August 28: Of Fear and Whistling Happy Tunes

Job 28:1-30:31

2 Corinthians 2:12-17

Psalm 42:1-11

Proverbs 22:7

Do you feel down?  Depressed?  Frustrated, angry, lost, worried?  Understandable, perhaps, when you think of everything going on - between the pandemic around the world (wave 1, 2 or 3 depending on where you are), the choice between risk of illness and death against risk of economic disaster, joblessness and hunger.  

But what about when things are going well - do you find yourself troubled, worried?  And do you feel guilty about it, when God already seems to have made your paths straight, and you are still worried about taking that first step?

You're not alone.  In today's NT reading, Paul seems to have that problem as well.  We read ow Paul went to Troas to preach the Gospel of Christ and found that although the Lord had open a door for him, but he STILL had no peace of mind.  With Paul, we are in good company.  

In today's psalm, we find the answer.  The psalmist, too, is confused at his angst.  "Why, my soul, are you downcast?"  His prescription - put your hope in God.  Despite how you feel, "for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God."

I like quoting my parents - fonts of God's wisdom, those two, and they have long tossed those pearls before the unheeding swine that I have been for so many years.  Today's pearl: "motion before emotion", a rule more elaborately explained in the song "I Whistle a Happy Tune", from "The King and I".  I quote: 

Whenever I feel afraid, I hold my head erect

and whistle a happy tune, so no one will suspect 

I'm afraid…..

The result of this deception is very strange to tell

For when I fool the people I fear, I fool myself as well

It works like this: when you are fearful and downcast, give thanks and praise to God.  You may not feel like it - do it anyway.  And as you do it, and as you call to mind all that God has given, and all that He has done to deserve both thanks and praise, the fear and the downcast feelings are replaced with awe and gratitude.  

Father, during times of distress, both explicable and inexplicable, teach us to come to you with praise and thanksgiving, so we remember and realize Who it is that loves us, that cares for us, that watches over us.  To paraphrase the song again:

"We whistle a song of praise, and every single time

The happiness in that song, reminds us we need not be afraid."