How Can We Move From Fear to Faith?

How can we undergo His healing touch? An instructive story in the New Testament gives us a step-by-step process where we watch Jesus move a person from fear to faith.

It is found in Luke 5:17-26 (NIV): 

One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.

When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts?  Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”

Let’s unpack this story.

A man is paralyzed, and lies upon a mat. We don’t know how long he has been in this condition. No one needs to tell him of his affliction. Every day, when the sun rises, he cannot get up like the rest of the household. He needs someone to bring him food, help him to use the bathroom, and take him out of the house for fresh air.

Does he sometimes dream he is running and jumping, only to find that when he opens his eyes, the truth shakes him to his very soul? He knows his condition, and it saddens him deeply.

Our condition saddens us as well. We are all too well aware of our need.

He does have contact with his community. He isn’t isolated, staying in his house day by day, just hoping someone knows he is there. People know he is there. So, at some level, he is connected. He hasn’t yelled at people or raged at them to the point where, despite his pitiable condition, they ignore him.

He suffers and they know that. He doesn’t punish others for his affliction. He gratefully watches as they lift him up to take him to Jesus. Even with his limitations, he is willing to be a part of his community. He has not isolated himself so he eventually becomes forgotten.

We need to reach out to our community and connect with others. We need to be, even in our pain, gracious with the hands that lift us up. Their assistance should not be seen as a condemnation of us as weak; we need to thank God for those hands, for they are His.

Next, the men cannot find a way into the house where Jesus is teaching, for it is crowded. Do they give up?  Does the man on the mat say, “Oh, never mind. It’s not meant to be. Let’s go home. God doesn’t really care, or there would be a clear way into the house.”

No! These men get creative. Someone scouts out the roof and then returns, letting the rest know that they can come to Jesus through the roof.

Unconventional? Yes, but creative.

We need to be creative in how we look to the Lord for our healing. We may have to scout out different treatment plans, doctors, counselors or pastors, and be willing to look high and low for solutions. Rarely is there a clear way to solve a life-long problem. We have to be creative, flexible and take it step by step.

Now the men hoist the paralyzed man up to the roof. I’ll bet that took quite some time! They need to scout out the exact spot on the roof, get the man up to that spot, and then remove enough tiles to fit the man and his mat through safely. Then they have to lower him down, very carefully. Time. Effort. Maybe more time. Creativity. There are no quick fixes to our suffering. We may have to go through many time-consuming steps to finally get face to face with Jesus. But, hey, what’s the alternative? Back to that mat? I love this part: “When Jesus saw their faith...” Jesus always sees our faith and our efforts. They say a lot about us and what we consider important. If we see our healing as important, and are willing to work with Jesus to get there, He sustains and guides us. He may choose to use a counselor to be His voice. Or a pastor. Or a close friend. Or a doctor. God may use a combination of many people and many things to help us be whole. He rewards our seeking. If we earnestly seek Him, He awaits with open arms. This next part is quite interesting. Jesus tells the man that his sins are forgiven. Wait a minute, Lord! He came to you with a broken body. Why are You focusing on his sins? In reality, we are all spiritually broken. Our lives may be shattered, but deep within all of us, we need reconciliation with God. The man on the mat may have secretly blamed God, or his parents, or himself. He may not have forgiven God, his parents or himself, and his lack of forgiveness may have driven him further from God. He may harbor angry thoughts and a sense that God doesn’t care. His soul needs Jesus’ touch way before his physical healing. Remember Jonah? He was delivered from death, but his attitude towards God needed healing, for it drove him away from God. He may have been safe physically, but his attitude was putting him on a crash course with isolation and hell. It’s the same with the man on the mat. Jesus can heal him physically, but he still would have walked away with sin paralyzing his heart. Trust Jesus to diagnose your true area for healing. Trust His timing. Trust His ways as He seeks to achieve healing in your life. The spiritual healing may come way before any other kind of healing. Embrace that, and accept His priorities. People are murmuring at what Jesus said to the man. Not everyone will celebrate this man’s encounter with Jesus. Jesus sees their jealous anger. Jesus sees the Pharisees grumbling about the time He is taking with this man. He sees their self-righteousness as well. He knows that God alone can forgive sins. Jesus doesn’t need a Sunday school lesson from them. But they are furious that He is presuming to do God’s work. What if, for one moment, they really think about it and say, “The Promised One, our Messiah, is truly here. Let us embrace Him!” What a difference! They would have been able to enjoy the work of Jesus. But just like the jealous older brother, who sniped at the father and his prodigal brother, the Pharisees are losing out on the blessings freely flowing from God. Sadly, they demean the healing taking place in front of them. Many church folks will demean your quest for healing. Don’t listen to them. Feel sorry for them, for they are missing out on watching God’s blessings. They will have lots of advice, based on their limited knowledge and possible jealousy. Seek out a Godly counselor or pastor. Seek wise counsel from a few select people. Not everyone needs to know about your quest. You can always request prayer, however, without sharing details. The man, with his soul forgiven and his body healed (the best order!) picks up his mat and heads for home, praising God! He carries his own mat. God will not do for you what you are perfectly capable of doing yourself. You are a partner with Him, and where you can do something towards your wellness, He will expect you to do it. Praise Him as you do your share, knowing that He is right behind you. The people then praise God for what they witnessed that day. The man, no longer on his mat, is a walking testimony to the power of God. You, as you walk this journey towards wellness, will be visible testimony to God’s faithfulness. You may stumble and fall, but keep walking. Keep praising Him as you head for home. You are not alone: You have the Holy Spirit as your Guide, Advocate and loving Companion. If He sends, He defends. Stand on that.

