“Fear is an incompetent teacher.”
– JEAN-Luc PICARD (as portrayed by Patrick Stewart)
I must confess that I am a lifelong Star Trek fan. I blame my father for getting me hooked as a young boy. It was one of those shared TV moments that I remember fondly. I have found many little nuggets of wisdom over the years as I watched those episodes somewhat contemplatively. The above is one that has stuck with me for some time.
I find it instructive to reflect on these words about fear as I look back over the past year and all that COVID-19 and our response to it has done to change our world. I remember the earliest days, when the pandemic idea was new to us, and how my client counseling caseload began to reflect the dramatic increase in fear and anxiety. It reminded me of the weeks following the 9/11 attacks, when uncertainty was pervasive and we were feeling the need to act, but not sure how. There was a sense of threat and no real knowledge of how to confront it. What I witnessed during the COVID months was a crescendo of fear that eventually began to morph into anger or hopelessness. That seemed to stem from the reality that, no matter what we did to combat this virus, nothing seemed to work, and our desire for normality was being thwarted daily. Given this reality, many descended into a very dark emotional place. Many became dutiful in following the government regulations in some attempt to feel mastery over what had become uncontrollable. Others became combative and oppositional to government’s control over daily life. No matter the response, those reactions that began with fear often lead us to an incomplete solution and keep us emotionally charged or disengaged.
The virus is real. The death toll and infection rates testify to this. Still, I wonder if the more deadly virus that we are facing is fear itself. Winston Churchill, while leading Great Britain through the horrors of World War II, famously said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” I wonder how his words would be received today from a globe driven by fear. We are at war today with something that is potentially deadly and, as it has been said, the first casualty of war is truth. My question is a simple one: If we were tethered to the One who is Truth, how would this impact our reactionary fear? If fear is tied to what is not known or what could happen, could a good dose of Truth that steadies us be a solution?
The unintended consequences of our response to COVID-19 are myriad. It’s hard to overestimate the psychological impact of wondering if the very air we are breathing will lead to our demise. Economies have collapsed, schools have been closed, and families have been locked down in their homes for extended periods, while some individuals are left home alone. Marital and family distress have increased dramatically. Crime rates are increasing. Depression and anxiety have risen to levels never measured before, and, alarmingly, homicide rates continue to rise and suicide rates have risen beyond known measures as well. Clearly, we are seeing a society that, for many reasons, is demonstrating how thin the veil of civility and mental health really is. My contention is that these ills are driven primarily by fear and that fear itself must be addressed in order to regain equilibrium. Fear is a strong motivator. Politicians know this. Just consider what has been said in recent months by all political persuasions in order to stir fear and provoke a desired reaction. So then, how can truth dispel fear or at least mitigate it to the degree that clear thinking prevails? As Captain Picard reminds us, fear is an incomplete teacher. It can teach us some important things, but taken on its own, it is incomplete. We are missing something very important if all we have is fear that is teaching us.
“What voices are you hearing?” That’s kind of a tricky question coming from a counselor. The truth is, we are normal if we hear several. Experts tell us that 80% of the average person’s self-talk (that conversation we all have with ourselves about ourselves) is negative. Think about that. The vast majority of the time, we are accusing ourselves of being less than we should be. (Can you afford to agree with the Accuser about who you are 80% of the time? That is for a different article!) We hear those voices of shame that cause us to hide from others. They are the voices that are relentlessly telling us that we are not enough. We also hear the voices of pride. These are the voices that push us to believe we are more than others, the voices that put others beneath us. Pride appeals to our sense of entitlement. Both pride voices and shame voices are motivated by fear. What if people discover who we really are? What if all our image management collapses and we are exposed? What if someone gets ahead of us in life’s line of benefits? What if they get what we deserve? What if…? The phrase itself is fear-producing. The resulting fear will cause us to make plans, to have contingencies, to avoid. Or worse, we may feel the need to control others, manipulate situations, become protective of our time and treasure, or to medicate ourselves with any number of options available in the 21st Century.
We know we hear these voices. They have become louder than normal against the backdrop of a pandemic. They are loud when we watch the news. Perhaps they are the loudest in our isolation. We drown them out with entertainment and business, but they are still there. They drive us. They keep us unsettled. We lose sleep. We are impatient and angry with others. How do we make them stop?
Here’s the bad news. We may not be able to stop these voices completely. They are ubiquitous and pervasive and are rooted in many years of us being attentive to them. Still, must they rule us the majority of time, or can they be diminished to the extent that they sound like faraway voices that become harder to hear? Perhaps the most important question for this global season is this: How are these voices ruling us in a time of fear rooted in something so far beyond our control—a pandemic?
There are lots of conversations and opinions these days about COVID vaccines. For some, they represent a form of salvation that returns life to normal. Everyone has to get vaccinated, or we’ll never have life like we had it before. For others, they represent overt government control of the population, determining who can do what. Can you hear the fear in these two positions? Can you hear the anger that is produced from the fear? Can you feel yourself churning deep inside as you think about these things? Perhaps your life has even larger challenges than COVID. I know we have been made to think that the pandemic eclipses all other concerns. That is a lie. People have been and continue to suffer in terrible and indescribable ways. They fear the next day, perhaps the next hour, all for reasons that supersede a pandemic. They hear the voices. They feel the fear.
We do have hope in all of this. Hope is the one thing that is the real game changer during any crisis. Misplaced hope will lead to disappointment and disillusionment, but for Kingdom people, our hope is in the One who is Truth. That same Person who is Truth is also Love. Truth sets us free, and Love casts out fear.[1] Our hope is in the Voice that calls us beloved. He is the One who knows our fears and speaks to them with the Voice that crushes the others. The question is, will we hear Him? His voice is the vaccination against the diseased voices of fear that threaten to consume us. His voice is the vaccination against those voices of pride and shame that would threaten to misshape us through their disease-ridden rhetoric. But, we must hear Him.
Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”[2] That seems clear to me. We can know what that Voice sounds like. We can hear it. We can expect to hear it. We can follow it. The picture painted for us in the book of Revelation is stunning. Jesus says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with Me.”[3] Amazing! Jesus gives us the option to open the door, and when we do, he has dinner with us! I don’t know about you, but to me this implies great intimacy and conversation around the table. We hear His voice, we converse with Him. He speaks what is True, and He calls us beloved. Feeling vaccinated against fear yet?
May we be vaccinated by the One who is Truth so that, no matter what the diseased voices of fear around us are saying, we are not overcome by them.
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.[4]
Martin Mallory holds an M. Div from Asbury Seminary and Masters of Social Work from the University of Kentucky. He is a charter member of the American Association of Christian Counselors and an Affiliate Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling at Asbury Theological Seminary. Martin serves on the Frontier Alliance International (FAI) Board of Directors, and directs and oversees Pastoral Care for the FAI family alongside his wife Sharon. Find out more about Martin here. Meet the rest of the FAI Board of Directors here.
[1] See John 8:31-32 and I John 4:18
[2] John 10:27
[3] Revelation 3:20
[4] Philippians 4:4-7
