Staying Sane in a World of Uncertainty

By Neil Earle

One antidote to futility – helping others.

What a year 2016 was and 2017 is already shaping up as a year of turmoil, of protest and confrontation.

New Yorker magazine asks “Is America Over?” and the news is getting harder and harder to watch. Some cities are recording their worst homicide data in years and the pillars of post-war stability seem to be shaking – the European Community, the crisis on the Korean peninsula, Iran launching missiles defying the UN and uncertainties about the new American role in the world abound.

Queen Elizabeth I’s 65th year on the throne is a welcome encouragement to a British public nervous about the consequences of formally leaving Europe. And Canada has finally heard the grim chant “Allah Akbar” in peaceful and quaint Quebec City.

Wisdom of the Ancients

Marshall McLuhan once said ”We don’t have eyelids anymore.” Far away places with strange sounding names raise our stress levels. There seems to be no escape from the bad news of the world today. Where do we go when the foundations seem to be falling apart? Where to go for stability? How do we keep a sense of perspective.

Ancient peoples had similar thoughts. One of them was a writer in the Bible. His name was David, a military man and one often hunted to within an inch of his life. Here’s what he wrote in a passage titled Psalm 11:1-7:

"In the Lord put I my trust. How then can you say to me: ‘Flee like a bird to your mountain?’ For look, the wicked bend their bows; they set their arrows against the strings to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart. When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

It’s a good question isn’t it? “When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?” Students of human behavior advise us to do three things when crises seem overwhelming. These three questions can be part of our “self talk” to help us gain perspective:

1. What is the worst that can happen?
2. What can I do to improve on the worst?
3. Can I accept the worst if it happens?

1950s atomic test outisde Las Vegas. And yet the worst did not happen.

Facing Fears

As we have heard often from our religious teachers: God is still on His throne. Bible-believing Christians have always understood that God sent his son, Jesus Christ, into this world. He set us an example of getting through trouble. Few people died a more horrible and grisly death than Jesus of Nazareth. Yet very near the end he promised his followers: “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

Here are those three principles again.

1. The worst that can happen? But as horrible as death by crucifixion was, the man named Jesus knew something worse could happen – he could fail in his mission to be the intercessor between God and man, the One on whom the burden of human sin would fall. The Bible tells us he cried out to his Father in heaven for the strength not to fail in this mission: “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission” (Hebrews 5:7).He was heard and his death became part of the great antidote to failure and futility. Christians claim he lives inside them today and about 100,000 hymns attest to that belief.

2. Hebrews 5:7 shows Jesus prayed. And we can pray. The Bible tells us God is more willing to answer us than we are to pray. The Bible writer, Matthew, shows us Jesus praying just before his crucifixion. But Jesus did more than pray. He asked his friends to pray with him. In the dark crisis of his life Jesus wanted his friends by his side (Matthew 26:38). There’s an old saying, “A trouble shared is a trouble halved.” This is why support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and others set up recovering addicts with a sponsor, a friend they can call, when they are in trouble or under severe temptation. It works. This principle can also be expressed as “seek wise counsel.”

Friends are a wonderful blessing in facing our anxieties. A friend is someone who knows all about you but likes you anyway. In times of distress and peril we need to seek out wise friends. They can steady us in ways we cannot even imagine. Especially when we are in the grip of frightening fears and demoralizing anxieties.

And there are more practical things we can do. If we can’t control our world we can put our own house in order (2 Kings 20:1). The greatest stress reliever known to man is to hug your wife a little more, grab your children just a little bit closer, do a kind deed for someone else. Sometimes mundane things begin to reconnect us with reality in the face of panic attacks or depression. We can clean out our garage, work on our health, and exercise regularly. We are doing something amid the encircling gloom and that gets our depressed spirits moving in synch again. Does this advice sound trite? Ask any mental health counselor or physical therapist if this is not the best place to start.

3. Face your fear. You don’t have to be a candidate for the Medal of Honor to do this. The ancients had another saying, “When a man is willing and ready, heaven joins in with him.” Jesus Christ stared down his deathly fear. ”Rise, let us go,” said Jesus to his friends, “Here comes my betrayer!” (Matthew 26:45-46). Jesus knew there was no way out of this trial except through it. He had calculated the worst that might happen – something even worse than his own painful death. He took action to improve on the worse and he calmly faced his fears.

Are you aware that God has promised not to let anything come our way that is impossible for us to handle? That promise is found in 1 Corinthians 10:13. Look it up. Armed with this knowledge we can face our fears. We can stay sane in a world of uncertainty.