Where To Now?

In studying Jonah, you probably noticed that we did not get a nice, tidy “Hollywood ending.” Jonah didn’t pull it together at the last minute. He didn’t become the strong man of God and strode mightily back into Nineveh. We don’t get to catch a glimpse of him as the Mighty Prophet of God admonishing the people about God’s righteousness. No, we see God having the last word, and we will never know Jonah’s reaction.

Kind of like real life, huh?

We don’t always get a Hollywood ending ourselves. We slip back. We have to relearn again and again about the grace of God. We pray and sometimes we receive answers. Sometimes we receive what we perceive as inadequate answers.

It may take years for His fruit to be evident in our lives.

Sometimes we drown in self-pity. We get bored with ourselves, and we go out and create some new chaos in our lives, to add to the chaos that we were running from in the first place.

We try to repent, only to fall prey to the sin again. And again.

Let Jonah inspire you. He was truly a work in progress. God certainly wasn’t finished with him by the end of the story. He is certainly not done with you or me either.

What is directing our lives? Is it our fear or our faith? Sometimes we have to consciously choose faith. If we just left our choice up to how we feel, fear will probably win out.

Sometimes our fear is a really a deep belief that at some point evil will come and overtake us, and we can’t escape. We will not be hucked up on shore somewhere, praising God and picking seaweed out of our hair. We will slowly be digested in that dark place, disappearing molecule by molecule until there is nothing left.

Jesus calls to us and says, “Take heart! I have overcome the world.” What did He overcome? Fear. Death. Loneliness. Isolation. Rejection. We follow Him, and He leads by example. Even when we are in the dark, He is still leading.

In Psalm 22, David writes from the darkest place imaginable: he is in tremendous pain, suffering and is beset by fear. He starts out with the most anguished cry imaginable: “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” When you are in the depths of despair, consider praying this psalm. Jesus did. When He was hanging on the cross, He prayed the first lines from this psalm. He drew comfort from the words, because He knew the whole psalm, and the hopeful message it contained. You can as well.

We left Jonah standing there in that desert, listening to God. Perhaps, later in his life, Jonah hit the road of faith and stayed on it.

Psalm 22 shows us the path that David took from fear to faith. This psalm gave comfort to Jesus. My prayer is it will comfort you as you make your way from fear to faith.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from my cries of anguish?
My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest.

David is being utterly honest here. He is crying out, day and night, but feels God is not hearing him. How often have you faced a time when you cried out to God, and feared He was not listening? Maybe that time is now. But, keep walking. David does.

Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the one Israel praises.
In you our ancestors put their trust;
they trusted and you delivered them.
To you they cried out and were saved;
in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

David remembers how faithful God was in the past to His people. How, when His people praise Him, there He dwells. David reflects on the many times God heard His people cry and delivered them. David is remembering the past so he can face the present. Think back: How many times has God delivered you? He has shown Himself to be faithful in the past; His character never changes. Thus, His faithfulness then is His faithfulness now.

But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
All who see me mock me;
they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
“He trusts in the Lord,” they say,
“let the Lord rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
since he delights in him.”

You can see why this psalm so resonated with Jesus. As He hung there on the cross, people mocked Him and taunted Him that if He were truly who He claimed to be, why wasn’t God delivering Him? The same with David and us. People look at our faith and wonder why isn’t God quickly delivering us? We begin to wonder if something is wrong about us. But David addresses that next.

Yet you brought me out of the womb;
you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.
From birth I was cast on you;
from my mother’s womb you have been my God.

Do not be far from me,
for trouble is near
and there is no one to help.

David proclaims that the Lord has been with him from the very beginning of his life. Why would God abandon him now? David feels alone with no one to help him. But, if God delivered him at birth, why wouldn’t God deliver him now from his trouble? God has been with you along. He knew you and loved you before the foundation of the world. He has not forsaken you even with trouble so near and overwhelming fear engulfing you.

Many bulls surround me;
strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
Roaring lions that tear their prey
open their mouths wide against me.
I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
it has melted within me.
My mouth is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
you lay me in the dust of death.

Dogs surround me,
a pack of villains encircles me;
they pierce my hands and my feet.
All my bones are on display;
people stare and gloat over me.
They divide my clothes among them
and cast lots for my garment.

But you, Lord, do not be far from me.
You are my strength; come quickly to help me.

Jesus faced terror as He hung on the cross: the terror of pain, suffering, rejection and scorn. The physical pain was excruciating, but the mental pain was utterly overwhelming. Sometimes it is the pain we are suffering from within that leaves us the most devastated. The body’s wounds may heal, but the pain in our heart takes our breath away. Although David did not suffer upon a cross, the pain in his soul left him shattered.

Deliver me from the sword,
my precious life from the power of the dogs.
Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;
save me from the horns of the wild oxen.

I will declare your name to my people;
in the assembly I will praise you.
You who fear the Lord, praise him!
All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!
Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
For he has not despised or scorned
the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him
but has listened to his cry for help.

David shifts his attention away from pain and fear’s attacks and starts praising the Lord. He knows he can’t deliver himself; he knows only the Lord can and so even in the midst of his suffering, he praises the Lord. The shift is in perspective for David and for us. If we focus solely on our suffering, it crowds out everything from view. If we focus on the Lord and how mighty He is, now our suffering is being compared to His greatness. Our suffering begins to lose its greatness. Our horizon expands in hope as we praise the Lord. David knows that God is not scorning him but listening to his cry. He is drawing hope and comfort from that. Jesus hears your every cry and holds your every tear.

From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
before those who fear you I will fulfill my vows.
The poor will eat and be satisfied;
those who seek the Lord will praise him—
may your hearts live forever!

All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
will bow down before him,
for dominion belongs to the Lord
and he rules over the nations.

Wow! David’s praise has widened his viewpoint even more. He now celebrates how the Lord is Lord over all. God is good to each person and to each nation that calls upon His name in faith. Those who have suffered will be filled with His Bread and be satisfied. Who is that Bread? The Son of God, Jesus Christ. Upon accepting Him in our heart, we have forgiveness and hope. He has delivered us from sin by His death on the cross, and now He wants to deliver us from the emptiness and hopelessness that is in the world.

All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—
those who cannot keep themselves alive.
Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord.
They will proclaim his righteousness,
declaring to a people yet unborn:
He has done it!

Even death cannot separate us from the love of God. The cross where Jesus paid our debt allows us to boldly go in to God’s presence to find help in our crisis. God’s faithfulness to us will be celebrated by those who come after us. Our lives, our suffering, our victory becomes part of a larger story: His Story. Even death will not silence the praises of those who live in Him. The empty tomb shouts victory for us as we walk in faith. If your pain is the darkness of Friday, remember, the light of Sunday morning is coming. Trust Him to carry you through.

