It was a lovely Memorial Day and we decided to spend the evening down at the lake, sitting around the campfire. Although deeply settled into my log seat and plate of mulberry cobbler, I was still keeping a watchful eye on the sky above. It was quickly darkening in the west and the occasional drops of rain on my arms had me ready to scramble to save the remnants of our picnic. I, along with the rest of our friends and family, was in no hurry however, hoping and believing that it was going to blow the other way and pass us by. I then noticed a child around 12, her brows furrowed and mouth pinched with worry, running back and forth between her two parents, pleading with them to leave. The other children were playing tag and picking wild irises from along the bank; but she was occupied solely with the task of convincing her parents to pack up and head to the nearest shelter. I finally gathered that it was her anticipation of the coming storm that prevented her from taking part in the evening revelry. Her relentless imploring soon turned to anger and disrespect, at her parents’ attempts to assuage her fears. Her mother, very wisely, addressed the mistrust by asking this question “Do you think that we (your parents) would put you in any danger?” We were, after all, less than 30 yards from our cars should something blow up suddenly.
After a lengthy and seemingly fruitless banter with her daughter, the mother turned to me and explained that on a recent trip, they had driven through a particularly scary storm where the winds from tornadoes that were touching down had rocked the car back and forth. Since that time, her daughter had been terrified of thunderstorms. My thoughts then turned to my own irrational fears. I have mentioned in previous posts, how I am overwhelmed by the immensity of the ocean; and sometimes, I let this fear get the better of me. My husband has offered trips to Florida where my initial response was to refuse vehemently, only to find that my only motivation was the fear of a big ocean. My last pregnancy had me dealing with both the fifth most common phobia “emetophobia” (the fear of throwing up), as well as a very obscure one “arachibutyrophobia” (the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of my mouth). But it is not always irrational fears that hold us at bay, keep us from enjoying life, or set a course for our day; it is the everyday worries: how are we going to pay the electric bill, can we afford to go to the dentist, will our children be healthy, what if I never get married, what if there is no Social Security when I’m ready to retire, what if Iran has nuclear weapons, etc. Our daily lives are spent navigating through fears, worries, and anxieties that sometimes we don’t even think about; but according to Dr. Ed T. Welch, author of Running Scared: Fear, Worry, and the God of Rest, we should.
Dr. Welch has a Ph.D. in Neuropsychology from the University of Utah and an Mdiv from the Biblical Theological Seminary in Hatfield, PA. He currently works as a counselor, faculty member, and director of the School of Biblical Counselling at the Christian Counselling and Educational Foundation in Glenside, PA. Dr. Welch says that we should lay all our fears out on the table, be honest about them, and take a good look at them. What do they reveal about us? After a perusal of your fears, what would you say you “love” most, or what is most important to you? Is it your life? Is it financial security? Is it food? After addressing the topic of fears, and that we “all” have them, Dr. Welch then begins talking about God and his character. God understand his creatures. He knows that we are fearful people. It is precisely because our heavenly Father understands and has compassion on our frailties that he says “do not fear” or some variant thereof more times than any other encouragement in scripture. And it is, after all, an encouragement. This is not a command from a tyrannical God who says “Do not fear, or else I will wipe you off the planet”. This is a loving reminder from a Father saying “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.
Section by section, Dr. Welch lays out God’s words for worried people. God speaks on: money and possessions, people and their judgements, and death and punishment. Whatever your particular fears, the bible has something to say about them, and this book consolidates these truths in a way that whatever your particular anxiety, you can return to these comforting words again and again, and have your thinking transformed and your trust in a faithful God restored.
Chapter after chapter is helpful and needful. My favorite chapter on the “Manna Principle” is enough information to chew on for a lifetime (pardon the pun). Throughout the book, Dr. Welch returns to the real lesson from God giving manna or from the story of Jesus feeding the five-thousand, and that is God desires to reorient us to what is really important–seeking His kingdom first. If worries and anxieties accomplish one good thing in our lives, it should be to point out to us that our need for God is greater than our need for food and clothing. God does not discount that we have physical needs, Jesus said, “Your heavenly Father knows you have need of these things.” Mt. 6:32; but there is a greater need we have which is found in the next verse, and that is “the kingdom of God and His righteousness” vs. 33 (emphasis mine). Knowing that in Jesus, this greatest of all needs is met, should encourage us and strengthen us as we face the other real, but less important needs.
I remember a quote I read years ago while reading Elizabeth Elliott’s Passions and Purity. Ms. Elliott says, “I was asking God, ‘Take this longing away or give me that for which I long’, and God was saying, ‘I want to teach you to long for something greater’.” This should be our cry regarding every fear or desire we have, and I believe that Dr. Welch very aptly echoes this truth in his book.
If you think or especially if you don’t think you have a problem with worry, you need this book. It is a real encouragement in an age where it is so easy to expect medication for all our psychological ills. Not that these are never necessary, but lets always be first to run to the one who created our psyches and knows us better than we know our selves. Every hair on your head is numbered by him, after all.
The Book Stops Here 