He Got His Hands Dirty

My forehead feels warm. I haven’t slept well in days. Swine flu fever or not, something’s going on with me. So yesterday at my wife’s urging, I spent sixty bucks on tissues, masks, disinfectant wipes, and alcohol gel. Cleaned out the CVS. (You know, you just never can wash those hands enough.) And with all my compulsive scrubbing, pretty soon I’ll be back for some lotion to deal with the chapping.

But what about my heart? How do I sterilize it from the fear and anxiety which swirl around it every time I dare pick up the remote, or surf the web for the latest developments? Don’t get me wrong. Whether it’s swine flu or bird flu or some other viral nightmare, there are always reasons for healthy caution. Good hygiene is definitely a blessing, especially to all those around you. I’m not advocating a “stick your head in the sand” naiveté.

But do you know what the most frequent command from God to us in Scripture is? Maybe if you come from a fundamentalist background, you’ll be quick to guess it has something to do with abstaining from sex, or alcohol. (“Holiness by abstaining” is the motto in those camps.) But it’s neither. Nor is it “wash your hands before you eat,” which some religious folks actually tried to pin on Jesus (as if the maker of the universe couldn’t tell when his hands needed cleaning). No, actually the most frequent command from God to his overwhelmed, often-anxiety-filled people is “Fear not.”  

Oh really? Easier said than done! But then it’s usually followed by a very strong reason: “…for I am with you.” Hmmm.

Perhaps it’s because anxiety, worry, and fear gets to us all - a nice 100% infection rate. So what if we viewed these things as a real pandemic? I’m starting to think God does – which is why He wants us to know something about Himself that directly meets us at that fearful place. Something big, to give us hope. To soothe and calm our fears. To counsel us with words from a real Person that actually carry weight when he says “it’s going to be alright.”

You see, the God who sees all things, even your worried heart - actually names Himself “Immanuel,” God with us, for just such a reason. His idea is that if you see who he really is - the God who personally comes down and gets his hands dirty in order to love you - it will in fact make a huge difference at the deepest part of you, your essential core, which is your "heart."  

Used over 960 times in Scripture, "the heart"  (which in the ancient world meant the seat of your intellect, desires, and emotions) is described as the real focus of your out-of-control feelings, and which acts similar to a “spring” from a well, forcing your thoughts and beliefs and cravings up and out into specific behaviors. Biting your nails down to nothing, for example. Worrying about the future. Anxiously living for other’s approval, and fearing their rejection. In short, living as if the world is somehow in your control.

If this is true, then what your heart (and mine) needs most are solid reasons for hope – a vaccine that can actually kill the monster of fear (who lives in the closet of your heart) and who threatens to win the day. When we admit that the real problem is we’ve let the monster grow big, and his gaping mouth overwhelms us to the point that we give in to it, saying “you are in control…have your way and just swallow me up,” we need to stop and name the real problem. It’s time for our allegiances to change. And when we see that, we're invited to a better, more hopeful Master and Friend – One who rules wisely, and in love. One who comes to us personally even now, by His Spirit, as "the Comforter" and says, "don't be afraid. I'm here."  

Counseling the fears in our hearts means we name the pretenders. The real God is not the mutating viruses or mucous-spraying coughers who just can’t seem to cover their mouths. Not the CDC or WHO. Rather, it’s the One who rules over all, and so is able to tell us:

God is [your] refuge and strength – an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore [you] will not fear, though the earth gives way, and the mountains fall into the sea… (Psalm 46).

What If I really believed that this is true – that God is my only refuge - even when the mountains are falling? Isn't this the issue -what to do about my trust (faith) problem? Thankfully, the God who gives such a command to “fear not” isn’t into flimsy hopes or inadequate diagnosis, such as pinning the sole reason for your fears on your circumstances (earthquakes, tsunamis, or global pandemics) or your non-nurturing upbringing. Those things matter, certainly, but there is a more central focus, and it’s your heart’s functional trust.

The real remedy for my heart's fears consists in this: tell me again how BIG God is. Tell me again the story of how he walks into the middle of fearful situations, cataloged again and again in Scripture, to calm his loved one’s fears. Tell me again how He describes and shows Himself as Rescuer, Redeemer, Provider, and Friend of untrusting, self-reliant sinners. Tell me the message of GRACE, which he shows to the undeserving, who don’t take him at his word.  

"Faith comes by hearing the Word of Christ," (Rom. 10:17)... so give me a vision of how he got his hands dirty, and even nail-pierced for me, to win me a future. And let me see that believing these things really does produce a community of lovers who aren’t paralyzed by fear, but come out of themselves to love.

Now, when God walks into the room as your loving Father, this is what he wants to know – “What are you really afraid of?” As he asks, you will either shrink in horror at your infected heart, and run away to hide in order to fix it yourself (as Adam & Eve in the garden, and all of us still tend to do), or throw yourself at his feet and weep. And if you do the latter, he’ll lift your trembling chin with his gentle hand, look you in the eyes, and say,”fear not, for I am with you.”