Learning to Live with Fear

Day Six: Things Will Get Worse

I’m afraid this morning.

I’m afraid of our new military engagement with Iran and all that it will mean in the coming days.

I’m afraid of the authoritarian turn of our system of government in which due process of law is suspended for the president’s favorite targets.

I’m afraid of looming economic collapse because of tariffs and ballooning federal deficits.

I’m afraid of rapid climate change which is raising ocean levels at unprecedented rates, triggering dramatic storm events, and creating new kinds of refugees.

I’m afraid of angry MAGA zealots with guns.

I’m afraid of cuts to Medicaid, Social Security, and essential infrastructure.

I’m afraid that I’m going to lose my job.

I’m afraid of looming personal family issues.

I’m afraid of so much.

Are you afraid, too?

You ought to be.

Every day, you and I arise to a fearful world. It’s not getting better.

I don’t say that glibly or with a smile on my face. It’s not a laughing matter.

Never before have I felt so absolutely helpless in the face of my circumstances.

I can’t bear to read another Substack piece which goes on and on about “people power” and “the tide is turning.” I’m done with silver linings, checklists of resistance work, encouragements to keep fighting. I’m tired of Rachel Maddow saying, “Trump’s losing — the people are winning!” I don’t believe the optimists anymore.

There’s only one thing I believe:

Things will get worse.

There — I sound like one of the Hebrew prophets.

That’s exactly what the prophets said, over and over and over again. Their message was relentlessly pessimistic. Every single one of them said, “Things will get worse.”

The one thing the prophets can teach is how to live with persistent fear.

I tried reading the book of Amos in this light and to be honest, it made me more fearful. I saw that the first step in living with fear is to acknowledge it, accept it. There’s no avoiding it — things will get worse.

Amos is very clear about this. His entire message can be boiled down to one line — “Northern Israel will be destroyed.” That’s it. I can’t imagine a more fearful message.

According to Amos, it’s a done deal, a fait accompli. There are no other possibilities for Israel. There’s absolutely no last chance, no opportunity to negotiate with God. Nope, Israel is finished.

That’s why Amos was widely derided and ignored; nobody wanted to hear this sort of thing. The king even sent for Amos to ask him why he was so relentlessly negative. Amos’ reply? “Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword, and your land will be measured and divided up; you yourself will die in an unclean land, and Israel will surely be taken away from its land” (Amos 7:17).

We don’t know how the king responded to that, but he’s not heard from again in the book.

But still I want to know — how does one go on living with this kind of fear? How do you get up every morning knowing that things are collapsing, falling apart, disintegrating?

I can only find one piece of advice in Amos’ writing. It’s buried there in chapter 5. Amos says, “Hate evil, love good, and establish justice at the city gate. Perhaps the Lord God of heavenly forces will be gracious to what is left of Joseph” (5:15).

It’s not a formula for happiness or self-fulfillment, but it is absolutely the only way to live in fearful times: hate the evil and resist it whenever you see it; love the good and practice it as much as possible; work for justice to whatever extent you can.

That’s all one can do.

Notice that Amos never says, “Don’t be afraid.” He never says that. Ever. He knows the stakes are too high to deny reality, to put on a happy face and quote Maya Angelou.

Instead Amos gives us permission to fear, to admit that we don’t know what to do, to shake in our boots a little or a lot.

This morning, I’m sitting with all my fears, listening and observing, paying close attention. Because they’re going to be my close companions from now on. Might as well befriend them.

---

MORNING PRAYER

God of divine power,
if you can’t tell me “Fear not,”
then at least can you shine
a little light in my direction?

Jesus the king,
if you won’t protect me with a legion of angels,
then at least can you sit with me
a little while by the river?

Holy Spirit of mighty wind,
if you don’t send your dove of peace upon me,
then at least can you give me
a moment of tranquility?

Amen

---

“A lion has roared;
who will not fear?”

Amos 3:8