The Antidote to Fear

Message

I was very interested to learn of the Bible verses and quotations that Grandpa had on cards. I don’t know if you noticed a theme in his selection of verses, but it struck me that most of the verses touch on fear and how God presents an antidote to fear. I never thought of Grandpa as a fearful person, and perhaps the fact that he was buttressed by these verses is why.

I want to take a closer look at several of the verses he called out, because these verses can call out to us, as well.

In John 14, Jesus is giving His final message to His disciples before His death. It’s an intense time. For Jesus, He knows that the most difficult time of His earthly life will begin in a few hours. The disciples are blissfully unaware of this, not knowing that their own faith will soon be tested in a way that it has never been tested before.

Jesus is trying to prepare them for their trial. He tells them that He will be returning to heaven to prepare a place for them. He tells them that He won’t leave them alone, and He promises to send a Helper, a Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to lead them and to guide them into all truth. In John 14:25, 26 we read: “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”

Jesus’ next words are one of the passages that Grandpa specially noted: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14:27).

There are all sorts of reasons someone might give for not being afraid. Many times while I was growing up I listened in as Grandpa and Dad swapped stories of Arizona, and the desert surrounding Thunderbird Academy in Scottsdale. I often heard stories of rattlesnakes, those much-maligned perennial causes of terror for many people.

I heard how when they first moved to Arizona they absorbed the common belief that rattlesnakes are evil creatures to be killed on sight—creatures with lightning-fast strikes and a deadly desire to bite any person unfortunate enough to stumble across one.

I heard how Grandpa decided to put the tales about rattlesnakes to the test and was consistently able to pull a stick away from a rattlesnake, avoiding its strike that clearly wasn’t lightning-fast. (By the way, playing with rattlesnakes is actually dangerous.) I heard how Grandpa decided based on his experiences that rattlesnakes weren’t evil creatures to be exterminated on sight, but wild animals who should be respected but not feared. My dad learned this from Grandpa, and I learned it from him, so that I find myself quite unafraid of snakes and see them as often helpful creatures.

But I’ve learned that just telling someone not to be afraid of snakes doesn’t accomplish much. I’ve told my wife all these stories before and shared my appreciation of snakes. But recently we were taking a walk in the woods and she saw a snake. Instantly she screamed and was in my arms, before she even had the opportunity to consider what she’s learned about them. After the fright passed, she wanted to get a picture of the snake which she said was really beautiful but the moment had passed and the snake had moved on. I never got to see it.

So why am I telling snake stories? Because I think there’s something deeper in Jesus’ message to His disciples that night in the Upper Room. Jesus said in John 14:27, “Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” But that wasn’t the first thing he said. He started with this: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you.” Jesus offers a better antidote to fear, one that our world desperately needs. When it comes to snakes, Grandpa’s method works well: Just interact with them over time, and that will probably be an effective cure.

But our world has much bigger fears. Gone are the days of optimism that characterized Grandpa’s era. These days, the future is a scary topic for many people. The present is also scary. Anxiety is much more common these days than it used to be. But the peace that Jesus offers, the peace that is different from what the world has to offer, transcends all these fears.

Let’s consider a few Bible passages on the topic. The first one is 1 John 4:18: “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” When we consider the context, we see that John is writing about God’s love. You see, the antidote to fear, the one that we read about in Grandpa’s verse earlier, is truly knowing, loving, believing in, and experiencing God. Its power is transformative.

In 1 John 5:11-13 we read: “And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. ¹² Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. ¹³ I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.” I like how the apostle John presents this so simply. Many people have added all sorts of complication to salvation. People seem to love to add additional requirements—additional rules that they say we must follow. But here it says that if you believe in Jesus—if you have placed your faith, trust, and confidence in Him—then you can know for certain that you have eternal life. You can know that, whatever the future holds, you can face it boldly, because as we read earlier, “there is no fear in love” (1 John 4:18).

