I'm not a brave person. Fear has been a constant companion throughout my life. This may seem odd coming from someone who has spent the last seventeen years working in emergency medicine. Or one who is on the cusp of moving his family to another continent. "It takes a special type of person," people often say when commenting on such activities. Yes, it does. But not my type of person. Not but for the grace of God. Blood? Guts? Sure. Put me on the telephone? I crumble. And that's after spending ten minutes rehearsing what I would say once the number was dialed and the other party engaged the line. (p.s. It never works out the way it does in your head). Ok, nice confession. So what?
My wife and I are staring at a few weeks of preparations before we and our two children say goodbye to our home, family and friends and head towards our new life in Kenya. I have found myself reaching back to some of the lessons that I have learned from reading John Piper's works through the years. In particular, two of them have bubbled to the surface. The first almost guarantees that the second will be needed.
In his book "Don't Waste Your Life," Piper wrote a chapter called "Risk is Right." It was subsequently expanded into a separate book all together (check it out here). He makes the case that we actually delude ourselves into thinking that we can live a life without risk. Because we do not know what the future will hold for each of us, in our peculiar and particular stories, we actually are walking on the precipice of risk just taking another breath when we wake in the morning. With the myth of safety exploded, he cites numerous biblical stories of people who, trusting in the sovereign hand of God, fully embraced and ran with this assumption into very precarious situations. They risked their lives to honor God and serve their neighbors, sometimes to their own hurt and demise. "They did not love their lives, even unto death," says Revelation 12:11. "Better to lose your life," says Piper, "than to waste it."
As inspiring and steeling as these thoughts are, they can be equally terrifying. So, thankfully, a second teaching came back around. In a sermon on Isaiah 40:10, Piper places the root of fearlessness squarely in the soil of God's promises. "Do not fear," says God, "for I am with you...I am your God...I will strengthen you...I will help you...I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." In his exposition of the verse, he relates each of these promises to a preposition. God is above us, underneath us, beside us, all around us and working on the inside of us. In order to illustrate this for myself and, especially, my family, I made up this little infographic.
We all have fears of some sort, to some degree, from quicksand to public speaking to talking on the phone. It is my hope that this will encourage you to consider and lean on God's promises in his Word as you face the fears that come your way.
Cheers.
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