Articles
Fear of the Unknown
Last Monday and Tuesday things got critical on I-95. Impassible, icy roads and multiple wrecks stranded motorists overnight as temperatures plunged into the teens. A 50 mile stretch of interstate was closed and cars were running out of gas in the gridlock, leaving their occupants vulnerable to the cold. They had no bathrooms, food or other essentials. Worst of all, as hour after hour ticked by, they began to lose hope. WTOP’s traffic reporter, Dave Dildine, observed: “Some callers were sobbing and scared. Psychologically is it extremely distressing to be motionless on a highway for hours on end without knowing how much longer it will last.”
We humans are much more psychologically vulnerable than we think we are. When life is stable, we feel secure. Things are predictable; our normal routines unfold without much thought. This creates the illusion that we are in control, that we are mentally strong and resilient. Life seems benign, peaceful and enduring. How quickly that serenity and confidence can change.
The pileup on I-95 is one of those occasional reminders that things can swiftly spin out of control and shatter our stability. We try to eliminate uncertainty, to cover as many contingencies as possible to create a safe and resourceful environment. Such prudence is essential to our well-being. But when circumstances begin to run amok, stress rises. Anxiety then skyrockets when the crisis doesn’t seem to have a solution or a terminus. Thus the panicked motorists at the mercy of the elements on the interstate.
Which raises the question: How do we handle the unknown? How do we cope with life’s unpredictability? How do we retain our sanity when things seem dire and the way forward obscure? This is not merely hypothetical; it has likely happened to you at some point in the past. Consider:
What is unknown to us is not unknown to God. Scripture abundantly documents the omniscience of God. There is nothing in this universe, nothing in the human experience, nothing done by others that God doesn’t know. Psalm 139 well expresses this awareness of God: “O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path … and are acquainted with all my ways … Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me … If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall fall on me,’ even the night shall be light about me …” (139:1-3, 7-11).
It is not possible for humans to know everything. We either lack brain capacity or encounter areas that are off-limits to us; i.e., realities on a spiritual plane. While we yearn to know everything, we simply have finite limitations. What is the best way to deal with this? By establishing a relationship with the One who does know everything. If Jesus is my Lord, and God is my Father, and the Holy Spirit my teacher, and nothing is outside their sphere of knowledge and control, what is there to fear?
Both trust and doubt are tied to faith in God’s superintendence of life. When we consider the faithful in Scripture – Abraham, Moses, David and Paul among them – we see the entirety of those lives from beginning to end. But they did not have such perspective, for they were living, as we do, one day at a time. Each moment was a step into the unknown.
How could Abraham possibly have a son in his old age? How could Moses possibly secure the release of the Israelites from Pharaoh’s dominion? How could David possibly survive battle with Goliath and then a decade of Saul’s murderous obsession? How could Paul possibly spearhead the planting of Gentile churches across the Roman Empire when myriad enemies worked feverishly against him? All of these men had one thing in common: they faced the unknown with faith that God would do what He said, and they could accomplish what He commissioned them to do. Listen to the testimony of scripture about these giants of faith:
Abraham: “He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform” (Rom 4:20-21).
Moses: “By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible” (Heb 11:24-27).
David: “When the waves of death encompassed me, the floods of ungodliness made me afraid; the sorrows of Sheol surrounded me, the snares of death confronted me, in my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried to my God. He heard my voice from His temple, and my cry entered His ears … He sent from above … He drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me; for they were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support. He also brought me out into a broad place; He delivered me, because He delighted in me” (2 Sam 22:5-7, 17-20).
Paul: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me … For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia; that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us” (Ph 4:13; 2 Cor 1:8-11).
Great men and women of faith know that without God they cannot succeed, but with God all things are possible (Mk 10:27). We do not know what God will do in a given circumstance, but we know that He knows our situation and that He can do whatever He deems best. And we also know that God is able to turn overwhelming odds, apparent defeat and even our personal failures, into great victories. If we are plagued with doubt and fear, we have put our trust in the wrong thing. “In God I have put my trust; I will not fear. What can flesh do to me?” (Ps 56:4).
