Comfort in Fearful and Anxious Times?

“You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains” (Matthew 24:6–8). 

As I write, war abounds. Recently, Russia invaded Ukraine. As I write, these are the only two countries in direct conflict. But by the time you read this, perhaps the conflict will have escalated and spread. Lord, mercy! I hope not. I pray that it will have long been over. The more I think about it, the more I realize that at any given moment, there are wars and rumors of wars all throughout the world. It has been this way throughout history. Before instant and mass communication, only those in surrounding regions were aware of wars. In our information age where we have access to a constant stream of news, indeed, we are bombarded with it (banal or not). We are aware, if we care to be. 

And yet, the fact is that even if we are aware, we are incapable of personally responding to every issue and headline. That reality might leave us feeling incapacitated and depressed. At least, it does me sometimes. I want to help everyone I can, but my money, time, and skills are all limited. In short, I am not God. In the case of war, I wish it would stop, and I wish that my wishing would make it stop, that my praying would make it stop. Then I remember Moses. Even after he implored Pharaoh many times to let God’s people go, it was only after the Egyptians endured much suffering, tribulation, and the death of every firstborn of people and animals lacking the blood of Passover lambs on the doorframes of the houses that Pharaoh finally agreed to free the Israelites of their bondage (Exodus 5–1112:12–13, 29–32). And even then, his change of mind was temporary. Cease-fires are temporary.

And even if I could be Moses to stand up to the pharaohs of war, I doubt they would welcome my sentiments or advice. If I managed to speak with them for even a moment, in all likelihood, they would call security to escort me out, if they had any humanity about them. Or perhaps I’d end up a bit more like John the Baptist when he crossed Herod and his wife (whom Herod had married even though she was his brother Philip’s wife, and John protested; Matthew 14:3–4). After all, who am I? I am not a leader of nations or  military general, nor do I have incomprehensible sums of money to use as leverage to persuade state or military actors to end wars. 

What is a person to do in the face of such overwhelming futility? What could a person like me do should the worst happen and war comes to my shores and my community? I think we keep doing our best to love God and neighbor, whether that neighbor is friend or enemy. We live a life of prayer and godly action where we are and try to help others farther away from us as best we can. 

J. R. R. Tolkien summed it up well in the Lord of the Rings when Gandalf uttered these words: “It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succor of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule.” 

In other words, we can breathe knowing that we don’t have to master all the events and situations in the world. It’s impossible. They are beyond our control. But it is our responsibility to do what we can to alleviate the suffering and hardship where we are, to uproot the evil in our lives and locales for future generations. That’s how we actively do the best we can where we are right now in this moment; it is all that God asks of us. 

I posted this quote by Tolkien on social media, and my college friend Bethany commented in reply: “A man who lived through two World Wars is well qualified to speak on this.” I couldn’t agree more. Tolkien, who fought in World War I and lived through World War II in England, came to terms with what he could and should do in an unstable, warmongering world. His wisdom is comforting wisdom for me. Doing my best to overcome evil with good in my time and place, while doing what I can for others far away, is how I stay grounded amid war and rumors of war (see Romans 12:21 and Matthew 24:6–8). I can do nothing else.

–Written by Marlena Graves. Used by permission from the author.