Tag: prayer

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Fear on Mute

Just recently, I had a long drive home on a dark, rainy night. Alone in the car, my mind began to turn over an issue that was causing me some anxiety. With every swipe of the wiper blades my own internal conversation with my fears intensified. Finally it occurred to me that I had a choice: I did not have to listen to or converse with my own unhealthy fears! I felt a wave of peace break over me, but at the same time, I wondered if this strategy was perhaps denial?  

The next morning, my question was answered as I was reading from the book of Isaiah. At chapter 36 we find the king of Assyria attempting to paralyze the people of God with fear. In verse 1 we learn that he had already conquered all of the fortified cities of Judah. Now his sights are set on Israel, ruled by King Hezekiah. The Assyrian king blasphemes to Hezekiah’s representatives, deliberately within earshot of citizens in Jerusalem: “Who of all the gods of these countries have been able to save their lands from me? How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand?” (Isaiah 36:20). And yet, notwithstanding this terrifying propaganda, we are told, “the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, ‘Do not answer him.’” (verse 21).

There was the “mute button” that silences the fear that would seek to undermine our trust in God’s faithfulness. We don’t have to listen to this unhealthy fear going on and on. We don’t even have to face down our fear and win the argument. In God’s strength, we can ignore these false sirens. In just these circumstances, the Lord simply says, “Do not be afraid of what you have heard.” (Isaiah 37:6). 

So, if I refuse to listen to or engage with unhealthy fear, what do I do instead? If not these false sirens, who should I be talking to? King Hezekiah refashioned his anxious thoughts into prayer. Pressing into the presence and sovereignty of God, we are told, “Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: ‘Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth.’” (Isaiah 37:15-16)

The Lord’s response to Hezekiah’s prayer is worth noticing because we don’t see an instant fix. The Lord does not start at that place of removing Hezekiah’s foe – not because He likes to keep us waiting, but His heart for us is always so much more. God’s immediate answer to Hezekiah is the gift of restored hope. God reassures him, “This year you will eat what grows by itself, and the second year what springs from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit…The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.” (Isaiah 37:30, 32b). This is a wonderful picture of God’s promise of faithful and abundant provision – provision that has nothing to do with Hezekiah’s efforts but all about God’s faithfulness; provision that is multiplied. In this way, God lifts Hezekiah’s eyes off of the taunting enemy in front of him and sets him on an upward trajectory of hope. Hezekiah must have surely felt God’s peace break over him.

Of such a hope, Peter wrote, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (1 Peter 1:3 ESV). In times of challenge God will always seek to renew and strengthen our hearts with His living hope. I wonder how many times I have looked past this gift because I was preoccupied with wanting an instant solution?

Having restored hope, the Lord does answer Hezekiah’s prayer. God promises, “I will defend this city and save it.” (Isaiah 37:35). Contrary to fear’s propaganda, God is faithful. He both overcomes the king of Assyria and even turns the enemy against itself (Isaiah 37:36-38). 

At the Cross, wrote Henry Blocher, “God turns [evil] back on itself. He takes the supreme crime, the murder of the only righteous person – [and makes this] the very operation that abolishes sin.” Because of this victory, Paul would both censor fear and restore God’s hope in each of us. “The Lord will rescue [you] from every evil deed and bring [you] safely into His heavenly kingdom.” (2 Timothy 4:18). 

In Jesus, you don’t have to listen to or even engage with unhealthy fear. With the encouragement and power of the Holy Spirit, you can push that mute button. Instead of engaging with fear, God would have you engage with Him. Bring him all your burdens for He delights to breathe His eternal hope in you, and to defend and save you. 

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The Spotlight of God’s Grace

In a chaotic time when we must be persevering in God’s grace more than ever, it is possible that you may feel you’re going backward in your walk with God. Perhaps certain things you were sure you overcame have returned, and maybe there are a few new things that you are beginning to recognize as contrary to God’s best for you. I want to suggest that this is not your “going backward” but is actually an answer to our prayers for more of God’s grace. 

Let me begin (thanks to Fleming Rutledge’s theological masterpiece, The Crucifixion) by talking about the nature of sin. Sin is a verb. It is something that we perform or engage in. Paul reminds us: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23). But sin is also a noun, a dominion under which humanity exists. Paul also wrote, “Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin.” (Romans 3:9). Sin is, therefore, not so much a collection of individual misdeeds but an active, malevolent agency bent on undoing God’s purposes in the world and in our lives. Rutledge writes, “Our misdeeds are the signs of that agency at work; they are not the thing itself.” Sin is not something we merely commit; it is something that we are in. Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.” (John 8:34). As slaves, we are in need of deliverance, to be liberated by a greater power.

The New Testament teaches that Jesus Christ came in order to atone for our sins by his death on the cross but also to overcome the power and dominion of sin through his resurrection. With reference to both Paul assures us, “You who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.” (Colossians 2:13-15). It is the grace of God that engendered the whole thing, including our subsequent repentance. When we come to recognize this collusion with the power of sin, we find that we are already standing in God’s grace. 

So how can we respond to this grace? 

First, we need to understand that we are in the middle of a very large battle. There are two natures at work in every follower of Jesus and they are in daily conflict with each other: 

  • The Spirit: a renewed Christian heart made new by the Holy Spirit; and  
  • The sinful nature (“the flesh”): the aspect of our hearts which are not yet renewed by (or yielded to) Jesus’ Spirit. 

Paul stated this plainly: “For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other…” (Galatians 5:17). This very large battle is one that I cannot win in my own strength. Although my will is necessary, my will alone is not sufficient to overcome it.

Second, to the very best of our own efforts, we are invited by God to respond to His grace and release our attachment to the strong desires that lead us away from God. This process has a lot to do with humility. David prayed, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.” (Psalm 51:1). David’s plea for mercy is grounded in God’s “steadfast love” and “abundant mercy.” Rutledge observes that while David’s spirit is crushed by the knowledge of his sinfulness, stronger still is his confidence in God’s desire and ability to cleanse him from his sin. 

I am humbled by the fact that God’s grace pursues me, notwithstanding the fact that my collusion with sin is ultimately against Him. “For I know my transgressions,” writes David, “and my sin is ever before me. Against you [God], you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight…” (Psalm 51:3). 

I am humbled by God’s Word as it gives me understanding of my sin and I am given the opportunity to be really honest about where I have failed. So, standing in the spotlight of God’s grace, I do the very best I can in the moment to confess my sins and release them to Him. Under his warm and bright light, I can contemplate in prayer how to move away from them. What can I do to turn off the sirens in my life? How can I bring my will to bear upon this release? You may be wondering how our feeble attempts to let go of these desires can be helpful in a battle that we are powerless to win on our own. How can five loaves and two fish feed a hungry crowd of thousands? In Jesus’ hands, somehow, they did. We are powerless to win our battle with sin by ourselves, but standing in the grace of God we are supernaturally empowered to do just that by the power of His Spirit. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, the way has been made for us to accept His mercy, love, and guidance in our lives.

This is why, even as more sin in our lives may come to our attention, in reality we can know this is an answer to prayer for more of God’s grace. Only by the light of His grace can we recognize the power of sin within us and bring it to God for his mercy and healing. Rutledge concludes, “The grace of God prepares the way for the confession of sin. It is present in the confession, and even before the confession is made has already worked the restoration of which confession is not the cause but the sign.”