We have looked at six helps so far for times of danger and public distraction (times which tempt with a wicked fear that takes our hearts off of God). These are the following: (1) God is in perfect control of all His creatures, (2) the one in control is your loving heavenly Father, (3) Christ warns against fearing evil and we ought to be in awe of those warnings, (4) remember how much your vain fears have brought upon you in the past, (5) there is more evil in your fearing evil than in the feared suffering itself, and (6) God has recorded and given many promises to those who love Him in Christ (all the saved). Here is number seven:
7.) Quiet your trembling heart by recording and consulting your past experiences of the care and faithfulness of God in former distresses. These experiences are food for your faith in a wilderness. By this David kept his heart in time of danger, and Paul his. It was answered by a saint, when one told him that his enemies waylaid him to take his life: “If God take no care of me, how is it that I have escaped hitherto?” You may plead with God old experiences for new ones: for it is in pleading with God for new deliverances, as it is in pleading for new pardons. Mark how Moses pleads of that account with God. “Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people, as thou hast forgiven them from Egypt until now.” He does not say as men do, ‘Lord, this is the first fault, thou hast not been troubled before to sign their pardon:’ but, ‘Lord, because thou hast pardoned them so often, I beseech thee pardon them once again.’ So in new difficulties let the saint say, ‘Lord, thou hast often heard, helped and saved, in former years; therefore now help again, for with thee there is plenteous redemption, and thine arm is not shortened.’
Our past is a record of God’s preserving grace upon us. We can see what God used to bring us to Him, see how we have grown over the years, and how He has helped us to endure every trial, improving as we grow in keeping our hearts. During some of the hard times in your life, try keeping a journal. You may not know then what God will do, but, as time progresses, prayers get answered in His own way, His perfect timing becomes more evident, and, when you yield to Him, you can see that He delivers you out of that hardship stronger in the faith than before. Keeping a record like this has the great benefit of being able to recount praise to God for all of His works in our lives. So, when we go through more hardship, we can retrace our steps and see personally the faithfulness of God in our own lives. Thus we add our own witness to that of the saints! In this we can build our faith and truth in God, strengthening us for times when the fear of suffering and evil tempts us to sin. God does not tire of delivering us. Rather, He blesses our holy reliance on Him. Holy diligence in keeping the heart and trusting the Father is reinforced by personal experience. Remember, then, how God has helped you in times of suffering and temptations to fear evil.
8.) Be well satisfied that you are in the way of your duty, and that will beget holy courage in times of danger. “Who will harm you if you be a follower of that which is good?” Or if any dare attempt to harm you “you may boldly commit yourself to God in well-doing.” It was this consideration that raised Luther’s spirit above all fear: “In the cause of God (said he) I ever am, and ever shall be stout: herein I assume this title, ‘I yield to none.’” A good cause will bear up a man’s spirit. Hear the saying of a heathen, to the shame of cowardly Christians: when the emperor Vespasian had commanded Fluidus Priseus not to come to the senate, or if he did come, to speak nothing but what he would have him; the senator returned this noble answer, “that he was a senator, it was fit he should be at the senate; and if being there; he were required to give his advice, he would freely speak that which his conscience commanded him.” The emperor threatening that then he should die; he answered, “Did I ever tell you that I was immortal? Do what you will, and I will do what I ought. It is in your power to put me to death unjustly, and in my power to die with constancy.” Righteousness is a breastplate: let them tremble whom danger finds out of the way of duty.
A Christian whose conscience is seared by evil is a Christian who is compromised by either fear or ignorance. If ignorance, then He needs to learn of the sorry state that He is in with his sin. If fear, then he is aware of his terrible state. For many in habitual sin, their sin acts as a vice-grip on their courage. They are as the proverb, “The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion” (Prov. 28:1 HCSB). And they should be fearful, because they are persisting in idolatry despite declaring to be followers of Christ! Yet, such fear is to be grief that leads to repentance and not to death: “For godly grief produces a repentance not to be regretted and leading to salvation, but worldly grief produces death” (2 Cor. 7:10). For those Christians continuing in sin, they cannot have the courage that God supplies in any level of constancy. In contrast, growing in holiness is what makes believers courageous for their King, and it is those who will have courage in hard times.
9.) Get your conscience sprinkled with the blood of Christ from all guilt, and that will set your heart above all fear. It is guilt upon the conscience that softens and makes cowards of our spirits: “the righteous are bold as a lion.” It was guilt in Cain’s conscience that made him cry, “Every one that findeth me will slay me.” A guilty conscience is more terrified by imagined dangers, than a pure conscience is by real ones. A guilty sinner carries a witness against himself in his own bosom. It was guilty Herod cried out, “John Baptist is risen from the dead.” Such a conscience is the devil’s anvil, on which he fabricates all those swords and spears with which the guilty sinner pierces himself. Guilt is to danger, what fire is to gunpowder: a man need not fear to walk among many barrels of powder, if he have no fire about him.
Confess your sin, then, and repent from evil. If you are persisting in habitual sin, don’t keep it to yourself but confess it to someone wise in the faith who can help you. That is just one of the many ways that believers are to help one another. Mortifying sin is the business of the church and not just the private duty of the individual Christian. Do whatever it takes to get over it. Remove the object of your sins, eliminate the times when you are vulnerable, and purge all that is causing you to sin. Do so even if that means making significant life changes (that is so often required, because our very lifestyles are often built around these temptations, whatever their form). Jesus said, “If your hand or your foot causes your downfall, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into the eternal fire” (Matt. 18:8). Even if you think that you need some of those things, whatever they are, they are not worth eternal hellfire. Therefore, purge all that leads you into sin and set up ways which make pursuing evil difficult. Involve others you can trust. Then, and only then, will you grow in this courage. Cast off all fear and guilt by casting off all that leads you to temptation! And, if needed, consult your pastor or a biblical counselor (distinct from a “Christian counselor” in that a biblical counselor helps you ground-up from the Bible) who is trained in the Word. Christ is in the business of getting people over their slavery to sin, even now. You too can overcome yours.
10.) Exercise holy trust in times of great distress. Make it your business to trust God with your life and comforts, and then your heart will be at rest about them. So did David, “At what time I am afraid I will trust in thee;” that is, ‘Lord, if at any time a storm arise, I will shelter from it under the covert of thy wings.’ Go to God by acts of faith and trust, and never doubt that he will secure you. “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee,” says Isaiah. God is pleased when you come to him thus: ‘Father, my life, my liberty and my estate are exposed, and I cannot secure them; O let me leave them in thy hand. The poor leaveth himself with thee; and does his God fail him? No, thou art the helper of the fatherless: that is, thou art the helper of the destitute one, that has none to go to but God. This is a comforting passage, “He shall not be afraid of evil tidings, his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord;” he does not say, his ear shall be preserved from the report of evil tidings, he may hear as sad tidings as other men, but his heart shall be kept from the terror of those tidings; his heart is fixed.
Our Father is one who can be trusted in all things. When we are overwhelmed, worn out, and do not think that we can go on, God’s support does not end. Christianity is not a religion of “God helps those who help themselves.” Far from it! Rather, God helps those who trust in Him. It is so easy to take on the world as if it were our own duty. Yet, the world is for God to deal with and we are only His vessels for His purposes. What, then, is your duty? Keeping your heart fixed on God! When we try to work as though everything relied on us, we not only lack trust in the Father, we also are not keeping our hearts fixed on Him. That is why we falter, why we get burned out, and some despair. Despair is not a Christian virtue! It points to idolatry of the heart, where trusting in God has been replaced by self-reliance. Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Your heart must not be troubled or fearful” (John 14:27). The peace of the Christian is the opposite of despair. Our peace is not something that can be truly lost. It endures despite our circumstances, although it may seem to fade when sin and idolatry are entertained. Yet, this peace is always fully available to those who repent of their sin and put their trust in the Lord. Fix your heart on God in holy trust and you can have this peace in greater measure, even in times of great distress. That is good news for the weary and a help to all in hard times.
Next time we will be looking at four more helps from Flavel on getting over the fear of evil.