Overcoming Fear in a Pandemic and Now
As the danger of the virus abated, I expected our anxiety and worry to be gone. I was wrong. I’ve learned to overcome the fear of the virus then and different dreads now.
During the days of the pandemic, I was frustrated when March Madness was canceled and a bit depressed when my daughter’s college athletic career was halted.
Then I realized my trivialness when I saw videos of families hustling to return to America because of the coming travel ban, strangers hoarding toilet paper, discussions of the falling financial market, and others fighting for their lives in make-shift hospital beds worldwide. And it continued.
The ongoing rise of the coronavirus (COVID-19) was real, and my frustration turned to fear. I felt it. I still fight it. But I’m doing something about it.
The medical folks were talking about flattening the curve, which they eventually did. Pandemics tend to spike quickly and high in the number of people infected. The typical spike would overtax the healthcare system and create nearly impossible issues to resolve.
They asked Americans to social distance to contain the virus and slow its dissemination. The hope was to spread the curve over time, flattening it, avoiding the spike, and perhaps lowering the number of cases and deaths.
We want to do this with our fear, flatten the curve.
It’s possible to remove fear, but we need to start by flattening its hold on us, lowering its intensity, and freeing our minds from negative thoughts about the future.
This week, I thought of others who had massive reasons for fear.
I thought about the night when the oldest child in every family in one specific city died at midnight. Can you imagine? Before trying, imagine this first.
We’re told that all the firstborn children will die tonight. Think about that if you have kids, and envision it if you don’t. We’re given a way out, or so the prophet of God said. He told us that if we sacrificed a lamb and painted the lamb’s blood over our door, our child wouldn’t die.
Let’s just say we believed it, or tried to believe it, enough at least to slaughter the animal and slop the blood over the doorframe. Then what?
What would we have done after dinner? How would we have felt as we tucked our children into bed? Would we cry? Would our hearts race? Would we doubt or panic? Could we sleep? Would we have set our alarm for midnight?
Imagine midnight.
The Scripture describes this time of the first Passover when the death angel came to kill the Egyptians and rescue the faithful Israelites (those who tagged their doors with blood). It says,
“Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead” (Exodus 12:30).
Death was everywhere.
Teenagers were gone.
Babies never got a chance to get off their mother’s milk.
But the promise was alive because that statement, “there was not a house without someone dead,” doesn’t tell the whole story.
Every house whose parents engaged enough faith to paint the blood had only life inside. No Israelite child died.
Would you have had faith, or would you have feared?
Perhaps we would have done both.
This event was a tool for God to motivate the Egyptian Pharaoh to release the Israelites from slavery. Later the story symbolizes what Jesus did for us as the sacrificial lamb. Those who trust Jesus allow his blood to cover their sins, and the death angel passes over. God had something massive going on and needed his people to trust him.
The event also illustrates the faithfulness of God, which is what we base our faith on and how we dissipate our fears.
“If you will trust me, I will protect and provide for you,” God said to the Israelites. And he did. There was no reason to fear.
We faced an unknown “angel of death.” COVID-19 has the power to kill. It didn’t kill everyone. Some have immunity, but we don’t know who.
It’s a frightening thing. The virus disrupted our lives, our relationships, our finances, our freedom to travel, and our health. Fear is multiplying.
But as any fear hovers, our God says to us as he later spoke to the Israelites when they faced a different battle:
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10).
“Do not fear” is often a command by God and helpful advice. Why should we not fear? God spelled out two reasons here: I (God) am with you, and I am your God.
Do you fear today? Do the cries of others who are suffering stoke your doubts? Do you find your mind wandering to a picture of the future that is not good?
“Do not fear.” Why? Because God is with you, and He is your God.
This doesn’t mean that we’ll not get infected with the virus or that our business won’t go bankrupt. Unless God specifically tells us, he hasn’t promised that the viral death angel will pass over.
It does mean that God is with each of us and promises to care for us, no matter what the virus does.
He is in control.
He has a plan.
He can eliminate the virus with the swipe of his finger (see Jeremiah 32:27), take any bad that comes our way, and use it for tremendous good (see Romans 8:28).
I have two suggestions to help and one challenge to get us moving.
First, when you begin to fear, talk to God.
Tell him how you feel and try to listen to his response. While listening, remember things he has already told you, like, “I am your God” and “I am with you.”
Second, drop expectations and accept the adventure.
Fear is often our negative image of the future that has not happened. It is helpful to let go of the future you want and trust that God has the best future. Drop the expectations. Quit believing that the best life is the easy life.
Our minds are influential, and it’s amazing how our anxiety fades when we combine faith with hopeful thinking. Seeing the difficulties like an adventure does that.
When floating down a river and seeing rocks ahead, we can panic. Or we can widen our eyes and say, “OK. Here’s where I come alive.” That perspective often removes fear, especially when we believe God is our guide in the back of the boat.
Finally, a challenge: give help and hope to others.
Lots of people around us are struggling with fear. Many don’t know God and have no reliable source of hope.
Jesus blesses us so that we can bless those around us. So do that. Be a blessing to others by being a voice of calm, hope, and faith. And maybe we can even introduce them to the one who removes our fear.