Children are not the only ones who are afraid of the dark. You do not have to be a child to be subject to irrational, unreasoning fears, fears that take you over and leave you breathless.
Children may be afraid of dark rooms and of monsters under the bed, but the rest of us also panic. Don’t tell me you don’t get scared sometimes. Don’t tell me you don’t get apprehensive. I know I do. I even have occasional nightmares about this church! Irrational and panicky fears from which I wake with a jump. I feel sometimes like praying the old Cornish prayer:
"From ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggety beasties and things that go bump in the night, Good lord, deliver us!"
All of us, even the most sophisticated, panic sometimes.
Last year about this time my daughter was making her rounds as security manager at Bloomingdale’s. The store had a display of Halloween gags and gimmicks, which included plastic skulls fitted out with small tape recorders and motion detectors. If you moved past one of these plastic skulls, the switch would set off the tape recorder, resounding with cackles and clucks and fiendish laughter.
Well, on a particular night, Karen was closing and securing the store. She had made sure all the customers and employees were out of the building; she had locked all the doors, and had turned out almost all of the lights. Only one thing was left to do: set the alarms. One of the alarms would not set. Maybe a clerk had left a showcase open. Or worse, maybe somebody was hiding in the store. Potentially a dangerous situation. But she set out through the darkened aisles to find and fix the problem.
You’re way ahead of me! Not thinking in the least about that display of fiendish faces, she inched along, all senses alert. The store was quiet, the hour was late, the room very dark.
Ah - ha - ha - ha - ha! Two dozen plastic skulls sent up their devilish laughter. Karen says she just about left her skin behind!
Even adults can be afraid of the dark, even sophisticated people can have frightening experiences. Every one of us can get caught up in unreasoning fears, sheer terror.
It’s Halloween. Behind Halloween is a grim reminder that there is a shadow world of things which frighten us ... a world in which life is beset with terrors.
How do you deal with the terrifying things that happen in your world? How do you handle the sudden jab of fear that clutches at your heart? There are really only two ways: you can either give in to the panic and do something irrational; or you can trust the love of God. When you are threatened, I say, you have two choices: either you can lose your calm and let anxiety take charge of you, surrendering to the demonic; or you can trust Christ, who faced down those demonic powers and defeated them for you.
In the Old Testament there is a real Halloween ghost story. It is the story of a king who let his panic take over, so that he got in cahoots with a ghost. Instead of obeying God and trusting the Lord to get the victory, Saul heard the cackling laughter of fiendish skulls and did something off the wall. There is no more bizarre story in the whole Bible than this one.
I Samuel 28:3-7; 15-18a
The problem, you see, is that panicky fears lead people to do panicky things. Deep anxieties lead us to do irrational things.
For example, when we panic we often turn to the ghosts of the past to solve our problems. When life gets tough and the problems seem beyond solving, our temptation is to develop a bad case of nostalgia and look for the answer in the past.
Saul saw his enemies arrayed against him, and did not think he could win the battle. So he remembered the days when the prophet Samuel was around, and wished he could get Samuel to solve the problem. Oh, if only Samuel were here, he could fix it. If only the old prophet were still around, he would know what to do! And so Saul summoned up the ghost of Samuel, the ghost of the past, to fix it.
We are much like that, you know. When we get panicky, we turn to the past, the dead past. We expect to find answers there. We see that we are about to lose a battle, and we think that something which is in reality dead and gone can be brought up to save us.
One of my pastor friends tells about serving a church more than twenty-five years, but it was stalled. It was going nowhere. The people started reminiscing about what church had been like in their childhood and they asked him to bring that back for them. Oh, if we just had revivals like we used to have back in Mississippi! Oh, if you would just preach the Bible and nothing but the Bible like my pastor preached it when I was a child! And oh, if we would just sing the old songs exactly the way we used to sing them on Sunday nights in Alabama! When that kind of panic took over my friend’s church, they soon sent him packing, and then dwindled down to a precious few! They defeated themselves by panicking and calling up the dead and distant past!
Panicky people think they can save themselves if they will just revive the ghosts of a dead past. But it doesn’t work.
