Unshackled Moments ~ July 27 ~ Don't Panic

Panic: a state or feeling of extreme fear that makes someone unable to act or think normally : a situation that causes many people to become afraid and to rush to do something.

According to a sci-fi classic series of books, the words Don't Panic, are boldly printed on the cover of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. Don't panic is really great advice in pretty much every case. In case of a fire, don't panic. Locate the nearest emergency exit blah, blah, blah. In case of being bitten by a rattlesnake, do not panic. Call 911 if possible. Then, or if it's not possible to call for help blah, blah, bah. Pretty much every procedure guide, training manual, lesson on survival all say that in whatever circumstance the most important thing to do is not to panic. Some may try to trick you into thinking they're saying something different by waiting until after the other advice is given and then recommending that no matter what, it is important to keep calm. Yeah, that's the same thing. Keep calm and don't panic. Great advice. Impossible. At least it's impossible without training, practise, and confidence.

If you watch war movies or read books about soldiers, you will see portrayals of men, who as danger approaches get calmer. A deadly calm settles over them as they go to a place where they can function in the face of death without allowing fear to cause them to make poor choices and bad decisions. They face the possibility of death as though they are not afraid to die to increase their chances of not dying. To the outsider, it looks either foolish or brave. The normal person panics under that fire, makes a mistake and dies. The soldier has learned that fear comes, but it is not a wise master. You can not ever afford to let it rule.

But no soldier starts courageous, able to feel fear but stay calm enough to do the job anyway. It comes from training, from drills and exercises and facing less threatening situations of a similar nature, and of course, for those who have been in battle before, it comes from experience.

We all have times when fear hits us. It can be overwhelming. But if we allow it to control us, to make us act without reasoned thought, we can quickly find ourselves in an even worse situation than what caused the fear in the first place. In Africa, man-eating lions would lie in wait at night outside villages. They would begin to roar causing fear. Those who panicked and ran out of their hut into the night would become prey. Panic is the enemy.

But how do we keep calm and not panic when the world is crumbling around us? We train by practicing giving our cares and worries to God with the little things as well as the big things. We fill our mind with God's word and promises so that when a crisis hits it is His truth and word that comes to mind rather than our own understanding. We need to so fill ourselves with the truth and God's plans of action that this is the information we draw on to guide our reactions. We need to train ourselves to stop and look to the Spirit for guidance before we react in all things. If we do this in every situation it becomes just as instinctive and second nature to stop and wait for the Spirit in the big crisis as it does in the little things that don't seem to matter. Those things that don't seem to matter may matter most, because if we get in the habit of handling those things ourselves without being guided by the Spirit our first move when the big things come will also be to look for our own solution first. Such a delay in allowing the Spirit control can be critical and make the difference between coming through the fire without being burned. Finally we gain confidence by practicing, training and in the experience gained by trusting God.

Every time we trust God's care and guidance, even when, especially when, we are afraid, we learn more and deeply and fully that He is indeed faithful and can be trusted. If we wait to move until He says move, if we move where He says to move to, we will always take the best steps possible. If we panic and react to fear without leaning on and looking to Him we open the door to death and destruction. It sounds simple, but it takes more than a choice. It takes doing it over and over in everything so that no matter what comes, big or small, we look to Him as our answer to the problem we are facing. The only way to truly Don't Panic is to learn to trust God. We could put that helpful tip on the cover of our Bible and anywhere that we would see it often to remind us of the truth that no matter what happens, no matter what comes against us, we don't have to react in fear, we can stop and look for guidance from Him who is faithful and able to save us.

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