Grandpa’s list includes a verse that succintly states the confidence that comes from knowing Jesus personally and having the assurance that the apostle John wrote about. The verse is Psalm 3:5, which reads: “I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the Lord sustained me.” Or from Psalm 91, also on Grandpa’s list, here are some selected verses:

¹ He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. ² I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”…

⁵ You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow [or bullet] that flies by day, ⁶ nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday….

⁹ Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place—the Most High, who is my refuge—¹⁰ no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent….

¹⁴ “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name. ¹⁵ When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. ¹⁶ With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.

This brings us to another verse on Grandpa’s list: 2 Timothy 1:7 says, “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” Because of all that God does, we can recognize that a fearful spirit isn’t from God. I know a guy who routinely quotes this verse any time something fearful arises. It helps him to keep the proper perspective of things and not blow them all out of proportion.

As we wrap up, I want to address the fact that fear doesn’t always disappear instantly. Grandpa had something to say about this, too. He had a paragraph from Ellen White’s book The Desire of Ages, page 172 pasted onto a card.

A person may not be able to tell the exact time or place, or to trace all the circumstances in the process of conversion; but this does not prove him to be unconverted. By an agency as unseen as the wind, Christ is constantly working upon the heart. Little by little, perhaps unconsciously to the receiver, impressions are made that tend to draw the soul to Christ. These may be received through meditating upon Him, through reading the Scriptures, or through hearing the word from the living preacher. Suddenly, as the Spirit comes with more direct appeal, the soul gladly surrenders itself to Jesus. By many this is called sudden conversion; but it is the result of long wooing by the Spirit of God,—a patient, protracted process.

It is clear to me that Grandpa didn’t want fear to dominate his life, and that it shouldn’t dominate ours, either. Even in death, God promises victory, as we read in 1 Corinthians 15:51-58:

⁵¹ Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, ⁵² in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. ⁵³ For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. ⁵⁴ When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

⁵⁵ “O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”

⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷ But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁵⁸ Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

I don’t want to leave here without inviting everyone here to have the same confidence that Grandpa was able to have—that same antidote to fear that enables a bold life. Living in Jesus is the solution. If you can’t honestly say that you know Jesus, I invite you to believe in Him. The Bible says in Acts 16:31, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved,” and that’s a promise you can rely on.

Grandpa’s List of Verses

• 2 Timothy 1:6, 7
• Luke 12:4-7
• John 14:27
• Psalm 3:5
• Psalm 1:21 (doesn’t exist)
• 1 John 4:18
• Psalm 23
• Psalm 91
• Psalm 136

Other Quotes

DA 172.3

A person may not be able to tell the exact time or place, or to trace all the circumstances in the process of conversion; but this does not prove him to be unconverted. By an agency as unseen as the wind, Christ is constantly working upon the heart. Little by little, perhaps unconsciously to the receiver, impressions are made that tend to draw the soul to Christ. These may be received through meditating upon Him, through reading the Scriptures, or through hearing the word from the living preacher. Suddenly, as the Spirit comes with more direct appeal, the soul gladly surrenders itself to Jesus. By many this is called sudden conversion; but it is the result of long wooing by the Spirit of God,—a patient, protracted process

Anonymous, quoted in R.A. Rentfro, “My Last Day on Earth” (RH October 7, 1965, p. 10)

Prayer is the answer to every problem in life. It puts us in tune with divine wisdom which knows how to adjust everything perfectly. So often we do not pray in certain situations, because from our standpoint, the outlook is hopeless. But nothing is impossible with God. Nothing is so entangled that it cannot be remedied; no human relationship is too strained for God to bring about reconciliation and understanding; no habit so deep rooted that it cannot be overcome; no one is so weak that he cannot be strong. No one is so ill that he cannot be healed. No mind is so dull that it cannot be made brilliant. What ever we need, if we trust God, he will supply it. If anything is causing worry or anxiety, let us stop rehearsing the difficulty and trust God for healing, love, and power.