Dealing with Adversity-Conquering Fears

PASTOR BURCHAM'S SERMON

Sunday, January 16, 2005, 8:00 a.m.

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

It's always a shock, isn't it? We never see it coming. It sort of blind sides us. It catches us off guard. Let me show you what I mean. (Video) You never see it coming. Whether it's a relationship that ends, whether it's the doctor calling with bad news, whether it's your boss trying to explain why yours is the only position that's been eliminated. Or it's the police officer who knocks on the front door at 3:00 in the morning, and your son is in the squad car. It always catches you off guard. That's what adversity is like in our life. If we saw it coming, if we predict that it was going to happen, it probably wouldn't be nearly as bad. But when things go wrong in our lives, they always blind side us. Either when things seem to be going so well that you just didn't see it or things are going so bad, you can't imagine that something else could possibly happen to you. But yet it does.

When adversity strikes, our first reaction is we can't believe it. We're in disbelief. It can't really be happening to us. And then slowly it sinks in. And when it starts to sink in, it becomes a reality. Then we start to become afraid. All of the fears start coming out. We're afraid of what's going to happen to us. We're afraid maybe of what's going to happen to our family. We're afraid of what the future's going to be. In fact, we're afraid because we have so many questions that are racing through our minds. But yet, we don't have any answers. And the more questions we raise and the more answers we don't have, the more afraid we become. In fact, adversity and fear go hand in hand. When things go wrong in our life, we start asking the questions and we start becoming afraid. So if we're going to deal effectively with adversity, then we need to learn how to conquer the fears that come along with it. We conquer those fears by stop asking the wrong questions and to start asking the right questions. What I mean by that is we need to stop focusing on the questions that really don't have a satisfactory answer for us. They are questions that all of us ask but yet the answers really don't resonate. They really don't do it for us.

The first question we always ask whenever adversity strikes is ‘Why?' It's the most typical question. It's the natural question. I've asked it before. “Why? Why is this happening? Why has my job been eliminated? Why is the relationship ending? Why did it have to be cancer? Why isn't the medicine working?” All those questions of why. But the fact is sometimes there's no satisfactory answer to why. We always think there should be a cause and effect, that something has caused this to happen and if I could just figure out what caused it, then maybe I could make it all right again. But sometimes there is no cause and effect, and there is no good answer to the question ‘Why?' In fact, the only real answer to the question of why do bad things happen, why do tragedies strike, why is adversity in our life, the only real answer, the root answer to all of that is we live in a broken world. And maybe we don't realize that or give that enough credit. Our world is broken. Our world is filled with sin. It is a fallen world. It is not the world God designed. It is not the creation He originally made. When Adam and Eve stepped out, when Adam and Eve rebelled against God, they ushered in imperfection into God's perfect universe and, with that imperfection, came all of the things we have to deal with. So we live in a broken, fallen world, a world that has pain, a world that has disasters, a world that has troubles, a world that has things like tsunamis that wipe out thousands of people. God never intended for that in His creation. But, because of the broken world we live in, the fallen world we live in, that's the consequence.

So there are a couple of things we need to realize. First of all, God does not cause the bad things in your life. That's not the answer. In fact, God takes no delight in the bad things that happen in your life. Sometimes, we want to jump to that conclusion because we go back to our cause and effect. And so we say, “Well, I must have done something bad and now God is punishing me.” There couldn't be anything more incorrect than that. Because all the punishment for all of our sin, that's what Jesus was all about. That's what the cross was all about. That's why He died and laid in that tomb for three days. He was punished for the sins of mankind. It's not a cause and effect that I've done something bad and now God is teaching me a lesson and God is punishing me. That's not it. It's the fact that we have to live with the consequences of a fallen world. We have to live with the consequences of a sin-filled world. And frankly, that answer just doesn't cut it. Let's be honest about it. If you're going through a tough time right now, if you have adversity in your life, the answer to the question ‘Why?' is because we live in a sin-filled world? That's not very satisfactory. That doesn't bring a whole lot of comfort. We need to stop asking the questions that don't get us anywhere. We need to know that the root answer to the question ‘Why?' is that we live in a fallen world and then we need to let it go. We can't keep obsessing on that question of why and the searching because we may never find the answer. Let it know because it's a broken world, move on.

The second question we often ask, “How's it going to turn out? What's going to happen?” That's what we want to know. We don't like the unknown. In fact, probably the basis for most of our fear is the fact that we don't know. We don't know what the future lies, so we want to know, “How is this all going to turn out? What's going to happen? What's going to be the end result of all of this?” It is the waiting which is the worst part. If we knew what the final outcome was going to be, then we could deal with that. But not knowing the final outcome, that's the worst part. If you've ever had to wait to take a test or you've waited for the results of a test, you know exactly what I'm talking about. It's the waiting. It's the sitting at home waiting for the phone to ring to find out what the doctor's office has to say. Even if what they have to say is bad news, that you can deal with. But the unknown, the unknown you can't deal with. That just ushers in all kinds of fears. It ushers in all kinds of hypothetical situations, and our natural tendency is the worst case scenario. So what we end up doing is we end up being afraid, we end up being anxious and worried about a future that may never come about. We don't know the answer to how it's going to turn out. We don't know what's going to happen next year, next month, next week. We don't know what's going to happen five minutes from now. It's time to stop wasting our energy and our time trying to figure out what's going to happen. All that does is cause us to fear even more and it opens up the door for all kinds of anxious thoughts.

