BY AUSTIN C. ARCHER

EAR IS A PROTECTIVE MECHANISM placed in us by our Creator. It helps us avoid and escape danger. But it also helps us do incredible things.

When I was a child, we lived in a rural village. Those were the days before streetlights. One night as I was sitting in the downstairs of our house my two older brothers came running into the house out of breath and highly excited. It transpired that they were exploring, as average 8- or 9-year-olds are wont to do, at the outer edges of our one-acre property, on the premises of a grocery store where our father worked. Because it was Dad's workplace, my brothers did not think they were trespassing. But as they were playing around and innocently doing whatever boys their age do on dark nights in a rural village, they heard an unfamiliar voice challenging them in the darkness. They literally flew through our open front door.

Only as they breathlessly recounted the story of their rapid escape did they remember that the path from the store to our house was not exactly without obstacles. There was a fence in the way that neither of them remembered clearing--a chicken-wire fence that should have presented a rather formidable barrier to boys their age under normal circumstances.

Returning the next day to the site of the previous night's excitement, neither of them was able to scale the fence.

Our bodies were designed by our Creator with the ability to launch into action, flee from danger, or prepare to fight an assailant. A chemical substance called epinephrine (or adrenaline) makes this possible, allowing us to summon what seems like superhuman strength or speed when needed in emergencies.

And it is fear that triggers this reaction--even before we feel the emotion itself.

Fear as Gift
Fear is what gave young David the strength to defeat the lion, to overpower the bear (1 Sam. 17:34-36). It's what comes into a pint-sized mother to allow her to lift a two-ton vehicle to save her child from being crushed under its wheel.

Am I discounting miracles? By no means! What I'm saying, rather, is that adrenaline could be the mechanism of many "miracles." God provided for our protection by making our fear work for us. Our extraordinary action in the face of fear is no less His work than if there were a miracle. And God probably uses the natural mechanisms built into us even in miracles.

So fear is a good thing. It's a gift of God.

Fear as Evil
But fear can also be bad. It can wear us down, debilitate us, and destroy our health.

You see, adrenaline works as well when we have a physical emergency to respond to. And the rustic environment that we inhabited after the Fall was full of physical emergencies that we could escape by running or fighting. Whether it was a wild animal, a treacherous landscape, or the ferocious actions of the weather, we had to be ready to flee to safety or to fight for survival. And when by our action we have escaped the danger, our bodies, by design, return quickly to normal.

Unfortunately, many of the dangers we face in our urban, technological society cannot be escaped by running or fighting. Moreover, most of our fears are emotional and spiritual, not physical. What do we do then?

In a lot of ways we are less prepared for the things that cause fear in our current habitat than we were in a simpler time. When threats come, the adrenaline gets released. Our bodies still prepare for action. But there's nothing tangible to fight, and we cannot escape fear by running. This means there's no quick return to normal, and so the fear and anxiety remain unresolved. The increased blood pressure and respiration, the interrupted stomach activity, the increased immune response--all useful preparations for fight or flight--are now useless, the body all dressed up with nowhere to go. And we see the results in fatigue, asthmatic problems, high blood pressure, and a generally depressed immune system, resulting in recurring colds, flu, and other ailments.

Fear can be bad news.

Confronting Our Major Fears
After all we've just said, there's good news. For every fear, for every anxiety in our lives, God has provided a promise. What are the things that cause us fear? To what anxieties are we vulnerable? Let me mention three.

1. Fear of financial ruin. If you lost your job today, what would you do? Could you survive at your current standard of living for a week? a month? six months? If you were not paid at the end of this month, could you continue at your current address? Would you have any place to go? Are you, like so many Americans, no more than a paycheck from being counted among the homeless? Do such concerns cause a little flutter in your stomach?

Then the promise of Matthew 6:25, 26 is for you: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?"*

Jesus is challenging our sense of value, our self-esteem, if you will. He's saying: "If you really had a true estimate of your value in My sight, you wouldn't worry about those things."*

If anyone thinks this message is only for the poor, for those of us who live from paycheck to paycheck, or for those overwhelmed by debt, they should think again. In 2000, in the robust economy of the United States, many learned the hard lesson that apparent riches can be fleeting and the distance from great opulence to poverty can be short indeed. An article in the journal Interactive Week in July of 2000 began this way: "Say goodbye to the all-powerful venture capitalists and dot-com millionaires and hello to bankruptcy lawyers, turnaround specialists, and liquidators."

And as that year rolled on, many who thought they were millionaires because they happened to own stock in a company that was riding high on the bull market suddenly awoke to the reality that they were just as poor as the rest of us. What was worse, although the money they thought they had was now mere paper, the debt they knew they had was still there.

