Living Unafraid: Lessons on Hope from 31 of the Bible’s Most Loved Stories

Day OneI Will Fear No EvilYea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,I will fear no evil: for thou art with me. (Psalm 23:4 KJV)I pulled a chair next to her hospital bed and took her hand in mine. She’d been battling cancer for the better part of two years, and now her journey was nearing an end. She’d been amazingly strong throughout her treatment. Now she looked anxious. She asked me, “Adam, would you read me the words of the Twenty-­third Psalm once more?” As I did, I invited her to say them with me.The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He ­maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.I could sense her mulling over each phrase as she repeated them out loud. She pictured Jesus standing by her, lovingly watching over her. She imagined the green pastures and the pond at her grandparents’ home, where so many lovely childhood memories had been formed.I told her how, on a recent trip to the Holy Land, some Bedouin shepherds invited me to join them as they drove their flock two hours into the desert. The entire journey, I was struck by how close the flock stayed to the shepherds. In that dry and barren land, the shepherds carefully led their flock to areas with vegetation and cisterns, drawing clean water for the sheep to drink. And if a sheep started to wander, at the sound of the shepherd’s voice it would immediately run back.“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,” she continued, “for thou art with me.” Her words slowed, each one spoken with conviction, and the anxiety began to loosen from her eyes. “Thou art with me,” she repeated.As we prayed the psalm’s final lines, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever,” the woman remarked on how well those words described her life. “There has been pain, and sorrow, and some suffering,” she said, “but through it all, I’ve felt his goodness and mercy with me.” As I prepared to leave the hospital that day, the fear had vanished from the woman’s face.Psalm 23 has brought peace and comfort to people of faith for nearly three thousand years. It is a reminder of the many blessings in our lives, the moments when our hearts are full and our lives are overflowing with good things. And in times of pain, sorrow, and suffering, it is a reminder that God is our shepherd—­that he is always with us, and because of this we do not need to be afraid.I invite you to read the psalm aloud, making it your prayer for today. As you do, imagine God as your shepherd, and you his lamb whom he watches over, protects, and cares for.The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:he leadeth me beside the still waters.He restoreth my soul:he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,I will fear no evil: for thou art with me;thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. (Psalm 23:1–­6 KJV)Day TwoExposedDuring that day’s cool evening breeze, [Adam and Eve] heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden; and the man and his wife hid themselves from the Lord God in the middle of the garden’s trees. The Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” The man replied, “I heard your sound in the garden; I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself.” (Genesis 3:8–­10)Maggie, our family’s beloved beagle, was a terrific dog who remained our companion for almost eighteen years. Like most beagles, she also had a great nose. One year, right after Halloween, that nose got her in trouble. My wife, LaVon, and I always buy a bit more candy than we’ll need for trick-­or-­treaters, planning to enjoy it in the weeks that follow. (Peanut butter cups are our favorite.) After the last kids had rung our doorbell that night, we took the basket of candy and put it on the second shelf in our pantry.You know where this is going, right? While we were at work the next day, Maggie pushed open the pantry door and somehow grabbed the basket from the second shelf. We came home to find a trail of candy wrappers strewn across the floor.Maggie usually ran to meet us at the door, but that night there was no sign of her. Knowing that chocolate can be deadly for a dog, we began to shout, “Maggie!” But Maggie didn’t come. We kept shouting and searching, worried that something had happened to her. That was when we noticed that there were wrappers in the bedroom, leading under the bed. When we looked under the bed, there she was. To our relief she did not appear to be sick, but she did look pretty guilty, tail tucked between her legs, aware that she’d done something she wasn’t supposed to do.Maggie’s story reminds me of the first time fear shows up in the Bible. You likely know the story. God created Adam and Eve and gave them the Garden of Eden for their home. It was a beautiful place, lovely and safe, with the most wonderful things to see and eat. There was just one rule: Don’t eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.But you know how that goes—­tell someone not to eat something, and suddenly it becomes the one thing they most desperately want. So, with the help of the talking serpent, Adam and Eve convinced themselves that it was ­really okay to eat the forbidden fruit. They plucked and ate it. And immediately they understood that they’d made a mistake. Ashamed, and afraid of being caught and exposed, they tried to hide from God.This is not simply the story of two people who lived ages ago. This is our story. Each of us has heard the serpent’s whisper, calling us to do what we know we should not do. And when we succumb to temptation, the fear of getting caught usually comes next.I wonder if you ever fear being exposed. It might be because of something you did that you knew was wrong, something that would lead to public embarrassment, or worse, if people found out. As a pastor for thirty years, I’ve heard many confessions—­about things people sought God’s forgiveness for, even if they were not ready to admit these things to anyone else. Here I’ve seen the truth behind the cliché “Confession is good for the soul.” When we finally admit the wrong we’ve done and seek to make amends, fear often gives way to relief.The Bible promises that God is “rich in mercy” and “abounding in steadfast love.” The theologian Paul Tillich put it another way, saying that forgiveness is “God’s answer to the questions implied by our existence.” The preeminent sign of God’s forgiveness was a cross, upon which Jesus hung, praying, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”