HOPE FOR ALL OF US: #5 Hope For The Afraid

By Dr. Gilbert W. Stafford
Scripture: Psalm 23:4-6

A SAFETY NET 

The Golden Gate Bridge in the San Francisco, California area is almost 9,000 feet long, the second largest suspension bridge in the world. The main span that is 4,200 feet long, is suspended from two cables hung from towers 746 feet high. Those towers are the tallest in the world. The pier supporting the south tower is on bedrock 100 feet below the water surface. Six lanes of traffic and sidewalks take up its width of 90 feet. At midpoint, the roadway is 265 feet above the water.

The bridge was under construction for four years, 1933-1937. The project was complicated by many difficulties such as rapidly running tides, and frequent storms and fogs, during one of which a cargo vessel collided with the access trestle, causing serious damage. Also they had the problem of blasting rock under deep water in order to plant earthquake-proof foundations.

Tragically, at the beginning several workers fell from the scaffolding to their deaths. After that happened, many others were afraid to climb onto the scaffolding. As a consequence, the schedule for finishing the bridge fell way behind. Engineers and administrators struggled to find solutions to the costly delays.

Finally, someone came up with the idea of hanging a gigantic net under the bridge to catch any who might fall. Even though it cost an enormous sum of money that was not in the budget, it proved to be the solution to the problem. After the installation of the net, work was rarely interrupted. When a couple of workers did fall, they were saved by the net. As my friend Bill Jones put it so well: “All the time lost to fear was regained by replacing fear with faith in the net.”1

Not many of us will ever face the kind of fear that confronted the workers on the Golden Gate Bridge, but we have other kinds of fear that are just as real. We are afraid of the future. We are afraid of people. We are afraid of our health. We are afraid of losing our jobs. We are afraid of the unknown. We are afraid of new challenges.

Is there any hope for the afraid? 


GOD: OUR SAFETY NET

I’m glad to tell you that there is hope. Psalm 23:4-6 reads: “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff—they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD my whole life long.”2

The image here is of a person walking through a dark valley in ancient days. The only light the valley might have at night was from the moon. That, of course, was helpful only when it was high overhead. When, however, it was not, the hills obstructed it. Consequently, the valleys, having no benefit from the moon, and, of course, no benefit from electrical lights, were a very dark place, indeed. One never knew what or who was in the dark valley. Obstacles which one could not see on the ground, wild animals, thieves and robbers, all were genuine fears. The psalmist says, however, that he had no fear. Why? Because God was with him. God was his safety net, so to speak.

THE ROD OF PROTECTION 

What does God have and do? He has a rod with which to ward off that which would destroy us. Shepherds carried rods that they could throw at animals about to attack their sheep. They were trained to throw them with such precision that they were able to hit predators and either scare them off or kill them.

The psalmist, using this as a metaphor of the way God relates to us, says he does not fear because God has a rod of judgment He can use to ward off whatever would destroy us. Think of it, my listening friend: God will not allow anything that can destroy us to get the upper hand. Not even the enemy of death! He has conquered even that terrifying enemy, too. I Corinthians 15:20 reminds us that, “Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.” Verses 25 and 26 go on to say: “For...Christ must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” In Christ, God, the divine shepherd of our souls, has thrown the rod, so to speak, and the enemy, death, has been struck with a fatal blow. O yes, the enemy still flops around but we need not fear because in Christ the fatal blow to the enemy death has been delivered.

THE STAFF DELIVERANCE 

Furthermore, God comforts us with his staff. The shepherd’s staff is long with a crook on the end. The crook can reach down into crevices between boulders and lift up sheep that fall into places from which they can not extricate themselves.

So, the psalmist says, God has the ability to lift us up out of the hard places into which we have fallen and from which we cannot extricate ourselves. Knowing that God has a rod of protection and a staff of deliverance comforts those who trust in him.

