The Fear Factor
“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”
~Nelson Mandela
Over the years, as I have had the opportunity to listen and pray with pastors who have struggled, one of the things I have seen surface, again and again, is… fear. Oh, we would probably not come right out and admit we are afraid, but fear is a definite factor that is causing issues in our life. With very few exceptions, fear and anxiety are a regular part of most pastors’ lives. Oh, don’t get me wrong, we teach about how to overcome it. We have faith that we are stronger than our fears, but the wicked truth is, fear is a factor for each of us. There’s a great story in the book of Mark that helps us unpack this. Jesus had been teaching near the Sea of Galilee and the crowd had grown quite large. The people had pressed in so close that Jesus had to preach just off the shore from a small boat. Finally, after preaching for hours, He got on a boat with His disciples to travel to the other side of the Sea of Galilee and after they were underway, He fell asleep.
“That day when evening came, He said to His disciples, ‘Let us go over to the other side.’ Leaving the crowd behind, they took Him along, just as He was, in the boat. There were also other boats with Him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to Him, ‘Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?’
He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, ‘Quiet! Be still!’ Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, ‘Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?’ They were terrified and asked each other, ‘Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!’” Mark 4:35-41
Things can change fast.
A couple of years ago I had the opportunity to go to Israel with a group of pastors and one of the experiences that we enjoyed together was taking a boat across the Sea of Galilee. It was a beautiful sunny day, but at about halfway point, the rain came out of nowhere. It was so quick that it surprised all of us. The Sea of Galilee is notorious for storms. It is below sea level with mountains rising to the east, and on the west are the Judean hills that form a narrow corridor for winds to come down from the cool air of the mountains, and collide with the warm water of the Sea of Galilee, which can cause severe and sudden weather changes. I’ve had a first-hand experience of just how quickly the disciples could have been caught off guard by this storm. So here they are on the boat after a long day of teaching, they are on the Sea of Galilee, and according to the Bible passage a furious squall came up. It was so bad that the disciples, some of whom were seasoned fishermen, started freaking out. If those guys were freaked out, it must’ve been bad. It is storming so bad that the waves are breaking over the boat, and the disciples are freaking out. All of a sudden, they start to wonder, “Where is Jesus? Somebody go find Jesus!” It’s kind of sad that so many times, people only look for Jesus when they experience a crisis. And the disciples were in a crisis. They began to look for Him, and when they find Him, He is asleep on the boat. So they wake Him up and ask Him a very important question, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown? Don’t you care?” I think everyone has asked this question.
Have you ever been in a storm?
Years ago I had a job working offshore on the oil rigs. We would work on the rigs during the day and at night we would sleep on a boat that was usually docked near the rig. One night at a rig about 60 miles into the Gulf, a storm came up that was so bad that our captain had to pull away from the rig. None of us onboard slept that night as the captain kept trying to turn our boat into the waves to keep us from tipping over. It was a frightening experience.
Life can throw fear at us in so many different ways. It’s not unusual when we are dealing with fear to wonder where is Jesus, and does He care?” “Our church is just barely making it financially. Jesus, are you there? Do you even care?” “People in the church are attacking our family, and I don’t know what to do. Jesus, do you care?” “Ministry has been a struggle from day one, and I’m afraid it’s not going to get any better. Jesus, where are you, and do you even care?” Have you ever felt that way?
Jesus always has a response.
So, they wake Jesus up, and He stands up and rebukes the storm and says “Peace, be still.” Immediately the wind stopped and the sea calmed. This is quite a miracle. Not only did the storm stop, but the sea also calmed. I live in a little beach town on the Gulf of Mexico, and when the wind picks up it drives the waves. When the wind dies down, however, it still takes some time for the waves to calm down. Jesus spoke to the storm and the wind and the waves died out immediately. The disciples had never seen anything like that. It was a definite miracle. I’m sure they were stunned, looking at each other with eyes that said, “Did you see that?” While they were still pondering what they had just seen, Jesus looked at them and asked a very important question. He asked, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” Now I don’t know about you, but in the early days, as I was still learning about who Jesus is, I would read this passage and picture Jesus angry with the disciples. (I can be a little grumpy myself when I wake up from a nap.) In my mind, it was like He was saying, “What’s wrong with you Bozos? You just don’t get it, do you? Where is your faith?” It was so easy for me to identify with the angry, disappointed Jesus. It was as if He was saying, “Come on. Everybody else is getting this. Everyone else is understanding this stuff. Why can’t you get it together? Why can’t you figure it out?” And so, we look at ourselves and think, “Maybe I’m just a screw-up. Maybe I’m not like everyone else. Maybe I’m not called after all. Maybe Jesus doesn’t like me. Maybe He doesn’t care.” It’s at that point that “Confirmation Bias” kicks in. Do you know what confirmation bias is? A quick explanation is this, If I begin to believe something, I look for reasons to confirm that belief. So, for example, let’s say you attend the church that I pastor at, and you get a thought in your head, “I don’t think Robert likes me.” (I do by the way. I like you.) So, you begin to look for reasons to confirm your bias. So, we are at church and I walk past you on my way to go somewhere and I may not notice you. I might be focused on the task ahead. (I may be scatter brained.) But you see me walk past you without saying hello, and confirmation bias kicks in and you say, “There it is. I told you Robert doesn’t like me.” Confirmation bias. So maybe we get it in our head somehow, that Jesus doesn’t care about us. We think that maybe we aren’t on His radar, that maybe He isn’t even aware of the things we are going through. Maybe He isn’t aware of the pain we are experiencing. We then begin to look for things that might confirm that bias. Confirmation bias can be a dangerous thing. Now as I am older, and I have seen the great love and tenderness of Christ toward those who are hurting, those who are in fear, and those who are going through tough times, I have begun to read this passage differently. I believe that Jesus was saying something different when He asked the question, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” I believe He was saying to them, “Have you not learned that even in the storm, that even in the thing that is causing your fear, I am with you? Have you not learned that I love you? Do you not remember the miracles I have done? Why are you afraid? Why do you have so little faith?”
Sometimes we will have fearful storms in our life. Jesus said in John 16:33b, “In this world, you will have trouble…” It’s a fact of life. We live in a broken world. There are storms ready to happen all around us. We have to be ready for them. Remember today, as you face the storms of ministry, that Jesus is with you in the storm. Don’t let confirmation bias create extra fear in your life. Give Jesus your fear. If you need further help, go to the connect tab on our Pastor to Pastor website. We have lots of resources and are ready to help. You can overcome fear. You are not alone in the fight!
