One of the most memorable items that has come to us from Frank Herbert’s Dune is the “fear litany,” which the story’s protagonist recites to himself in order to regain composure amid panic:
I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.
Notice, the person tells himself not to fear and yet acknowledges he is afraid. “I must not fear” but I have “my fear.” So, I must do something: face fear, permit fear, watch fear. And then it will be dealt with. “Only I will remain.”
In a time of chronic plague anxiety, it might be good to ask if there is any Biblical wisdom behind this idea that one can deal with fear by acknowledging it and then getting beyond it.
Obviously, the Bible records people being commanded to “fear not.” But those are typically addressed to specific situations. And fear is not always bad. As I wrote in a post on “Wisdom for the Plague Year,” Solomon seems to see fear as an ally as well as an adversary. Proverbs encourages both courage and caution. The trick is knowing which emotion is helpful in a given circumstance and in regard to a specific decision.
- “One who is wise is cautious and turns away from evil, but a fool is reckless and careless” (Proverbs 14:16 ESV).
- “The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside! I shall be killed in the streets!” (Proverbs 22:13 ESV).
- “The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it” (Proverbs 22:3 ESV).
- “The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion” (Proverbs 28:1 ESV).
People who think that Proverbs is supposed to contain simple moral truths don’t deal well with this kind of content. (Proverbs does contain such truths, but they are usually from earlier in Scripture.) It is best to think of Proverbs as a book of riddles. Solomon himself states in his introduction to his words: “Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles” (Proverbs 1:5-6 ESV). And so does Hezekiah: “These also are proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied. It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out” (Proverbs 25:1-2 ESV).
The riddle in this case is: Which Proverb applies to this situation? I can’t know the answer for you. But I can tell you that, if you are conscientiously doing your best to figure it out, God doesn’t want you shamed into submission to another person’s fears or by another person calling you a coward. You should listen to anyone’s arguments, but you make decisions for yourself.
However, deciding whether you should be afraid isn’t going to instantly make anxiety go away when you realize you must act despite your feelings. Your emotions aren’t under your control in that simple and direct way. How should you deal with your fear (and perhaps any other powerful and distracting emotion)?
A possible answer is found in Mark 15:43. “Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus” (ESV). The NASB says he “gathered up courage.” Other English translations simply say he went “boldly” and I don’t want to reach beyond my grasp to decide how best to translate an aorist, active, participle.
But we also have an actual command to be bold using a different Greek word: “The following night the Lord stood by him [Paul] and said, ‘Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome.'” (Acts 23:11 ESV).
Here Jesus commands an emotion, but also provides information to elicit that response. The command also occurs in the Gospels:
- “And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven'” (Matthew 9:2 ESV). The NASV says to “take courage,” the KJV to “be of good cheer.”
- “Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, ‘Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.’ And instantly the woman was made well” (Matthew 9:22 ESV). NASV: “take courage.” KJV: “be of good comfort.”
- “And Jesus stopped and said, ‘Call him.’ And they called the blind man, saying to him, ‘Take heart. Get up; he is calling you'” (Mark 10:49 ESV). NASB: “take courage.” KJV: “be of good comfort.”
The cases in the Gospels, the people told to “take heart” or “take courage” are being told, or are about to be told, to act. The bleeding woman can stop trembling at the social shame of being unclean, pushing her way through a crowd, and touching Jesus (see Leviticus 15; Haggai 2:11-13). The paralytic is about to be told to get up and walk, carrying his pallet with him. Most interestingly, the blind man is being told to stop praying. The time for crying out for help is over, even though he is still blind. He has been heard and summoned. Now he must act.
In the Gospels, Jesus himself seems to have gone through a point when he actively had to gather up his courage. During his ministry, he was ardently certain that he was going to be publicly defeated and executed on the cross. He called Peter “Satan” for saying otherwise (Matthew 16:23). He challenged James and John, asking if they would be able to match his feat: “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” (Matthew 20:22). His confidence level was high.
But knowing something is going to happen in the future and knowing it is going to begin that night are two different experiences. In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus did not speak in the same way about the cup he was supposed to drink. “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39). That concessive acquiescence to do God’s will was obedient, but it was nothing like him forcefully rebuking Peter when he suggested not drinking the cup. Jesus agonized by himself on his face, sweating blood, while his closest friends slept.
What was the result? When Judas and the priests’ henchmen came to take him, Peter tried to fight. Jesus stopped him: “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?” (John 18:11). The Jesus who had rebuked Peter before was back. And when Jesus stood before the High Priest, Herod, and Pilate, he did not ask for the cup to be taken from him.
The author of Hebrews writes about this event in order to encourage Christians to follow Jesus:
In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made mature, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him.
Hebrews 5:7-9 ESV
In facing trials, we too need to take ourselves in hand sometimes—gather up our courage—and adjust our attitude to the task God calls us to do. The story of what theologian John Murray called Jesus’ “climactic obedience” shows us that this would be true even if sin were not in the picture. Hard things require us to rise to the occasion.
In the life of Christians, we are supposed to constantly encourage, and be encouraged by, one another (Romans 1:12; 1 Thessalonian 4:18; 5:11; Hebrews 10:25; etc.). But sometimes we have to deal with fears alone. Sometimes our Christian brothers and sisters become vectors of fear and discouragement and we need to not give in to them. Sometimes we are called to be the ones to start to reverse the group feeling.
As I wrote above, your emotions aren’t under your control in a simple and direct way. But they are your responsibility.
Yet, suppressing your emotions isn’t exactly what Christians are called to do. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30 ESV). The objective is whole-hearted obedience and unwavering commitment. Fears and other emotions that slow you down and make you hesitate need to be dealt with rather than lived with.
Sometimes we have to encourage ourselves and take heart for the task ahead or the situation that we are in.
So something like the technique of the fear litany may be useful. Of course, neither Frank Herbert nor his fictional cult were Christian. The obvious Christian practice is to pray:
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:4–7 ESV
(By the way this does not mean that all anxiety is evidence of a sinful negligence of these practices. See what Paul says about relieving his anxiety in Philippians 2:28.)
When Paul refers to prayer as the response to and relief of anxiety, he may have more in mind than we typically think. Consider that the Psalms sometimes involve not only talking to God but to oneself. Others involve pledges that may be interpreted as self-directed as well as God-directed. A few examples:
- “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation” (Psalm 42:5; see also 42:11; 43:5).
- “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s” (Psalm 103:1-5).
- “Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you” (Psalm 116:7).
- “I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around” (Psalm 3:6).
- “Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident” (Psalm 27:3).
- “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling” (Psalm 46:1-3).
- “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1).
- “In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?” (Psalm 56:4).
These are the Bible’s fear litanies. Yes, these prayers should be better known in their complete contexts as whole Psalms, but there is no reason to deny what’s good for the sake of the better.
We need to appropriate the Word of God to focus ourselves on living according to God’s will and facing the challenges that God has placed before us. We can do this when we are suddenly afraid (or again overpowered by any emotion that gets in the way of acting as we should). We can also do this when we realize that we have been suffering anxiety or some other emotion that negatively affects how we think or act.
As I wrote in my book (Amazon), emotions can power right behavior, but they can also run us off the road or slow us down. We can’t choose them like different shirts that we can wear or switch out at will. But we can train them, train ourselves, so that they empower us to serve God better rather than obstruct our obedience.
