Faith
in Fearful Times
Isaiah
65:24 Before they call I will
answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.
One of the most remarkable and
largely unreported events which took place a couple of days before the terrible
typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines, was in the ordering of US and British
warships into the region. Before a home had been destroyed or a person killed,
both the US and British Navies changed courses of their Pacific fleets and
headed towards the soon-to-be devastated regions. It took almost a week to get
there, but precious lives are now being saved simply because our leaders in
both the US and Britain gave commands to re-direct aircraft carriers and
warships on an international rescue mission. Before calls from the Philippine
government and people were given, their plight was already known and what they
needed was already put into motion. Instead of going to war, our navies and
marines were going to help. Instead of using our vessels and service people for
defense, our navy personnel are now actively involved in one the world’s
greatest rescue missions. It’s a wonderful sight to behold and I wish that we
would stop warring against one another, so that all of these splendid resources
could be used for winning human lives.
Holding on to hope and having
faith in fearful times is what this international rescue mission can
accomplish. Today’s passages from scripture are about those important things
too. In the first passage from Isaiah, the old prophet is giving his people words
of encouragement and inspiration. They have suffered for a whole generation.
They have lost everything and become slaves of the most powerful nation on the
planet at that time. Their hopes and dreams have all been destroyed, especially
after the Holy Temple was smashed to pieces and turned into rubble. Their faith
is tenuous and their grasp of God is very weak. All around them, they see
gigantic statues and murals of the Babylonian deities, so they are at a point
where they are questioning God’s own power to save them.
Isaiah gives them reassuring
words of hope: before they call on God, He is already answering them; as they
are complaining, venting, crying, and speaking, He is listening to them.
Years ago, when I was a teenager,
full of my own hopes and dreams, my family were devastated by my mother’s
insanity. I don’t know how my brothers, sisters and I ever survived the horror
of those fearful days, and we still carry some emotional scars forty years
later. Things got so bad one night, that I just fell apart and sank to my knees
weeping and crying out, “God, why don’t You help us? How long must this go on?
Why aren’t You doing something to fix this?” It was a cry of desperation and
fear; it was a moment of helplessness and hopelessness that brought me to my
knees.
And here I am, a preacher for
God, ministering to people who have their own stories of hurts and
disappointments, struggles and suffering. I didn’t realize it then, but I think
I understand it now: even before I called out and wept, God was already
answering me; just as I cried aloud with hot tears scalding my cheeks, God was
already listening.
Luke
21:8 He replied: "Watch out that
you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am he,' and,
'The time is near.' Do not follow them.
In the New Testament passage, we
come across Jesus and His disciples walking outside of Herod’s Temple. The
building is about forty years old, so it is relatively new to the city of
Jerusalem. To these good ol’ boys from Galilee, it must have been the greatest
wonder in their world. They are so impressed with the building that they point
out many things about it and express their delight to Jesus.
But Jesus has other things on His
mind because He will be arrested, put on trial, and executed within a couple of
days. Rather dismissively, He effectively replies to the disciples: “You see
all of those beautiful stones and immense walls, decorative edifices and great
architecture? Not one of them will be left standing. All of it will be
destroyed and become rubble.”
Wow! Talk about a party pooper!
The disciples thought that Jesus would have been the last person to condemn the
holy place where God dwelt. They cannot fully comprehend what He saying to
them. How could this relatively new and magnificent building be destroyed? And
more to the point, when would all of this occur?
Jesus then reveals that there
will come a time of deception when false messiahs will appear and God’s people
will be led astray. Even some of His own disciples will be deceived, especially
if they do not give heed to His words and ways. False prophets and preachers
will claim to do things and say things in Christ’s Name, but they will be
totally deceiving the people in fearful times. When the Second Temple is
destroyed, the people will panic and their faith will fail, just like it did in
the prophet Isaiah’s time, seven hundred years earlier when the Solomon’s
Temple was destroyed.
The disciples truly did not
understand this at the time, but the first readers of Luke’s Gospel were
perfectly aware of what Jesus was saying. You see, at the time that Luke’s
Gospel was first published and spread across the Mediterranean, Herod’s Temple
in Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Romans and was reduced to rubble.
Christ’s words of warning which were first spoken to His disciples took on a
new meaning to the first and second generation Christians. They understood that
they were living in those fearful times and that they had to remain loyal to
Christ in order to survive. False prophets, teachers, and messiahs arose in
their communities just before and after the temple was destroyed. Luke’s Gospel
was written in order to help those young Christian communities survive by
remaining true to Christ’s teaching and living their lives according to His
words.
Luke
21:11 There will be great earthquakes,
famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs
from heaven.
But all of those events occurred centuries ago, so what have
they got to do with us as Christians living in a 21st century world?
Well think about it, since the turn of the century, we have had many disasters
and fearful events across the entire globe.
In 2001, we suffered the 9/11 terrorist attack on New York City
and elsewhere.
We went to war in both Afghanistan and Iraq and are still in
the region.
Hurricane Katrina wiped out many homes and places all along
the Gulf Coast.
The Stock Market crashed in 2007/2008.
Major Earthquakes occurred in Mexico, Chile, China, and Iran.
Tornadoes and hail storms wreaked havoc across the United
States.
Bush fires on the West coast and across Australia destroyed
many homes.
Just over a year ago, Hurricane Sandy slammed into New Jersey
and smashed up most of the East coast.
And now Typhoon Haiyan hits the Philippines with thousands killed
and millions displaced across South East Asia.
The point that I am making is
this: life on this planet is perilous and we are always living in fearful
times. The remarkable fact about humanity is this: no matter how hard we fall,
we always seem to get back on our feet and start again. Natural disasters and
catastrophic events have been happening on this planet since the day it was
created. Our ability to survive these events is a wonderful thing to experience
and see.
When Jesus was giving His
warnings to the disciples, He wasn’t only speaking to them; He was talking to
all future generations of Christians, including our own. Life’s traumatic
events can cause all of us to doubt and be deceived, to stumble in our faith,
and to fall into fear. In the worst moments of our lives, Jesus is asking us to
hold on because He is holding on to us. Just like Isaiah said, “Before we call,
Jesus is already answering us; when we pray, He is already listening.”
There’s an old song that one of
Evelyn and I’s dearest of friends used to beautifully sing straight from her
heart in Scotland and its words are still wonderfully effective today:
