Hope Changes EverythingSample

When you look beneath the surface of life, you’ll find that fear is a driving force behind many of the decisions we make. We stumble into some pain in life and that creates fear. We’re afraid we’ll be hurt again, so we modify our decisions based on that. If it’s a repeated hurt, then we make determinations to escape it or remove it through some means (retributive violence, calling the cops, relocation, quitting a job, you name it—we are very creative in the ways we try to escape fear).

Fear is actually an age-old problem, going all the way back to the story of Adam, Eve, the garden of Eden, and a smooth-talking serpent. You probably know the story: in the book of Genesis, God creates the world, plunks a beautiful garden down in the middle of it, and then creates Adam and Eve to take care of it. He tells them they can eat from any tree except one, which is the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. And that’s where we see the serpent (traditionally understood to be a manifestation of the devil—it was, after all, a talking snake) use the lie of fear to motivate Adam and Eve into some stupid decisions.

In Genesis 3, we read all about the serpent’s techniques and tactics. I imagine him sidling up to Eve like a creepy, trenchcoat-wearing guy at a party, slipping his arm around her, and using an innocent question to play on her fears. What does he ask? “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’”

Eve responds with confidence, but I think her response also masks a little bit of fear. She tries a little too hard to make her point: “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” If you check out the original command given a chapter earlier, you’ll notice God didn’t say anything either way about touching the fruit.

And so what does the serpent say? Seeing his opening, he slips in a subtle fear: “‘You will not certainly die,’ the serpent said to the woman. ‘For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’”

Did you see the fear? It’s subtle, but it’s there:

It’s the fear of missing out.

The serpent is telling Eve: Are you sure about that? You can be like God! You can know the difference between good and evil—think about what you could do with that kind of information! Think of how great your life could be! Don’t miss this opportunity! Act now! Operators are standing by!

And so what happens? Eve buys the lie, gives into her fear, convincing herself it’s really because she wants to get some wisdom, and plucks some fruit off the tree to eat it. She doesn’t want to miss this opportunity to be like God! So off comes the fruit, in go her teeth, chomp chomp. Nom-nom. Mmm, this is pretty good. Adam, you want some of this? Here you go, dude.

Yes, according to the story we read in Genesis 3:6, Adam was standing right there the whole time, and he had no problem digging in to the forbidden fruit, just like Eve had. Once they do that, their “eyes… were opened” and the realization hit them that they were naked, which brought a quick helping of shame, which led them to the decision to sew together some fig leaves to hide their nakedness.

All because of fear. They took the fruit because they were afraid to miss out. Then they were ashamed because they were afraid of themselves. Then they covered themselves up because they were afraid of their nakedness.

But covering themselves wasn’t enough, because now they know they’ve disobeyed God’s commands and are afraid of the repercussions. So, in addition to covering over their nakedness, Adam and Eve cover their tracks and hide among the trees when they hear God walking toward them, prompting God to call out, “Where are you?”

Adam hears the question and reveals his motivation: “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

He was afraid.

Fear escalates. Let it in, and the result will always be to make you more afraid.

Fear is such an unreliable motivator. God had already given Adam and Eve perfection. He’d given them everything they needed—including an identity—and they still had trouble buying into it.

So if you’re giving yourself a hard time over the ways you’ve reacted to pain, or to the fear it’s created within you, don’t beat yourself up. If Adam and Eve, living in a sin-free paradise, couldn’t tune out fear completely, then you sure won’t be able to do it either.

But there is a lot you can do to combat the fear and to turn your pain into something beautiful. It all starts with believing what God says about you, who He says you really are, and how that differs from what you tend to think about yourself. That’s where the hope comes in, and that changes everything.