Good Saturday morning!
That Second Reaction
How can you have a second reaction? Isn't a reaction your first, unthinking, response to a situation? True, it is, but today we need to look at our second response to many stressful situations. In an extreme situation a person will flee, fight, freeze, or faint - the four f's of reactions. A bully threatens and you may fight; a rattlesnake rattles and you freeze; a brother yells "boo!" and you flee (or fight); a nurse says, "surprise" and pulls out the blood test paraphernalia - and you faint. First reactions can be good or bad, right or wrong, ego-building or humiliating, we have no control over them. However, later we get the chance for a more thoughtful reaction...and we usually blow it. That second or secondary reaction is the one where we compensate for the stress in bad ways. You might choose impulse shopping, another might reach for a shot of whiskey, a third might take it out on a spouse, a fourth might rearrange the pantry for the 142nd time; any of us can have poor or even harmful ways of coping with fear or stress.
We wake up one day afraid of fear, worried about worry, anxious about anxiety, and depressed about depression. A delectable train wreck of emotions. To compensate we reach for the old reactions described above. We know they are wrong reactions, but we reach for the candy, or buy something we don't need, or pick an argument over nothing, or some might even exercise too much. Without Christ we tend to exorcise our demons in the wrong ways; sort of like treating a knife wound with a hammer. "Look, if you bash it enough times, the bleeding stops!" Our methods of coping may do us more harm and result in more bad coping actions. Jesus provides two better methods of dealing with fear and stress in this life: Bible reading and prayer.
The first is the Word. John tells us that the Word existed before the world began, that the Word was with God and is God. Before all these fearful and stressful situations came upon us, the Word existed. We know that Jesus is the Word, and that His words are true. No situation surprises Him, and no fear is too much for Him. God allowed Daniel to be thrown to the lions, but He shut their mouths. God allowed Daniel's three friends to be thrown into the fire, but sent an angel to cool the flames. The situations we fear and worry over will never take God by surprise. Why didn't God simply slay all the lions before Daniel was lowered into the pit? Certainly He could have, but the story we love wouldn't be quite the same, would it? Much of our anxiety comes from not knowing how God will deal with the situation and worse, not trusting in Him to handle it. We also may use the second method incorrectly.
God provides us with a direct communication line to Him. Jesus gave us this by dying on the cross. We no longer need to wait for a priest to make intercession; the veil has been rent from top to bottom! In prayer we sometimes try to tell God the solution along with the problem. "Lord, please provide this to fulfill that need!" We should bring the need to the Lord, but let Him handle the solution. Daniel spoke words of faith to the king, "If God wills, He will save me." He didn't try to tell God the solution to the problem. Prayer is our second great weapon against fear, but we must learn to use it correctly. If God had simply slain the lions, Daniel's enemies would have demanded that the king get some new ones. Instead, we know from the Bible that the same lions that refused to touch Daniel, had no problem chowing down on those enemies. God had a better way.
Prayer and the Word are better ways to deal with our worries and fears. Prayer and Bible reading don't cost us anything, or add weight to our middles, or alienate our loved ones, or harm us in any way. Jesus calmed the raging storm with His command. He can calm our fears with His words too! Concentrating on our Lord in prayer causes us to lose concentration on our worries. Looking to Jesus means we have to turn from our fear; we can't serve both our Lord and our fear at the same time! We will fight the fear all of our earthly lives. The devil uses fear and doubt in an attempt to stop our work in the Lord. Jesus says "trust in Me!" We have a remarkable capacity to look the wrong way in this life. But Jesus has more patience, strength, forgiveness, and love than our fear and doubt can ever withstand.
Trust in Jesus, go forth in courage!
Bucky
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