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Mountainside UMCJuly 27, 2014
Greater Than My Fears -Psalm 46- 20 Seconds of Insane Courage
Several years ago Lindy and I rented a movie calledWe Bought a Zoo. If you haven’t seen it, I recommend it as it is a really good movie and it was based on the true story. It’s a story of a British man named Benjamin Mee. In 2006 Mee and his family purchased and moved into a 30-acre zoo. In his book with the same title, Mee says that his new "neighbors" included "five Siberian tigers, three African lions, nine wolves, three big brown European bears, four Asian short-clawed otters, two flamingos, some large boa constrictors, and a tarantula."
The zoo was dangerously rundown. Mee was faced with a series of challenges, including dealing with a rat infestation, and finding enough money to feed the animals. On the fourth day of their new lives, the jaguar escaped, endangering the neighborhood. Despite the difficulties, Mee and his family restored the zoo into a place of beauty and safety that provided healing for themselves and for their surrounding community.
But it wasn't easy. Mee admitted, "There were lots of times when I thought, What have I done?" So why did he buy and remodel the zoo? In the film version, Mee (played by Matt Damon), says, "Sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it."
That’s an interesting thought. “Sometimes all you need it twenty seconds of insane courage” So what can be done in twenty seconds of insane courage. Well if we were to walk through a few passages of Scripture in less than 20 seconds Moses told Pharaoh “Let my people go.” Joshua gave the commandto cross the Jordan at flood stage, Esther stood before a king risking her life to save the Jews. David ran to Goliath on the field of battle.
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego stood up against King Nebuchadnezzar and a fiery furnace, Daniel prayed while risking death by lions. Zaccheaus climbed out of a tree and Peter stepped out of the boat on to the water. All that inless than 20 seconds.
However we know that there was way more than 20 seconds of preparation that laid a foundation on which they were able to have a spiritual foot-hold and make the courageous choice when the opportunity came. But when the opportunity came it took less than 20 seconds to overcome their fears and act courageously.
On the topic of courage and overcoming fears, I want to take a few moments to read and reflect on Psalm 46.We identify Psalm 23 with the Lord being our shepherd, Psalm 51 the psalm of repentance, Psalm 150 one of worship and praise to the Lord, Psalm 46 might be the Psalm of courage in the midst of a storm.
A slightly known reformer by the name of Martin Luther wrote the song “A Mighty Fortress is our God” we’ll sing this song for our close. What I like about this Psalm that takes just a little over 20 seconds to read is that I sense the writer trying to instill in us at least 20 seconds of courage when we stand against various trials and challenges that we face throughout our life. He addresses the reality that all of us face fears in our life, major fears are expressed in this psalm however there is this challenge to be courageous even in the midst of facing the fears that are a guaranteed reality of life. John 16:33.Listen as I read through the entire Psalm and then we’ll go back through it a section at a time and look at some possible applications for us today. Psalm 46:1-11 Look-Observe as I read
1God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.
2Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,3though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.
4There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells.5God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.6
Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts.7The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.8Come and see what the Lord has done, the desolations he has brought on the earth.9He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire.
10He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
11The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Walk through again and look at the flow Reread
1God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.
The Declaration
2Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,3though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.
The Trouble – major trouble –jaw dropping trouble.
4There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells.5God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.6
The Encouraging Vision. There is more to this life than what you see right now. Expand your vision and perspective.
Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts.Salvadori?
More Trouble
7The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
8Come and see what the Lord has done, the desolations he has brought on the earth.9He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire.
Another Declaration and confirmation of God’s power.
10He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
The Commandas in do this and you will survive and thrive.
I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
The Result or the fruit of obeying that command. In fact that really spoke to me about last weeks message related to Jesus’ influence in our world today. Connect –Still- I will be exalted.
11The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
The RE-Declaration and reminder, a RE-confirmation.
Go back look again just to the opening verses.Reread
1God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.
2Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,3though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.
Really? What is going on here? A little strange? Do you think he actually saw this happening? Have you ever seen this happen? Have you ever watched a mountain fall into the sea? Have you ever seen a mountain shake because of the surging of the sea? Only been in one place when I was in Alaska where I saw mountains & seas. If you haven’t seen this and the writer hasn’t seen this, what in the world is he talking about? Why this massive destruction?
I’m not sure but here is one way to look and apply this passage among a variety of ways. Last week while driving I popped in a teaching CD, it was a monthly teaching resource that I receive called Defining Moments. The teaching was about a lesson given by Dr. Henry Cloud on “The Death Spiral of a Leader.”
That doesn’t sound like a real encouraging title however what Dr. Cloud was highlighting was a common experience that he has seen in being called on by manyleaders in major companies with his 30+ years of working as a professional counselor and consultant.
When I was listening to his talk about this “death spiral” I realized that situation that he described was something that I had at timesexperienced over the years and I have seen this manifest not only in leaders but anyone with some degree of responsibility. I’ve seen parents experience a kind of “Death Spiral” along with others.
What caught my attention is a sort of parallel between “Things Falling Apart” of Psalm 46 and the Death Spiral that Henry Cloud describes and the way to recover and overcome the problems.
What parallels am I referring to? In this talk by Henry Cloud he made a reference to what he called the 3 P’s related to failures that multiply into major fears and consume our mind, will and emotions. The first “P” was how we canPersonalize our problems.
We were originally designed by God to live in a cause-effect relationship in our world. You do A and you expect B as a result. You plant a seed in the garden and it grows to full fruition. But we live in a fallen world and A doesn’t always produce B. I started growing a garden in our back yard and while I experienced amazing growth in some parts of the garden there were other parts that didn’t do anything. A doesn’t always produce B.