You see, it's time to stop focusing on the wrong questions and to start focusing on the right questions. Now it's a whole lot easier for me to stand up here and say that. It's easy for me to preach, “We have to stop asking the questions ‘Why?' You need to stop asking the question ‘How is it going to turn out?' and just let it play itself out.” Sure, that's easy for me to say but it's really hard to live. And that's why you have to replace the wrong questions with the right questions, the questions God has answered, the questions God gives to us so we can get through those adverse times, so we can get through the tough times. We start asking the right questions. For instance, we ask, “Why does God allow adversity?” instead of “Why is it happening? If God doesn't cause adversity in our life, well then why does God allow adversity to come into our lives?” There are all kinds of passages in scripture. We'll pick just two. There is 1 Peter 1:7, “These have come so that your faith of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire, may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” How about James 1, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of any kind because you know the testing of your faith develops perseverance.” That's just two of dozens of passages that scripture talks about of why God allows things to happen in our lives. God doesn't want it to happen. God doesn't cause it to happen. God takes no delight when you're struggling, but God will use that time. God will use that time to strengthen you and to build your character and to give you perseverance so your faith in Him is built up stronger than what it has been in the past. Because when things like this happen, it takes us to our knees and we look to the only one who can help us. And all of a sudden our relationship with God is stronger. We're praying more often. We're reading His Word more than we ever have in the past. God doesn't cause the adversity. God does allow it, and God uses it. God uses it to bring us closer to Him. Often times, God will use adversity in someone's life to bring them back. If they've fallen away, if they've distanced themselves from God, often times that's how God calls them and brings them back into a close relationship with Him.

The second question you need to ask is, “What has God done in the past?” Knowing what God has done in the past will tell you what God is going to do in the future. Let's use an example from scriptures. Let's go back to the disciples. I want you to put yourself in the disciples sandals. Now this is pretty tough for us to do. It's tough for us to do because we look back and we already know how the story ends. The disciples, in fact, most of the people in the bible, had adversity in their life all the time. They struggled with things that you and I will never have to struggle with, but I don't think it registers with us because we know the end of the story. So, for a moment, don't know the end of the story. As much as you can, put yourself into the sandals of the disciples. They've been with Jesus for three years. He's the most incredible teacher they have ever encountered. The words He speaks to them, they ring with a truth that no one else has ever had. They now regard Him as their teacher, their friend. They even regard Him as their Lord. It's Passover time. They come into Jerusalem . Crowds of people line the streets. They hail Jesus as their new king. They think to themselves, “Could it be? Is this the long-awaited Messiah? Is this the one who is going to deliver us out of the hands of the Romans?” They are there with Jesus, their friend, their Lord. Everything is going great. You know what happens on Friday. Look through their eyes. Look through their eyes at the lifeless body of Jesus. You want to talk about being blind sided, not seeing it coming? One moment, they're on top of the world. The next moment, their entire lives are ruined. They had all kinds of questions. “Why? Why is He dead? How could He die? What's going to happen? Are they going to come and arrest me next?” They didn't know from moment to moment. Talk about adversity in their life. And so what happens? What goes hand in hand with adversity? They're afraid. Scripture tells us they hide out in the upper room. They have the doors locked because they fear. All that changed in three days. All that fear was removed.

So think of it this way. If God could take the greatest tragedy of all time and turn it into his biggest triumph, if God could take the murder of the perfect Son of God and if He could explain that, that's the salvation of all of mankind, do you think He can handle your problem? Do you think He can see you through your adversity? What God has done in the past tells you what God is going to do in the future. Is it any wonder that those same disciples who went through the questions, the fears, and the pain were willing to give up their life for Jesus after that? After they'd gone through those tortuous three days and then all of a sudden they recognize who Jesus really is. Is it any wonder that each and every one of them were martyred for their faith? They were willing to go through anything because they knew what Jesus had done in the past and what He would do in the future. And the same is true for you. Know what Jesus has done in the past so you can know what He's going to do for you in the future.

Certainly, focus on that hill called Calvary and on the empty tomb. Know that God has a deep love for you and concern for you so much, He was willing to die for you. Is there anything He won't do for you? Is there any situation He won't see you through? Go a little bit deeper than that. Think back to an adverse time you had in the past, some tragedy, a loss, a painful event, what did God do then? Didn't God get you through that? Didn't God bring about even a greater good because of it? In fact, has it gotten to the point where you don't even remember the pain anymore, you only know what God did?

It's kind of related to getting a shot. You know, when you're a baby and you get a shot, you don't like it. In fact, babies cry. In fact, some babies, like my kids, cried a lot. In fact, they cried far after the pain of the shot had to be done and over with, but they just cried because they didn't understand it and they didn't like the pain. But you know what, if I get a shot today, I don't cry. The pain's the same. It's the same needle. The same thing's happening, but I know what that shot is going to do. I know the shot I had as a baby stopped me from getting polio and mumps. I know the shot I get today is going to be filled with antibiotics and ward off some disease or maybe it's going to keep me from having the flu. It's the same pain, but I know what it did in the past and I know what it's going to do right now. What God has done in your past, God is going to do in the future.

That's how we deal with the fears. We take confidence in the questions God has answered, to know God is beside us and God is working with us and is going to make us stronger, to know that the God of the past is also the God of the present and the future. And even if this is the worst time you've ever gone through in your life, it's the same God and it has the same results. You see, adversity is a part of our life. It will be. We live in a broken world. Along with adversity comes fears. God empowers us to conquer those fears. We stop asking the wrong questions, and we start asking the right ones. Amen.

Copyright 2004 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church