David starts in anguish and pain. He moves into a place where he basks in the knowledge of God’s love and goodness. He stands on the promise that God “has done it!”

We need to stand on that promise as well. We stand on the Rock: Jesus Christ Himself, Who dwells in our hearts. The journey from fear to faith is paved with heart-felt and honest prayer, time in His Word and walking every day, holding His nail-scarred hand and trusting every step is in His keeping.    

Another Second Chance: Jonah 4:5-11

Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”

But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”

“It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.”

But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?” (Jonah 4:5-11)

Now Jonah heads east. If he really believed his words about God’s character, he would have stayed put. Sometimes we say all the right things, and yet when our heart is alienated, we act on our feelings, not what we know to be true. Jonah is removing himself from God’s presence.

He questioned God.

He defied God.

He glorified God. Now?

He avoids God. What happened, Jonah?

He goes outside the city, and makes a shelter and “waited to see what would happen to the city.” (4:5) What is he expecting? How has God’s revelation about sparing the city changed? Jonah is now without direction, and so he sits and waits. God told him that He was going to be merciful, and yet Jonah is acting as if God is going to destroy the city anyway.

Why do we think time will change God’s words to us? If He has spoken, we need to listen and obey, and not assume God is some kind of wishy-washy Father who will change His mind at some point.

God’s unchanging character is a relief when we are looking for a steadfast love and refuge; but when we are sinning, we hope that God will relent, and not take His words so seriously. But, remember, “Jesus is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever.” (Heb. 13:8)

Jonah’s feelings about Nineveh may have a much deeper root in his heart than his knowledge of God’s love. Our fears can sometimes trump the newer truths God is planting in our hearts. Jonah’s prayer inside the whale was sincere (no one can manufacture such heart-felt praise) but now that he’s out, he has fallen back into anger and fear because of God’s acceptance of Israel’s enemy. If Nineveh gets nailed, Jonah need not explore God’s mercy and grace any further.

In Revelation 2:2-5, the church in Ephesus hears this exhortation:

I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.
Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

This could be a description of our Jonah. He detests wickedness in Nineveh, but he has forgotten his first love: the very Lord he was called to serve. He persevered and emerged from the whale, but he has forgotten his first Love. He is a man called of God, a noble thing to be sure, but he has forgotten his first Love.

Yet, even so, the Lord reaches out again to His error-prone prophet. The shelter Jonah builds is inadequate against the hot sun, so the Lord provides a vine to give Jonah shade.

Whenever we seek to build ourselves a shelter, it is always inadequate. We think we are fine until the hot sun of loneliness, fear, anger or isolation starts beating down on our heads. In fact, the reason for the vine was to “give shade for his head to ease his discomfort.” (4:6)

Jonah is happy about the vine, of course, but where is the song of thanksgiving? Where is the hearty “Thank You, Lord!” for it? He’s just sitting there. He’s alone, but a lot cooler now that the vine has sprung up. Perhaps life isn’t so bad, is it?

Is it?

But God is never content to leave us just as we are. He loves us way too much to leave us sitting out there by ourselves, thinking we’ve got it handled. Did it even occur to Jonah that God sends the vine for his comfort? Or, because his heart is cold, does he just look at it? Is he content not to question its appearance?

Then the Lord sends a worm. It nibbles away at the vine until the vine withers. Even if we are afraid and have good reason to be upset, we are still admonished that in our “anger do not sin.” We are not to “let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.” (Eph. 4:26-7)

The sun went down on Jonah’s anger. The Lord was waiting for some kind of thankful response to the vine, showing a softening of Jonah’s heart.

The next day, the wind blows blisteringly hot. This wind is sent not to cool Jonah down after the vine withers, but to get Jonah’s attention. Does Jonah seek the Lord? No. He just wants to die.

