How Firm is Your Foundation When Faced with Fear?

Music has proven to be a power tool in times of distress. I often find myself humming a song when I’m nervous, scared, or overwhelmed. One of my favorite songs of all time is called How Firm a Foundation written by Robert Keen back in the 1700’s.  It was published in the first Hymn book of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 1835. I think what first interested me in this hymn was its catchy tune. However, the words never became more powerful until just this last week.

In verse three we sing:

Fear not, I am with thee; oh, be not dismayed,

For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.

I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,

Upheld by my righteous, upheld by my righteous,

Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.

Fear is an inevitable factor in the lives of people. The times we are living in is unique any other time in history. Technology plays a huge role in that. We seem to know about everything going on in the world that sometimes life gets overwhelming and scary. I know I am exhausted and nervous by all the stimulus and yet, it doesn’t stop. We defiantly live in a time when many things plague us. I had the opportunity a week ago to attend a leadership conference where Elder Holland was in attendance. I learned that most plagues now days are more moral than anything. With this virus pandemic on our minds, that may be a little hard to agree with. However, if you take a look at actions of the people which is a reflection of their hearts, you will see the inspiration in that message.

We see how fear can disrupt our hearts illustrated in one of my favorite stories of Peter in the New Testament. Life has brought some particularly rough struggles for me this past year. In one specific weak moment, my sister Chris taught me about Peter. Just like all of us, Peter worked daily on his weaknesses. If you couldn’t already guess, one of his shortcomings was fear, similar to many of us.

One evening after Christ had performed the miracle of feeding the 5,000, he asked his apostles to go wait for him in a boat. This particular evening, the sea was rough. This was a common occurrence for the wind to blow across the waters. Many of the apostles were fishermen and had grown accustomed to the turbulent sea. However, while they were waiting for their Master to meet them, their fear grew.

Christ finally arrived. The scriptures tell us that when the apostles saw him they were afraid.  They knew he was coming. He told them to wait for him. Yet I believe since there was already fear in their hearts they did not recognize him. In his efforts to bring peace to their souls, Jesus quickly spoke saying, “Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.” (Matthew 14:27)

Peter had so much desire to have faith in his Master.  He wanted to go to him. Jesus, as always, invited him to “Come”. Peter stepped out of the boat and for a short time walked on the water. However, after a few minutes, Peter lost his focus and instead of seeing Christ, he saw the rough waters.  This is when he sank. Christ did not want Peter to sink. He immediately and lovingly stretched forth his hand and invited Peter to take hold. Jesus then asked, “O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” (verse 31)

When Peter had his focus on the Savior the winds and rough waters didn’t bother him. It was only when he shifted his focus to the world and the scary things going on around him that he sank. President Nelson, while inviting us to prepare for conference, said, “In the scriptures, there are very few sacred instances in which the voice of God the Father has been heard.  So, when He says something, we really need to listen.  Repeatedly, He has personally introduced His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, with a specific charge to “Hear Him!”’

Our Savior has repeatedly asked us to not fear but to have faith in him. Too often our hearts turn away from him and we fear.  As we have seen already in society, when we fear, we do irrational things. Our decisions out of fear cause us to act in ways that only harm ourselves, families, and society.

Fear just doesn’t happen when we are faced with a pandemic.  We encounter fear in our everyday lives. May times we act out of fear that pushes us way from our Savior. These actions often lead to immoral choices which create plagues that destroy.

Just as Christ was with Peter, he is with us. His hand is always stretched out, we just have to choose to take it. Elder Holland often refers to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as one of happy endings. Everything will work out. When we sing How Firm a Foundation we are reminded: “I am thy God and will still give thee aid.” When we come to him, we will help us through the rough patches. And while all the hard and scary are going on, we are given the miraculous gift of finding joy.

I know joy can come when the world is scary. The key is to stop, listen to, and follow what our Savior Jesus Christ has told us. When we follow him, he promises joy beyond what we can comprehend. For me, the power of the words in the song came when I humbled myself and chose to have faith instead of fear. This is when he will give strength and “cause thee to stand” while facing perilous times.