Rumors

August 31, 2021 Jim Musser

During the past 18 months, we have been deluged with rumors—about COVID-19 (“It’s so deadly that we need to lockdown everything;” “It’s a hoax;” “the vaccines work;” people are dying from the vaccine.”), about the presidential election (“It was stolen;” “the BIG LIE;”), about climate change (“we have only a few short years to turn things around or Earth as we know it will be no more;” “massive flooding;” “earthquakes”), and, most recently, the war in Afghanistan (“It’s a disaster;” “we had to get out;” “we should have stayed;” “America’s prestige in the world is lost;”) The news is full of stories of disaster or impending ones. As one friend told me recently, “I can’t even watch the news anymore.”

Rumors of disaster have been around a long time. In fact, Jesus warned us about them when he walked the earth: You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. (Matthew 24:6)

Such things must happen. In other words, the Lord knows about these things. We don’t know the why’s, but we know they will occur. And what does he tell us to do in response to these rumors and terrible happenings? Scream and shout, panic? No. He says do not be alarmed. What a dichotomy. The news of today is full of alarm, every day. There isn’t an online news site, a news program on television, or a newspaper that isn’t full of things that seek to cause alarm within us. Yet, the Lord calls his followers to intentionally (“see to it…”) not be alarmed.

I think what we can learn from this dichotomy is 1) There is a natural attraction to alarming news. This explains why the “rumor mill” has been such a fixture in societies across the world for millennia. Whether it is a rumor about someone’s infidelity or questionable choices (emotionally alarming) or about impending disaster (physically alarming), we are naturally prone to be alarmed. Thus, we talk about it with others and lament with one another what did or might happen. The more we talk, the more alarmed we become. And 2) To follow the Lord’s command to see to it that we are not alarmed, we must be intentional about it. Our instinct will be to get anxious or freak out, but the Lord calls us to resist that.

So, how do we do that? How do we not be alarmed when things seem so bad? I think the key is to recognize that God knows about all of these things. He knows about everything happening in the world and what will happen. It’s not as if he is in his throne room, isolated, and an angel comes with a message about some disaster on earth and his response is, “Oh, I hadn’t heard about that.” He is surprised by nothing that takes place. Thus, if our Lord knows about everything, why should we be alarmed? Given who he is (Colossians 1:15-18), if he knows about it, he is in control of it. And, if he is in control, we need not to be alarmed.

You may have had an occasion as a child when you were afraid of something, and you ran to your mom or dad for comfort. They held you in their arms and told you that everything would be alright. You didn’t necessarily know how that would happen, but you trusted your mom or dad that they would take care of whatever was alarming you and that brought you comfort and peace. In the same way, we can trust in the Lord. When we are feeling fear rise up within us, we can go to him as his child (John 1:12) and cast our anxieties upon him because he is our heavenly father and cares for us deeply (I Peter 5:7).

The daily news is bad, and most likely it will always be, but we don’t have to be alarmed. We serve the God of all Creation. He knows what is happening and he is in complete control.

I don’t know how all of this will turn out in the coming days, years, and decades, but he does. And like a child going to a parent in a time of crisis, that’s really all I need to know to calm me down and make me feel secure and at peace.