Life isn’t so predictable and we find ourselves in a situations where we are not in control. (Boss, parent company, market conditions, Gov’t rules and regulations, customers). What happens to the brain when you are in a situation that you can’t control? The brain begins to change the way that isn’t always good. The brain begins to change in the ways that it interprets everything around it.
You go do an A to get a B result and B doesn’t happen. The brain then begins to personalize it. Why didn’t that sale happen, well I guess I’m no good, what made me think I could do this? The reality is that every one of us do things in life that just don’t work the way we think they should. If the sale fails, another way to look at it is… I guess they weren’t ready, … but it’s not because I’m not good enough. But when thisgets repeated the temptation is that it becomes totally personalized when that isn’t the right response. Granted there are times when reflection w/correction is appropriate but Clouds death spiral is when we totally personalize events.
For example this happens with young children and a classic example of this is when parents are going through a divorce and they have a child or children, what do the children often do? They blame themselves for the separation. They personalize it. They think that if they were a better child that this wouldn’t be happening when that is not the case at all. So the first step in the downward spiral is to personalize everything in a negative way.
The reason A didn’t result in B is because I am a terrible person and I am entirely to blame. I’m no good.
The next “P” is Pervasive. It’s not just that one customer it’s all my customers. It’s not just that one co-worker, it’s everybody, nobody thinks I’m any good around here. You know it’s not just my one client it’s the whole industry. You know my whole life stinks.You remember that childhood song..“Nobody likes me, Everybody hates me I’m going to eat a worm. And everything just multiplies and is entirely subjective because it’s gone into a different region of the brain that goes global and everything becomes bad and it’s as if… the earth has given way and the mountains are falling into the heart of the sea, and all the waters roar and the mountains are quaking with their surging.
What is he describing here? The whole world, my whole world is falling apart. You feel out of control and the problem is hopeless and the worst part about it is when it causes you feel like you are falling into a pit is that seems like God is silent. You’ve probably heard the expression, “The dark night of the soul” and many people think it refers to the time when you suffer through a painful loss or trial but it’s actually more than that, it’s when you go through a dark time and you can’t hear or sense or even feel God’s presence. God seems silent while you are sitting in a dark place, that is the “Dark night of the soul” and it is pervasive, global, it’s more than global, it’s universal, God doesn’t even want to hang around me anymore. It’s dark as far as you can see.
The first stage of the death spiral is when we personalize everything, the second is that it becomes pervasive and if it continues the third experience of this spiral sets in whichthat this is permanent. It will always be this way.Life will never change. There is no hope for anything getting any better. It is at this point that a spiritual paralysis sets in. It is learned helplessness and hopelessness and you feel like there is no way out and life is never going to get any better. Is there any hope? Are you breathing? Yes!
Sure there is and it starts with just 20 seconds of courage to start confronting the three P’s whether you are on a major downward spiral in despair or just in a minor time of discouragement.
Let’s start with the first verses of that Psalm again Psalm 46:1-2
1God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.
2Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and…
The first step we have to do is stop looking at ourselves. I don’t need to look to myself as my strength but Look to the Lord. Psalm 105:4.I have to declare that the Lord is my strength & my help not myself and therefore we will not fear. There is a change of vision. A change of focus. Then there is this declaration. What difference does a declaration make? God created everything we see through his spoken word. By God’s grace Christ comes to live in us and when we begin to declare his word and re-creation continues.
The declaration is….Therefore we will not fear though the earth give way and….then come the details, the specifics.
So what he is doing is detailing the source of the fears. So the Second step is to Detail- List out- Write down these fears and failures. Detail then Dispute them. Detail and Dispute. Write it down then argue it using Scripture. For example if we personalize it and say “I’m no good, I don’t amount to anything, I’m not important.” We argue it with Ephesians 2:10 which says,10For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
(TLB) 10It is God himself who has made us what we are and given us new lives from ChristJesus; and long ages ago he planned that we should spend these lives inhelping others.
So instead of “I’m no good” it’s I am made by God and I need to let that reality rule in how I think about myself. So detail the negatives and then let God help you dispute them.
2 Corinthians 10:4-5 4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. The last key or Third Step Henry Cloud mentions is to stay Connected. The answer to feeling bad(downward spiral) isn’t so much doing good but the receiving of love in relationships. Throughout Psalm 46 the writer uses the words “we” and “us.” God wants us to stay connected so that we can help each other overcome our fears and help each other gain that “20 seconds of insane courage” even in the midst of perceived dangers/failures.
On a Monday night during the NBA playoffs a number of years ago, 13-year-old Natalie Gilbert stoodat center court in front of 20,000 rabid basketball fans and a national television audience in thebasketball arena in Portland to sing the Star Spangled Banner. She did just fine for the first fewlines. Somewhere around the twilight lasts gleaming, she forgot the words. She closed her eyes,
she shook her head. How would you like to be a 13-year-old in front of 20,000 fans and millions oftelevision viewers and you go blank on the lyrics of the National Anthem? Talk about terrified;this is it.But in that moment of fear, something unusual happened.
Then Portland Trailblazers coach, Maurice Cheeks, walked toward her; he put his arm around her and began singing the words w/ her.
He started encouraging the crowd to sing with them, and 20,000 voices joined together and theymade it all the way down to the home of the brave together.
With the help of Maurice Cheeks besideher, Natalie Gilbert went from the terror of failure to inspiration giving the perfect example of the importance of working as a team. Cheeks only lament was that hewished in that particular game he could have helped some of his players like he helped Natalie Gilbert. Oh well.
REVIEW CHART
If you find yourself falling down the death spiral by…
Personalizing, Pervasive and Permanent.
- The way out of death spiral of
Look to God – Detail and Dispute – Stay Connected.
And hold to the truth that(let’s say this together)
11The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.