So the message of Jesus is for all of us. He tells us not to worry. And He says more: "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" (Matt. 6:33).

Not only does Jesus tell us to place more value on ourselves; He also tells us to change our values. He is not merely telling us to stop worrying about material things, but promising us that if we reorder our priorities, our Father will take responsibility for the rest. If we seek His kingdom, we have nothing to fear.

Notice, however, that Jesus is not promising to make us rich. That is the deception of many prosperity ministries today. Rather, He is saying two things. First, we should change our evaluation of ourselves. We are too valuable to become preoccupied with subsistence. Second, a correct sense of our value will change our priorities. To seek His kingdom, that is our priority. To provide for our needs, that is His priority.

2. Fear of physical harm. A second source of fear is the prospect of physical harm. This fear is entirely appropriate, built into us to protect us from immediate harm. But the problem is that we can do nothing about many of the fears we experience.

Of course we may take preventative action. We can drive safely and in other ways follow sensible safety procedures. We can eat healthfully and follow healthy lifestyle habits. But none of these actions can guarantee protection. In the end, we must rely on God's promises--promises such as the following:

"The Lord delivers and vindicates me! I fear no one! The Lord protects my life! I am afraid of no one!" (Ps. 27:1, 2, NET).†

"For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone" (Ps. 91:11, 12).

"Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze" (Isa. 43:1, 2).

Notwithstanding these promises, we know that Christians are not immune from trouble. They're injured in accidents. They go down in airline crashes. They get sick and suffer. They go to jail innocently. Yet I'm convinced that every day God does special things for His children. More important, I believe that His primary promise is His presence. "I will be with you," He says in the Isaiah passage.

We're not promised immunity from flood or fire. But God's promise is that our spirits will not be overwhelmed. "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me" (Ps. 23:4).

Recently ABC television in the U.S. told the fascinating and moving story of Dr. Jerri Nielsen, who, while serving as the only physician at the research station in Antarctica, discovered that she had cancer. Antarctica is among the most hostile places on earth; Nielsen's discovery had come in the middle of winter, with no plane able to land or take off for at least four months. There was no way out until the sun returned. Knowing that the odds were high she would not make it back alive, Nielsen resigned herself to her fate. "That's OK," she said. Then she proceeded to consume herself in training her patients to be their own doctor--and hers.

I do not know whether Dr. Nielsen is a Christian, but her response was exactly what every Christian should strive for. She knew what she could do and what was beyond her, and refused to be absorbed with her own survival. She didn't even request that she be rescued.‡ And it may be that she preserved her life by not allowing fear to engulf her. She served her people and apparently left the rest with God.

God has not promised us immunity from trouble. More important is the truth of His sovereignty. As Paul put it in Romans 8:28: "We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

3. Fear of spiritual death. A third kind of fear, and probably the one that is ultimately most important, is the fear that many of us carry as Christians--that somehow we could be found wanting in the day of judgment. How do you feel about the prospect of Jesus' soon coming? Are you filled with excited anticipation? Or are you a little bit anxious? What do you say when someone asks you whether you are saved? Do you answer a confident yes? Or do you hedge?

Unfortunately, many of us Adventists have been conditioned to believe that salvation is not really free--that we have to do a lot of hard work to secure it. We live in fear of dying before we get around to confessing some last sin that was somehow forgotten or overlooked. The prospect of unexpected death mortifies us. And we even excuse such fears on the basis of Paul's statement that we should "work out your salvation with fear and trembling" (Phil. 2:12). But a more recent rendering of that passage puts things in clearer perspective: "Continue working out your salvation with awe and reverence" (NET).

So it isn't fear in the ordinary sense, after all, but awe and reverence. What's more, the text continues by saying that "the one bringing forth in you both the desire and the effort--for the sake of his good pleasure--is God" (verse 13, NET).

As Paul says to the Ephesians, it is "by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast" (Eph. 2:8, 9).

So we need not fear. God is eager to save us. He has gone out of His way to do what it takes. He not only has made the ultimate sacrifice to save us, but is daily providing the means to keep us, bringing about in us "both the desire and the effort." And His words of comfort are for all of us: "Fear not little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom" (Luke 12:32, KJV).

_________________________
*Unless otherwise noted, all biblical citations in this article are from the New International Version.
† Bible texts marked NET are from the New English Translation Bible (2001).
‡ Nielsen was rescued, however. She received treatment, and is fine today.

_________________________
Austin C. Archer, Ph.D., is professor of psychology and education at Walla Walla College, College Place, Washington.