A number of years ago I was counseling with a woman who had gone through a very messy divorce. In fact she had come to Washington largely as a way to get away from all the terrible memories she faced living in another city. She did very well for a year or two. But one day, all of a sudden, her ex-husband contacted her, full of stories about how his new young girl friend wasn’t all that he had hoped for. Talking blarney about how finances had gotten tight and it was hard to send those alimony checks ... maybe we should get back together, he said.
Well, you and I can hear the alarm bells going off, can’t we? We’re not emotionally involved. But my friend heard no alarms. My friend saw no problems. All she knew was that her first love had come back from the dead. All she knew was that it looked like something in the past might come back to life. For about a month she was like a schoolgirl in love for the first time. So powerful is the pull of the past when we are panicky.
After that month was over and his ardor had cooled again, she saw the flaws. But it is always tempting, when we get in trouble, like Saul, to summon up the ghosts of the past and try to make them work for us. But they are gone. They will not work.
II
But not only do panicky people turn to the ghosts of the past to solve their problems, they also turn to bad religion. Bad religion, faulty theology, superstition, even magic. When we find ourselves in deep trouble, we will forget all about what we know, we will discard the Scriptures, we will set aside common sense, and we will fall into religious nonsense.
King Saul, of all people, knew that dabbling in witchcraft was wrong. He himself had made it illegal. He knew that it was totally contradictory to the faith of Israel. To play around with life and death, to fool with things which belong to God ... nothing could be further away from authentic Biblical faith. But because Saul was desperate, because he heard the drumbeat of defeat across the distant hills, he panicked. And panicky people do panicky things, like playing around with superstition and bad religion.
We really do live in an interesting time, you know. Today we have more science, more knowledge, more information at our fingertips than at any other time in the world’s history. And yet we are also among the most superstitious, gullible people of all time. We fall for cults, we try our luck at gambling, we mess around with everything from astrology to tarot cards to New Age mantras! And just tune in some time to Channel 50 and look at all the ads for the Psychic Friends Network. Isn’t it astounding what people will buy?!
To me the best illustration of who we are has appeared right on my computer screen. My son Bryan works for America On-Line, one of the new computer information services which allow you to get all kinds of information over the telephone. He gave me as a gift an introductory subscription, so that now I am capable of downloading -- aren’t you impressed that I know a few words of computerspeak? I can download all kinds of information. I can look up articles in an encyclopedia, I can research the status of bills in Congress. I can access airline schedules and purchase a ticket without going through a travel agent. I can even get Time magazine on Sunday nights before it arrives in my mailbox on Monday afternoon. Frankly, I don’t know what I will do with that, but it’s fun to do it!
But anyway, much to my surprise, in the middle of all of that scientific and cultural and technical information, right square in the list of current news data one can get on-line, there it was: a horoscope feature. For the price of a phone call the computer can consult the stars and tell me my destiny. How is it possible that folks who are smart enough to use high tech to order their world can then turn to sheer superstition and bad religion to order their lives?
But we do do it. We do it. Even you and I are tempted to do it. Now we may not use witches and mediums, like Saul did. We may not trust horoscopes or crystals or cards. We may not get into incenses, oils, and candles, although there are plenty of so-called Christian stores in this city where you can buy those things.
But what do we do? We bargain with God. We bargain with God. When we are panicky, we try to get God to do something for us, and we use bargaining techniques. Lord, will you solve my problems if I’ll go and get myself baptized? Lord, will you give me a job if I’ll go to church more often? Lord, will you fix my marriage if I give a tithe? Maybe if I prayed harder, if I prayed longer, maybe if I got the pastor to do my praying. We keep on thinking that God will be impressed if we just do this, do that, do something else. We expect God to fix us and save us if we just use the right formula. That’s bad religion. That’s magic.
But panicky people turn to bad religion. Faulty theology, superstition, even magic. Mostly just bargaining. But again it will not work. It will not take care of our panic.
III
So what, then, is the answer? What do you do with your panic? How do you deal with the anxiety that threatens to take you over? Is there any way, when the problems seem beyond our ability to handle them, to get relief?
