When I Am Afraid

Judges 4:1-10; Psalm 98; Luke 22:54-64

Rev. Chris Harbin, Rocks Baptist Church—Pamplin, VA

01 May 2005

The images on our television screens so often call for reaction in the face of fear and uncertainty. Our society desperately seeks security and insulation from the vagaries of life. Homeland security, social security, job security, and physical safety are bywords of the day. We are bombarded, however, with the harsh reality that life produces anxiety, insecurity, fear, and answers that are somehow greater than ourselves. How do we respond amid uncertainty, fear, and anxiety? Where do we turn when we are overwhelmed by turmoil and stress? When we are afraid and in need of one more demonstration of God’s grace, how do we respond? What if it appears that God is the One throwing the curve ball?

Though his name meant “Lightning,” Barak does not appear to be the model of courage and power. If anything, Barak needs someone else to spur him into action. We find Barak carrying on with the normal tasks of living when Deborah summons him in her role as prophetess and judge in Israel. By all rights, we should be extremely surprised with Deborah’s role, authority, and leadership. The text takes it in stride, however. The chapter before presented us with an apparently non-Israelite judge. Now we have a woman. We should be surprised and shocked at God’s strange ways! Barak, however, accepts her authority and responds to the summons. He arrives before her at the palms in the Ephraimite hill country where she has been serving Israel as prophet and judge.

The summons evokes images of Barak being commissioned as commander of the army by the prophet or a king. Barak seemingly has no qualm with Deborah’s summons, nor with Deborah’s authority to commission him. He holds back, however, in his willingness to follow through. Barak seems unsure of taking the tribes of Israel into battle. His words remind us of other patriarchs, judges, kings, and warriors who responded in similar stance to the commission of Yahweh upon their lives. In Barak’s case, however, it is not God’s presence that is requested, it is that of the prophet. Yahweh had assured Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and Joshua with the familiar language, “Fear not, for I will be with you.” Barak cannot trust the invisible God of his forebears. He places his trust in Deborah—the prophetess and mouthpiece of God.

He was comfortable with Deborah as the prophet of Yahweh. He accepted her commission. He accepted the task handed to him. On the other hand, he wanted the reassurance of her presence as a visible reminder of God’s blessing, provision, and direction. He insisted that she come with him to battle. Mind you, it was not God’s presence that he required, it was Deborah’s. It is this personal figure of authority he wants for reassurance. Like the Ark of the Covenant, he wants to take Deborah into battle to reassure his soldiers of the victory that is forthcoming. God grants the victory, but the final triumph is given to another as a symbol of Barak’s limited faith—his fear of trusting God.

Barak wanted a crutch. He wanted a visible representation of God’s presence. He was unwilling to trust God alone. He wanted someone to hold his hand—reassurance when things got rough.

Peter found himself in unsure territory. We might class him as the most faithful of the twelve, for he had followed Jesus after the arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. He had made it all the way into the courtyard at the home of the high priest. There he could witness at least part of the proceedings against Jesus. As he warmed his hands by the fire, his heart was in confusion. How should he proceed? What if he were found out? Look what they were doing to Jesus! What would become of him if he were discovered in the courtyard?

Peter was in turmoil. His anxiety and fear were growing. Things were not working according to the script. Jesus was Messiah, after all! He was God’s vehicle for the salvation of the people and ushering in God’s reign! Jesus had been preaching about this coming reign of God. What was going on? It wasn’t supposed to be this way! Was this some kind of dream from which he would awaken? Messiah was to be acclaimed by the nation, not thrown to the lions! When would reality surface and set things aright? What had gone so terribly wrong?

Peter’s fear and uncertainty kept him paralyzed. He did not know what to do, much less how to do it. The whirlwind of the last few hours had knocked him off his feet. When they began to question him about his knowledge and relationship to Jesus, he withdrew in fear. He was no longer sure he knew the man he was seeing before the Sanhedrin. This was not the Jesus he had followed! This was not the man he had expected to become the sovereign of Israel. Who was this man in whom he had placed his trust? Was he a fake? Had the disciples somehow been duped? Was it a bad dream, a horrid joke, or had God somehow lost control?

He didn’t know what to do, where to turn, or how to get life back on course. Anxiety set in. Fear took over. Like any cornered animal, instinct for self-preservation took over. He was afraid with the unknown facing him. What would they do to him if they found out that Peter was one of the twelve? Would he be killed as well? Leading a charge into battle was one thing, but sitting in the enemy’s court, surrounded on all sides was another thing altogether.

Peter denied any knowledge of Jesus. Peter recanted his allegiance to follow Jesus to death. His life was in complete disarray. He allowed himself to be led by fear rather than faith. If he were going to make a career change, now was definitely the time. He needed time to think. He needed to reassess his last three years with Jesus. If only the world would stop spinning long enough for him to collect his thoughts and figure all this out!

He denied any knowledge of Jesus. He definitely did not recognize Jesus anymore. Nothing made sense anymore. He determined to crawl into a cave and lick his wounds. He needed time to think this one out. “Never seen him before!” How could this be happening? When the rooster crowed, life came crashing down. He was the one who had failed. “Prophesy! Who hit you?” Was Peter not just as guilty as any of the rest? Peter failed at this point in the story. We know how grace brought him back to faith, however. It is God’s way to offer us new opportunities through grace.

Where do fear, anxiety, and turmoil affect our lives? Where are we confronted with the need to trust God into the unknown? Where is it that God appears to through us the unexpected curve ball? When we are unsure, afraid, and taken by surprise, will we allow fear to rule the day? Where do we find ourselves facing the need for courage in faith? Where will we place our confidence and trust? Will we become slaves to our anxieties and fears, or will we entrust them to God as well? At what point does living up to the demands of the gospel and trusting God become too risky? Are the limits we might place upon faith not the masters we truly serve?

—©Copyright 2005 Christopher B. Harbin

This sermon in pdf