Made to Tremble

 

MADE TO TREMBLE

by Blair Linne

Anxiety - the buzz word at the moment. Can a Christian suffer from it? How does someone cope with it? The question really should be how do we as Christians help those who are suffering with anxiety? One word - listen. Not offer solutions or attack them with the latest proven methods but simply by our presence without saying anything we can provide support.

As I have been chronologically reading scripture this year I have read a lot of books around them. This book Made to Tremble has an excellent chapter on the book of Job. It reinforces many lessons already learned and new ones in the matter of anxiety.

Job's friends did a lot of what we do today. Yes they started off by listening but then they changed tactics. They approached Job's suffering by stating something was wrong with Job. "Look to your past because you have done something and its now pay back time."

But Job's situation was as a result of something he had not done. In fact he hadn't done anything wrong. It was not wrong to work hard and build up his flocks and herds. He had prayed and sacrificed for his family and there was no sin he himself needed to repent of.

One size does not fit all. Sometimes we say the wrong thing to a person in this situation. We can even sit back and judge people in such a situation.

I love Blair Linne's honesty in this book about her own personal experience with anxiety. She openly talks about her attitude to someone struggling with anxiety and panic before her own experience - how pious she was, looking down on them with contempt.

So often we tell people that they should be praying more or reading their bible more or even confessing some sin that is preventing them from being 'healed'. Whilst this is all good advice what actually might be lacking is many other emotional, physical and mental factors needed to reduce anxiety.

As I have read this book I have found myself guilty towards others suffering anxiety but also have become aware of my own anxiety particularly in relation to how I relate to others. There is a sense of wanting to be accepted particularly in a church setting and this manifests itself in the desire to be 'doing' something, whether it is playing the piano or teaching children. Then I would become anxious that people's expectations of me don't quite measure up and I become anxious and withdraw. I am sure even writing this post will lead to anxiety wondering how those who read it will think of me. It's a vicious cycle and one I think many of us can recognise over and over again.

I love Blair Linne's practical advice at the end of her chapter on Job. Sometimes we need to be open with others about our anxiety. We often bottle up our feelings and emotions when really we should be open and honest with family and friends. Again there can be anxiety in even doing this because there is the fear of acceptance. Equally true is how we respond. Too often we have a knee jerk reaction which is entirely inappropriate. As I said before listening and not acting too quickly to someone's disclosure can be the best course of action. I speak from personal experience as I write this!

I love how Blair looks at the specifics of prayer. She draws on the examples of the persistent widow in Luke 18 and the man who woke his neighbour to ask for 3 loaves of bread in Luke 11. Again in Acts 12 as the church gathered to pray they asked not for the gospel to go forth in the city but rather for Peter who was in prison. Drawing on Philippians 4 where we are told to present our requests to God in prayer, Blair took every instance of anxiety and prayed specifically to God about it.

Casting our burdens means releasing your cares to God in faith. It means surrendering everything to him. God will catch them all.

James tells us "God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble." The only thing waiting for you is God's is rejection.

Now look at how many scripture passages I have referred to here. It might not be a straight forward reading of a chapter of scripture but these words have so much power and impact on my life right now.

What I am saying is this - yes it is good to have routine and structure but sometimes God uses other means to speak directly to us and our situation. And that's OK. We need to recognise that it is not about ticking boxes but rather listening to God's direction for our lives.

Exodus 3 verse 11 "who am I that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" I am sure we have all asked ourselves this question "who am I"? Moses had no confidence in his ability. 40 years previously he had defended others and even killed a man but now he recognised his own weakness.

God had to reveal who he was - self-existent, self-sufficient, eternal and unchangeable. He is never bound by time, place or circumstance. He is a safe place. God is never found trembling. The Great I Am is stable, steady and safe.

By choosing to fear God - Moses was able to lead God's people through the uncontrollable and the impossible.

God used a man who was afraid to speak to accomplish his will.

FOREWORD

Paul Tripp opens Made to Tremble by looking at 2 Corinthians 4 verses 7 to 10.

The apostle Paul likens you and I to jars of clay. It is not a picture of strength but of being fragile and weak. If you drop a jar of clay it will shatter into pieces. We are all weak and we must reconcile ourselves or make peace with our fragile clay-ness. Our weakness reminds is that we are not OK left on our own. We can depend on God. He gives us strength, security and we can rest on him. Weakness is a doorway into the best, most wonderful life ever, the kind of life that is only found when you find your strength and rest in the One whose storehouse of strength is infinite. Anxiety is one of the many ways he confronted us with the inescapable reality of our weakness. He uses anxiety to reveal our weakness not as an action of mockery or condemnation but as a response of redeeming love. In exposing our weakness God is wrapping arms of divine love around us and drawing us near to find in him what we cannot find in ourselves or in anything or anyone else. Paul wants us to know that God has given us something enormously better than a weakness free or anxiety free life. He has given us the gift of gifts - himself and with him is everything you need. Weakness is not your enemy. It is a means of bringing you to accept who you are and to celebrate what you have been offered in him. We are the cracked clay. He is the ultimate treasure.

In CHAPTER 1 - Anxiety knows my name there is a personal account of how the author's anxiety started and escalated.

CHAPTER 2 - To hide or not to hide, that is the question - this is the story of Adam and Eve, their sin and the consequences of their sin

"Adam and Eve hide behind fig leaves. We might think this is a foolish thing to do when one is afraid of death but in truth we all do the same thing just in different ways. Everyone will face death. Often its not only that we will die but when and how we might die that can frighten us. What we are really fearing is the unknown. We know 10 out of 10 people will die but we don't want it to be a painful slow death. So we hide. We hide behind our carefully crafted images, our social media feeds, our youthful products, sin and excuses or we throw ourselves into work and ministry, assuming that if we patch enough of these things together, we will avoid what is inevitable - judgment. As though what we hide behind will conceal what God already knows. The problem with fig leaves, real or metaphorical, is that they do not make for a proper covering for the aftereffects that come with something as damaging as sin."

But what does God do in response?

"God pursues Adam and Eve, not only after the world's most colossal mistake (the sin of rebellion) - but also after the world's worst anxious reaction to that mistake (fear, hiding, covering up). God does not wait for them to figure out that their anxious response was misguided. He knows they have concealed their deepest issues and anxieties with improper coverings, and he moves toward them to cover them both up with something better. He handles the problem with both parties present, allowing their healing to be experienced with him instead of in isolation.

God knows their anxious responses to sin and suffering are going to fail them and instead of abandoning them, he draws near to help them. He beckons them out of the shadows. He does the same today. When we hide, he seeks. He does more than that; he makes it so that there's no longer a reason to hide even if we do feel afraid."