How sad. Our life, the most precious gift of all, has no meaning when it is not tethered to God. We lose our purpose and our direction. Sitting out in that desert, Jonah is free to do as he will, but he has no meaning or purpose. The hot wind distresses him not just physically. He’s withering on the inside as well, to the point of wanting to die. He encountered death in the belly of the whale, and when he emerged victorious, how sweet life was!

But now, in the heat of the sun, he wants to die. He displaces his anger onto the vine: 

But God said to Jonah, "Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?"
"I do," he said. "I am angry enough to die.” (4:9)

It’s the vine’s fault! How often, in our fear, we seek to blame others for our anger? We resent what has been done to us. The fear that results causes us to stop trying. We crawl under a withered vine, angry and alone. We sit under the sun of resentment for what might have been.

Our fear changes us into someone ugly. We are ugly to others and to ourselves. Jonah is having an ugly moment, blaming the vine and probably if the truth were told, blaming God.

Is he thinking, God failed to punish Israel’s enemy. Israel’s safety is compromised and if anything happens, it will be God’s fault, not mine!

See how blinded Jonah is? He is once again focused on himself, even though we know (just as God does!) that he is quite capable of being obedient. God sees our potential. He still sees Jonah’s, as he sits way out there in the desert.

God knows Jonah’s immediate need, which is shade from a hot sun. God also knows Jonah’s deeper need, which is replacing his fear with an even stronger faith centered on who God is, and not just on what He does. God then lovingly but firmly corrects His prophet:

The vine suited Jonah, for it met his needs, caused no fear and made him the center of his world. He didn’t have to do anything. He just stayed put.

But God wants so much more for us than just staying put. Jonah would have stayed out in the desert for a long time with that cooling vine. We would stay out in the desert, too, for a long time with our fear and anger at how unfair life is. It’s a kind of weird comfort to stay put, seeking no change. Moving out of the desert is hard work. But, if God sends, He defends.

Life is unfair. But there are worms everywhere, nibbling away at our shelters. God is trying to get our attention, showing us that a vine springing up overnight is just a temporary fix. We like to seek out temporary fixes and assume that they will last. They meet our innermost needs and get us though. So, these fixes are just fine. Right?

Wrong.

God sent a worm to remind Jonah of a fundamental truth. God is deeply concerned about wicked people, irresponsible people, good people, so-so people, righteous people, lonely people and angry people.

In other words, God is reaching out to you, to me, to everyone. He so loved the world that He sent His Son. He doesn’t want anyone to perish, although many will choose not to take hold of His nail-scarred hand. He gives us, without reservation, eternal life. It’s an eternal life with Him, without fear, anger, scorching winds in desert, or darkness in the bellies of whales. He offers an eternal life with Him in a place where there are no tears. It’s ours for the asking.

But He also offers an abundant life to us here.

Moses, speaking on God’s behalf, said to the people, after leading them out of Egypt and giving them the Law to live by:

This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. (Deut. 30:19-20)

Jesus said: "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (John 10:10)

Jonah receives a second chance. Again and again. How does our Jonah respond? The narrative ends with God’s questions to Jonah.

We really don’t know how he responds.

How many more whales, worms and winds have to barge into Jonah’s world until he gets it?

What does he need to get?

What do we need to get?

It is this one truth: God’s love is sufficient for us to overcome our own private Nineveh. Sometimes we pray the same prayer of a father who brought an extremely ill son to Jesus, who wanted to believe that Jesus could heal his son, but he was fearful. Jesus tells the man that “‘Everything is possible for him who believes,’ and then the man says, ‘I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!’” (Mark 9:23-4)

Jesus also reassures us, as He did His disciples as He was facing His death: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

We follow Jesus. He overcame betrayal, pain and death. He weeps right alongside us when we face our Nineveh. He encourages us each day to trust Him. How will you respond? Your Nineveh may never change, but God calls you out from your rickety, self-made shelter into His care. Paul calmly asserts:

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. (2 Cor. 12:9)

The power of Christ in you will affect the change God desires for you. He doesn’t call you to change on your own strength, in your own power. He calls you, fills you, empowers you and sustains you with His Holy Spirit. Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to His disciples, not long before His crucifixion:

[T]he Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also… (John 14:17-19)

You are never alone. His Spirit in you sees to that.