It is interesting how many of the psalms deal with fear. Or, to be more precise, deal with overcoming fear through belief. When we read the psalms, we read of individuals confronted with war, persecution, hunger, illness, grief, and a host of personal spiritual struggles. Then, partway through the prayer, they pause. They remember God’s promises. They remember the way God had helped them in the past. They remember the stories they’d been told. And they remember that “Our God is a God of salvation, and to God, the Lord, belongs escape from death.” (Psalm 68:20)
Fear is a reaction to a known threat. In this way fear is not quite the same as anxiety. Anxiety is a reaction to what might happen. Fear is a reaction to what is happening. Fear is a reaction to pandemics, to violence, to hatred, to environmental devastation, to climate change.
The threat is real.
So are the promises of the Gospel.
God set his bow in the clouds to remind us that God will reclaim his world. He died on the cross to show that he will enter our darkest fears in order to bring us back into fellowship with him. He was resurrected to show that there is no power on earth or in the heavens that is strong enough to keep us separated from our God. He breathed his Spirit into the souls of those who love him so that, through his disciples, God can continue shedding his light of grace and healing in our present reality.
Jesus said it best: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)