Faith in Any Storm
A week ago, I was in Toronto. I had just finished speaking to 650 pastors. It was a wonderful weekend at a great, great church. Think about that—had that been scheduled a week from now, it wouldn’t have been there; none of us could have gone.
These are interesting times that we’re living in faced with the Corona Virus. Many people are uncertain about what will happen next; this creates a lot of fear, anxiety, and depression.
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
James 4:13-14
We don’t know what tomorrow will have for us, but we do know that God does. One thing I can assure to you: the will of God will never lead where the grace of God cannot sustain you.
I love the story in the gospels where the disciples were in the boat, and they were trying to get across the Sea of Galilee while the storm was there. So they woke up the Lord saying, “Don’t you care! Aren’t you concerned?” If I could just give a parallel to that, I would say, “Do you really think that if God is in the boat that you’re not going to make it to the other side? If God is in the boat—if He is in your life—you will make it to the other side.”
Many years ago when I was just starting ministry as a college and youth pastor, I had this gal who made an appointment with me about once a week. She was really keen with questions that she brought; it sort of felt like she wanted to destroy my faith in a way. But I just answered her questions, and by the fourth week, I asked her, “Wouldn’t you just like to give your heart to Christ?” She responded with an emphatic “Yes!” Afterward she became very, very active in our youth group, and she also had a program at school called Mentally Gifted Minors that she wanted me to come speak at. I told her that I would love to do that and talk about my Christian faith. Every week up until the event took place, she would tell me that the students were going to “chew me up and spit me out” and overall just give me a hard time. I told her not to worry about it, and I eventually went to the meeting—somewhat prepared. I was introduced to the class—it turns out I followed the atheist!—and I gave each student four blank cards. “Here’s what I’d like you to do. Think about the four things you value in life the most. Four things that are the top of your list: maybe it’s love, sex, mom and dad, family, country, music. Whatever comes to mind.” Once they were finished, I asked them which one they would give up if a crisis took place in their life and they had to give up one of the four. I instructed them to take that card and throw it on the card. Then I told them, “Another crisis came. Which one would you give up? Throw that card on the ground.” They almost knew what was coming next: Another crisis came, and they had to give up one of the final two cards.
I instructed them to throw one of the cards on the ground then to look at their last card. If you could lose what you consider the most valuable thing your life, you’re living a pretty fragile existence. My last card said “I have a relationship with the living God, and nobody can separate me from the love of God. God will never leave me nor forsake me. He’s going to supply all of my needs.” Well, the students didn’t spit me up and chew me out. In fact, there was hardly a question after that as I shared how they could have a personal relationship with Christ. I left a little tract with them as I left, and that was fun to be a part of too. One person actually sent a girl back in for one!
So how do we respond? In a crisis like that that we’re going through with the Corona Virus, we don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. Everyday is a new normal. Everyday you learn something new: no bigger crowds than 500, then 50, and now 10. This is going to be a severe crisis. When you go through a crisis like this, it precipitates a lot of issues. What it really does is reveal the basis for your faith—what you are living by, what you believe. It doesn’t destroy it, but it does test it. That’s for certain. People don’t always live according to what they profess, but they do live according to what they believe. When a crisis like this happens, it exposes that.
People are going to experience depression. The number one cause for depression is a reaction to losses in life—this could be death of a loved one, or loss of a job, or loss of a business. The way it’s looking right now, a lot of small businesses are going to have to shut down for one to two months, and many of them can’t sustain that and will have to look for employment somewhere else. We don’t know how this is going to end; we really don’t. But we do know that there are going to be a lot of problems with depression.
There’s going to be a lot of struggles with fear. Fear has an object. We fear things that threaten our safety and sanity. The fear of death is one of the biggest fears taking place right now—and sadly there are going to be deaths. This virus has 10x the mortality rate than the flu does. I’m with you in having a lot of questions as it seems we are a little over-concerned at this stage because more people have died from the flu than the Corona Virus. And frankly, more people die driving on the highway than will die from this virus. It’s almost like we have acceptable ways to live and die and unacceptable ways to live and die. I’m not underscoring the seriousness of this because it is so progressive, and it is so transferrable. But we’ve never been here before. We’ve never walked down this path. We’ve never had to deal with this type of a virus. I’m confident that a year from now, science will come along with a cure, and this virus will be a thing of the past. In one sense, it won’t be the tragedy that we thought it was, but it is going to disrupt people’s lives.
When Paul talks about things that come and go, we should make sure that faith, hope, and love remain. Faith is everything. You walk by faith, you’re saved by faith, you live by faith, it’s required of us to be found faithful. There is no more important issue to grab hold of and understand what it really means. What’s interesting is that faith, trust, and believe all have the same root-word in Scripture. Faith is the noun though, whereas trust and believe are verbs. If you want to see what people believe, look at how they live. Faith lived out is trust—for the Christian this is absolute trust in God. If your faith isn’t right, everything after that doesn’t follow sequentially. So we have to have the rock-foundation of faith—what is it that we believe? Faith objects are things that do not change; we can always count on. During a time like this, if we don’t have that foundation of faith, your whole walk will be off, and it will reveal itself in all sorts of emotional problems. So this really isn’t just a pandemic of a virus, I personally think you are going to see a pandemic of depression, fear, and anger. Think about how much control you really have over things right now—almost none! The government has some in terms of responsibility. But for us, it falls back to just practicing good hygiene and being cautious with where you go and covering your face when you sneeze, etc. The only thing you have control over is your personal responsibility.
