“Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Without warning a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him saying, ‘Lord save us! We’re going to drown!’ He replied, ‘You of little faith, why are you so afraid?’ Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. The men were amazed and asked, ‘What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!’”
Matthew 8:23-27
The above Scripture is about faith and fear. The disciples (and Jesus) faced a dangerous situation in the form of a furious storm and they became afraid. What were the disciples afraid of? According to this passage they were afraid of death, specifically drowning! They had woken Jesus and said, “Lord save us! We are going to drown!” I suppose that we would have said the same thing if we were in that situation. However, notice what Jesus said to them. He said, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” For you and I the answer is obvious. They were afraid because they feared death. I’m certain that would have been our reaction as well.
But what was the faith Jesus was talking about? He was talking about faith in Him and His promise of eternal life that He had spoken to them about many times. I suppose the disciples didn’t make the connection at that time. They were still learning from Jesus and perhaps not as fully aware of what Jesus himself would provide to them through His sacrifice on the cross. In this circumstance, the disciples chose fear over faith.
But today, we have no such excuse. We know what Jesus did for us on Calvary. So, if our faith is based on Jesus and what He did on the cross to give us eternal life, why should we fear our earthly death? To fear our death would be to deny our faith in Christ.
We are currently faced with a worldwide pandemic from the spread of COVID-19, a new strain of the corona virus. So, how should we approach this new danger in our lives today? Should we, as Christians, be fearful of its consequences? Should we heed all of the governmental warnings to protect ourselves and stay away from others? Should we put our trust in medicine, doctors, medical equipment or hospitals to save our lives?
I’d like to share three points that can help us clarify what our response should be as followers of Christ.
First, Life is Dangerous! The disciples faced a dangerous storm, but we also face dangers in our lives every day. We first faced danger when we were conceived. From the moment of conception we faced dangers in the womb from genetics, disease, or miscarriage. We also faced dangers in our delivery, such as being still born or having birth defects or abnormalities. Then as we began our lives outside the womb we faced additional dangers like cancer, poverty, unemployment, natural disasters, accidents and crime.
The fact is we face danger every minute of every day. There are dangers we see and dangers we do not see. According to the National Safety Council, here are a few of the odds of dying in America from various causes:
- Heart disease & cancer 1 in 7
- Motor vehicle accident 1 in 114
- Assault by firearm 1 in 370
- Drowning 1 in 1,188
- Airline accident 1 in 9,821
- Cataclysmic storm 1 in 66,335
These statistics do vary by nation, but notice that from these numbers a storm is one of the least likely things to cause our death (although drowning is a greater possibility)!
We know that danger is all around us, whether we see it or not. It is part of life and cannot always be avoided. And often the dangers can be random or sudden, not giving us time to react thoughtfully or carefully. We just don’t always think about these dangers unless we are staring one right in the face. The point is, no human being is free from danger or risk. We typically only react however when we can see it or are directly confronted by it. And this leads to my second point.
Secondly, Our Physical Response to Danger or Death is Fear. Fear for our physical lives is part of our human nature and has both positive and negative aspects. On the positive side, our fear can warn us of potentially dangerous situations and give us time to react. These are things like smoke from a fire, snow on the roadway, threatening clouds, or the sound of sirens. These get our attention and enable us to take precautions to protect ourselves. This is why we should heed the warnings and instructions from our government about the corona virus. It is for our protection and instituted under God’s authority (Romans 13:1-5).
On the negative side, however, fear can also cause us to run away, hide, act irrationally or not be able to function at all. These are fears such as confrontations, terror threats, political unrest, or epidemics. These are situations that we believe we need to avoid at all costs. We can see some Biblical examples of this, like Jonah running away from Nineveh (Jonah 1:3), the disciples hiding from the Jews after Jesus’ death (John 20:19), and Peter denying knowing Christ (Matthew 26:69-75). It is natural to fear danger. It can protect us from harm. But it can also paralyze us or cause us to panic unnecessarily.
So, what should our response be to danger if not fear? Point number three is that Our Spiritual Response to Danger Should Be Faith. Faith is trusting in God in all things. That means we should trust Him to see us through the dangers that we face. There are three reasons why we should trust Him. First, God is Love. He loves us unconditionally and He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7). Second, God is Truth and in Him there is no falsehood. He is trustworthy and He keeps His promises to us (Hebrew 10:23). Third, He sent His son Jesus to die in our place as a sacrifice for our sin. Jesus bore our sin on the cross and through His death and resurrection we have been given the gift of eternal life (John 3:16). He faced death and overcame it for our sake. Knowing what God did (and still does) for us, how can we not trust Him when we face danger or death?
I suppose there are those who might argue that we do not possess Christ’s courage. But that is not true! We have the same power that gave Jesus His courage – the Holy Spirit! His Holy Spirit will give us the power to trust in God and the courage to face the dangers of this world, even those that may lead to our death. And because of Jesus’ resurrection we also have hope, the hope that there is life after death and that death is not the end. When we put our faith in Jesus, we have hope, power and courage to face every danger, even death!
Should we trust the medical community to protect or help us when we face danger? Of course we should. They are God’s instruments to bring healing and recovery to our body (1 Corinthians 12:6). But they are not perfect and we should never trust them more than our Heavenly Father. They may be able to care for us between conception and death, but they do not determine either of them. God alone has power over life and death (Genesis 1:27, 3:19)!
We are all facing danger and death in our lives whether we realize it or not. Today it is the corona virus that is on the top of our minds. But tomorrow it might be something else. And there are also other daily dangers that we continue to face apart from the virus. So if we must inevitably face danger and death in this world, let us respond with faith and not fear. As Christians, we must trust God to protect us and see us through our trials through faith in Jesus. Let us not succumb to our fear of death but instead live in the hope of eternal life given to us by Jesus!! Let us choose faith over fear!