers get sick or lose their money" or to live in fear that God's ideas of what we need might not match our own. And it's as easy to get disgusted with God as with blind luck. The world is full of people who have adopted the slogan, "If God exists, He must not care about us too much, or He never would let so many horrible things happen."

Ironically, the ultimate proof that God does care lies in the most horrible thing He ever let happen--in something He in fact planned for. When circumstances tempt us to doubt that God loves us, it's time to take our eyes off those circumstances--off ourselves and our own expectations and "wants"--and look again at the Cross of Christ. Not as a pretty ornament or a sanitized picture in a Bible storybook, but in all its blood and dirt, all its sweat and agony and humiliation. That was what God was willing to go through so we could have, for ultimate eternity, something far better than the health and wealth we crave on earth.

When we remember that, just let us try to complain about our own temporary problems.

There's a hill outside of the city,
There's three crosses upon that hill,
There's a Man hanging on the center cross
And He knows this is all God's will.

There's nails through His wrists and His ankles,
There's a crown of thorns on His head,
There's tears in His eyes of love and pain
And as thick as His blood they are shed.

There's a woman crying beneath Him,
There's a man with a tortured soul,
There's a crowd that watches in fear and awe
As the terrible drama unfolds.

There's a cry of death from the hilltop,
There's a shadow over the land,
There's a victory won through that defeat
That so few can understand.

Do Not Fear

The New International Version of the Bible commands believers, "Do not be afraid," some sixty-six times. These days, though, many of us are paying more attention to the voices of this world telling us all the reasons we should be afraid. Terrorism. War. Crime. Disease. Natural disasters. Many Christians say the devil uses the media to promote immorality and secularism; I wonder if he doesn't make even better use of it to promote anxiety and lack of faith.

A clue to why this approach is so effective lies in the old proverb, "The soul who fears God need fear nothing else." Many of us are eaten up with worry because we take God for granted and put all our emotional stock in lesser things, when we should be loving God with all our hearts and considering everything else dispensable. If we truly appreciated that God's only reason for allowing "misfortune" to touch us was to draw us closer to Him, we wouldn't be so afraid of losing our material possessions, our health, or even our lives--none of which we can hope to keep forever anyway. "For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal" (2 Cor. 4:18, NIV).

If we must fear something, let us fear falling short of the best we might achieve for God. And let us keep in constant touch with Him to make sure that doesn't happen.

Do not fear the rocky pathway;
Do not fear oppressive pain;
Trust the Lord Who walks beside you,
Who will make His purpose plain.

Do not fear the world's rejection;
Do not fear if friends seem few;
Trust the One True Friend of sinners,
He Who gave His life for you.

Do not fear the devil's taunting;
Do not fear temptation's lures;
Trust your God, the Strong and Mighty,
Who a fast escape assures.

Do not fear your hope will weaken;
Do not fear your faith will break;
Trust the One Whose grasp still holds you--
He will keep you for His sake.

It is not your strength that matters;
You will never walk alone.
Trust the Shepherd still to lead you;
He will never lose His own.

The End from the Beginning

Anxiety is one of the great universal human afflictions. It can be triggered by things as trivial as low popularity; as potentially serious as cancer; or as general and speculative as environmental concerns. Whatever the cause, the effects are the same: difficulty concentrating on the present; diminished joy; and frequently physical symptoms such as nausea, tense muscles, and shallow breathing.

Even secular psychologists tell us that worry is useless, and frequently harmful. For us as Christians, it is also illogical--and frequently sinful. Fear of the future is rooted in the desire to "be like God," knowing all and controlling all--and also in lack of faith that the real God has our best interests at heart, or will give us strength to cope.

I understand the worry habit--for much of my life, I've had one of the worst cases. Part of it may be rooted in my imaginative-but-sensitive temperament. But "I was just born that way" is as poor an excuse for worry as for alcoholism or violent temper. It borders on blasphemy, hinting that God is too weak to help us overcome our problems.

Nor is He too weak to work out all circumstances--even death, war, and mass destruction--for His glory and our good (cf. Rom. 8:28). Nothing ever surprises the One Who said:

"I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please" (Is. 46:9-10, NIV).

The comfort in knowing that should override any temptation to anxiety.

Fear not if the highway is foggy;
Fear not if your vision is short:
God knows where your journey is leading,
And He is your strongest support.

Fear not if all life seems confusion
And all understanding seems fleet:
You have a mere piece of the puzzle,
But God sees the picture complete.

Fear not if your story seems tragic;
Fear not when fresh dangers portend:
Our Father has written each chapter,
And happy with Him is the end.