The answer is so deceptively simple we often overlook it. The answer is so incredibly straightforward that most people write it off. The answer is in the words of the old hymn, "trust and obey. · Trust and obey. Trust the goodness of God and obey His word, and the panic will subside. “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way".
Listen to the word Saul got from the ghost of Samuel. King Saul, worried about the enemy out there, said, “I am in great distress, for the Philistines are warring against me, and God has turned away from me and answers me no more ... , so I have summoned you to tell me what I should do."
I’ve turned to the past and I’ve dabbled in magic. Now what?
The spirit of Samuel replied, "The Lord has torn the Kingdom out of your hand ... because you did not obey the voice of the Lord." The Lord has torn the Kingdom out of your hand because you did not obey the voice of the Lord.
In the last analysis, the only way to deal successfully with anxiety is to do what you know is right and trust God for the rest. Live with integrity and trust God to see you through. Trust and obey, for there’s no other way.
Like Saul, we are tempted to cut corners. We are tempted not only to bring up the ghosts of the past and think that the answer is in something already dead and gone. We are tempted not only to resort to superstitions and bargains and all sorts of quirky religion. We are also tempted to cut corners on our integrity, to do something morally off the wall. We are tempted to save ourselves at any cost.
But when we do that, the price we pay is to prevent God from honoring His hopes for us. God cannot do for us what He wants to do if we do not keep our integrity.
The other day, someone brought me a family problem. He described the temptation he felt. Something demonic inside of him was saying, “Slap her with a devastating blow. Write her supervisor and tell him what she’s been doing, and she will lose her job. Drag her name through the courts and you can slaughter her reputation." But my heart leaped and I know the angels rejoiced when this man sat in my office and said, "But I’m not going to do those things. I couldn’t live with myself or with God if I stooped to that level."
Thank God for a man with character, who, even when he is panicking, will not surrender his integrity. Thank God for a man who dares to trust God and obey His word. Trust and obey, for there’s no other way. None.
Conclusion
Nearly 500 years ago, the men and women of Christendom were living in deep panic. Their world was beginning to come apart. New social systems, new political currents, new economic realities. It was an anxious time, a troubled time.
The church of their day responded to the panic of the people by asserting its ancient authority. Just believe what we have always told you, said the church, and all will be well. It tried to deal with panic by summoning up the ghosts of a dead and distant past. But a young monk, Martin Luther, saw that wouldn’t work, and stepped boldly forward to ask Christians to face a new day.
The church of that day responded to the panic of the people by dabbling in bad religion, in superstition and in magic, in bargaining with God. It taught that with enough money, enough influence, and enough activity, you could buy your way into heaven. Bad religion, very bad. But that same monk, Martin Luther, proclaimed one solitary truth, "The just shall live by faith ... faith alone." Not works, not bargains, but faith.
And, in the end, the church of that day responded to the panic of the people by trying to save itself. Instead of teaching people the truth, the church of the 16th century worked to protect its privileges and tried its best to silence the young man Luther. But Luther would not be silenced. On Halloween of 1517 he nailed to the door of the castle church some 95 propositions, which he backed up with Scripture. Then, when the weight of the church and the Empire came down on him and demanded that he take it all back, his words penetrated to the heart of the matter. Luther cried out to his judges: “My conscience is captive to the word of God. I cannot and will not recant. Here I stand, God help me, I can do nothing else." Trust and obey.
Yes, there are reasons to feel panic. Evil is real. Life is often incredibly shaky. But trust and obey, for there’s no other way.
Jobs are lost, yes; but do not be anxious what you shall eat or what you shall put on, for our God knows already. Trust and obey.
Relationships are broken, yes; but what a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear. Trust and obey.
Even though we may walk through the valley of the shadow of death ... hearing the skulls cackling their mocking laughter ... even there, trust and obey, for Christ is the ultimate ghostbuster. Christ is lord of life and death. Christ has gotten the victory. Ghostbuster! Trust and obey!
Luther sang it, "What though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us, we will not fear, for God has willed His truth to triumph through us.”
When I am afraid, I put my trust in Him.