Let’s look just a little bit deeper at anxiety. A lot of people will be fearing the possibility of death and losing their job, but one of the biggest things we’re struggling with in a time like this is anxiety. Anxiety is like fear without an adequate cause. We’re anxious because we don’t know what tomorrow holds. During times where you feel anxious because you don’t know what’s going to happen, understand something about anxiety: of the 25 uses of anxiety in the New Testament, 5 of them are not negative. Anxiety is something that we should experience when something is meaningful to us—for example when your teenager is 2 hours late, you should feel anxious which leads you to pray; if you have a big exam coming up, it’s normal to experience anxiety, and the proper response is to study. So don’t think that anxiety in and of itself is wrong.
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
James 1:5-8
If you’re lacking wisdom right now, God tells us to ask him for it! But trust that he’s going to give you guidance during these particular times in what you ought to do to keep your family safe and keep yourself safe and meet the needs that they have. Right now, no one can serve two masters. “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life” (Matthew 6:24-25a). Don’t be double-minded! This whole discourse that Jesus gives is seeking first the kingdom of God. You see the same thing in Philippians 4:6-7, “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
So what is God’s answer for anxiety? If you’re anxious about tomorrow, He says Didn’t I tell you about that? Look at the birds of the sky. Look at the lilies of the field. I take care of them, and you, beloved, are worth more to me than they are. If God is taking care of those things, won’t He take care of you? As you see a crisis like this, it’s going to test your faith. But it doesn’t wreck it! What it will do is put a test on it that drives us to be tossed to and fro by the winds of the sea or it will drive us to find our stability with our faith in Jesus Christ.
If you look at fear—and particularly the fear of dying—know this: to live is Christ and die is gain. Where O, death is your sting? All that would happen if you were to die from the Corona Virus is that you would be absent from the body and present with the Lord. Now this is not a license to commit suicide because God has required of us to be a good steward of the life that God has entrusted to us. So I’m choosing to be a good steward, as best as I can. As a father and a grandfather, I’m going to do what I need to do to assume that kind of responsibility in taking care of my own family.
Anxiety, however, doesn’t seem to have an adamant cause. We’re anxious about the unknown. So at some point we have to say Okay, God. I’m going to live a responsible life today and trust you with tomorrow. What do we do when we feel anxious about something? How do we become single-focused and single-minded, casting our anxiety upon Christ because He cares for us? The first thing we can do in overcoming anxiety is to first state the problem. State it clearly. A problem well-stated is half-solved! People are not anxious about facts. (They may be fearful!) But they’re anxious about what they don’t know. Unfortunately when this happens, they start making assumptions. And most people don’t naturally assume the best! Assuming the worst will lead you nowhere, and if you act upon that assumption you may be counted amongst the fools. Be very careful about that because you can ruminate in your mind all day long. Know that you can have self-control! Every child of God can have that—that’s how you walk by the spirit during a time like this. Even though the world flops around, no one is out there stopping you from being the person that God created you to be. This is the stability that we have in Christ, and that is God’s will for your life! Become the responsible parent, spouse, or child that God wants you to be.
When Paul says that faith, hope, and love remain understand that hope is really like the parent of faith. You wouldn’t step out in faith if you didn’t have hope. If you believe that you’re getting bad data and choose to still believe it, that’s foolishness. If something is proven to be unreliable, don’t trust it. That’s not responsible thinking. Hope is not wishful thinking. It is the presence assurance of some future good. Psalm 42 and 43 repeat the same verse three times, “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?” Hope in God for you shall again worship Him. Go back to God! The first thing to do in any crisis is pray. Hope is the basis of our living when it is rooted in the character of God. What we have today as children of God is eternal life—totally separate from this physical life that we are living right now, a life that is here today but could be gone tomorrow. But what we have in Christ is eternal. Security is not rooted in temporal things that we have no right or ability to control. Security is rooted in the eternal that never changes, and that’s what you have—eternal life.
Lastly, faith, hope, and love. Love is not sentimentality. In a sense, it is not really a feeling. It really is the character of God; God is love. Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not seek its own. Love considers the other person more important than yourself. We’re going to see selfishness rule by non-faithful people unfortunately; that’s pretty predictable. People are going to try to take advantage of this crisis and try to make money off it. But the true believer during this time is going to pick up the phone and call someone they haven’t seen in a while and ask how they’re doing. The mature person is going to assume responsibility for their family and what God has given them. When you cast your anxiety on Christ, you don’t cast your responsibility onto him; he’ll throw it back. (And that’s what it should be!) But we should be asking ourselves what the most loving, responsible thing is that we can do. We have to assume responsibility for ourselves first so we can assume responsibility for others.
This is a time that will reveal the character of our community. This may be a beautiful time to see communities come together and blossom in their faith in God. But there are a lot of godless people in our country that won’t perceive the situation the same way. Don’t judge them. Don’t be critical of them. Don’t blame them. This may be a time during a crisis when we see a lot of people come to Christ as the true Christian will show love and maturity during this time allowing their faith to be revealed.
Am I afraid? No—I’m not. Fear has never been a major issue for me, and I have no fear of death. I look forward to seeing God someday! I’m trusting Him in the right timing for that. Truth of the matter is, fear is not going to control my life. God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power, love, and of sound mind.
So as we go through this crisis together, God is here. He’s not caught by surprise. You’re going to see a lot of anger and fear and anxiety. It’s a time to minister. It’s harvest time during a crisis. Let’s stay the course and finish the race. Make sure your faith remains. I don’t know what tomorrow has; I know God does. So my trust and my confidence is in Him. I hope you have the same belief. It’s your faith that counts right now.
Neil T. Anderson is the founder of Freedom in Christ Ministries. He began the ministry in 1989 and continues to spread the message of freedom to this day.