A TABLE OF COMMUNION AND NOURISHMENT

That isn’t all. God even prepares a table of blessed communion and nourishment for us in the very presence of our enemies. This is interesting because so often we want to be away from our enemies. We don’t want to live in the presence of that which frightens us. Instead of a somewhat fearsome unknown future, we want deliverance from it; we want all of the details explained. Instead of being around the people who frighten us we want to be ride of them. Instead of living with new challenges, we want relief. God’s promise is not to deliver us from all of the enemies that frighten us, but he will prepare a table of communion and nourishment in their very presence.

Numviyumukiza Maria Egidia is a member of the Hutu tribe in Rwanda. A few years ago when the blood bath broke out between her tribe and the rival Tutsi tribe she found herself in a dark, fearsome valley. Death was everywhere. Chaos was rampant. She decided to go to the town of Gisenyi where she knew that she could take refuge in the home of a Church of God pastor who also was a Hutu. Traveling by bus she found her life threatened, however, when it was stopped at a roadblock. The Hutu militia pulled her off the bus, thinking that she was a member of the rival Tutsi tribe. Having lost the identification documents that would have proven that she was a Hutu like them, they were to execute her on the spot.

When some of her captors asked where she was going, however, she told them she was going to the home of a Church of God pastor in Gisenyi who, like them, was a Hutu. It so happened that these soldiers knew the local Church of God pastor in the Hutu town where she was detained for execution. So they decided to ask him whether he knew the Church of God pastor in Gisenyi. Only he could verify that she was telling the truth. The only problem was that the local pastor couldn’t be found immediately.

While he was sought after, Maria was locked up in a room for a long time. “There I began to pray for God to receive my spirit,” she says. “I thought this would be my final prayer as my time to die had come.” Finally, however, the local pastor was found. Coming to the authorities he confirmed the identity of the church of God pastor in Gisenyi, and that he was, in fact, of the Hutu tribe. “At that moment,” Maria says, “I felt as if God had raised me from the dead! Then [the] Pastor...took me to a restaurant so I could eat. My heart was filled with joy...Because I was all alone, [the] Pastor...took me into his family, giving me food, providing me a place to sleep, and helping me find clothing.”3

Maria Egidia experienced what the psalmist was talking about: “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD my whole life long.”

Maria experienced her head being anointed, so to speak. In the ancient world anointing guest's heads with oil was a way of refreshing those who were weary from travel. It had a soothing effect and relaxed them.

Notice the contrast. According to the psalmist, instead of being frightened by one’s enemies one is relaxed in their presence. Why? Because of being ministered to by the God who gives hope to those who are afraid. He anoints our heads with oil.

THIS HOPE CAN BE OURS 

Our text says that God’s goodness and mercy will be with us for as long as we live, and we shall have the joy of living in the house of the Lord our whole life long. In other words, as was quoted earlier regarding the safety net provided for the workers on the Golden Gate Bridge, “All the time lost to fear...[is] regained by replacing fear with faith in the net.”

Just as the safety net enabled the workers on the Golden Gate Bridge to get on their work, even so trusting in the God who is with us in the darkest valley of fear, enables us to get on with the work we are called to do.

Fear paralyzes us. As President Franklin Roosevelt of the United States once said, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” He was right. Our perceived enemies are not always our greatest enemies. Our greatest enemy is fear of the enemies. When our trust is in God who is with us in the darkest valley, we need fear no evil.

For those who are afraid, there is hope. His name is God. His rod and his staff—they comfort us. He prepares a table of blessing and nourishment for us in the presence of our enemies. We need not be afraid.

PRAYER

Let us pray:

God of hope and mercy, turn our hearts toward you this day. Calm our fears by the knowledge that you are with us. Prepare even yet this day a table for us in the presence of our enemies. In their presence comfort and nourish us. We pray this in Christ’s name. Amen.


1 Powerline, published by the Mio Church of God, Mio, Michigan, Vol. XVI, No. 9 (September 1995), P. 1.
2 New Revised Standard version used here and throughout.
3 Cheryl Johnson Barton, ed., Songs of Deliverance: International Testimonies of the Lord’s Goodness. (Anderson: Missionary Board of the Church of God, 1995), pp. 2-3.

Script 2583 (GWS)
June 30, 1996
SERIES: HOPE FOR ALL OF US
5. Hope for the Afraid
Scripture: Psalm 23:4-6