Taming The Y2K Tiger

God knows more than all the world’s geniuses put together.Taming The Y2K Tiger Calamity or hoax? Wouldn’t we all like to know? With the countdown to the new millennium nearing the end, the media coverage of the Y2K Bug will turn into a virtual blizzard in time for the Christmas holidays. By now few people on the North American continent have been able to escape the rising tide of information that threatens to swamp the average person on the street. Seems that everyone knows “someone” who has it on “good authority” that either the world will come to an end at the stroke of midnight on January 1, 2000, or that this is the most successful scam ever perpetrated upon modern man. So what are we to do, what are we to think - we the regular folks with little or no technical expertise? Where can we go to get reliable information? Would we even be able to recognize reliable information when we saw it? After all, people don’t want to overreact and look silly with 1,357 cans of soup lining the walls of their basement if the bug turns out to not be so serious. But what if it is? Then suddenly the doomsayers look very prudent, and the rest seem so, well, foolish. Someone knows
There is good news: Someone knows exactly what is going to happen when the new millennium dawns. Once He even said of Himself, “Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me.” And what makes Him so unique? The fact that, as God, He “make(s) known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come.” And no matter what happens, He assures us that His “purpose will stand, and (He) will do all that (He) pleases” (Isa. 46:9-10). God knows. He knew that the Flood was coming and announced it 120 years before it hit. He knew of the famine in Egypt and reported it seven years ahead of time. In each case, disaster did strike, but God was there preserving His people. It is no different today, because God is no different today. As with any mystery, the place to begin to unravel it is not in the news, but on our knees before the One who knows. It is in the presence of God that the anxious thoughts which rob us of peace are set at ease. In fact it is these very anxieties which undermine our ability to think clearly. Anxieties make us think that we have to understand all things, to foresee all things, to provide all things for ourselves. But our anxieties are wrong, not because understanding or knowing or providing are wrong, but because the provision of these things is not our responsibility, but God’s (Mt. 6:25-34). The prescription for anxiety
God calls us to cast these anxious fears upon Him, resting in His care (1 Pet. 5:7), and thus to allow His peace to pervade our thinking (Isa. 26:3). One of the reasons situations like Y2K are so confusing is because we insist on looking at them through the filter of our anxieties. It seems funny, but how often do we find ourselves thinking that God really isn’t up on computers and technology; that somehow He still writes on tablets of stone? After all computers are human inventions, right? The fact is that God knows more than all the world’s geniuses put together. In fact, He has an intimate knowledge of all the technology that hasn’t been invented yet. If we really want to understand how to respond to Y2K, then we must first embrace the attitudes which make clear thinking possible. The capacity to weigh information carefully is the by-product of a heart that has cast its fears upon a sovereign God who doesn’t just know all things, but who actually loves us! Armed with this perspective, the child of God will then be in a position to distinguish truth from fiction, a godly response from a panic reaction. Fear or faith
Today there are any number of “authorities” on Y2K. A number speak from a “Christian” perspective, offering the Church “insights” into the divine mind. Perhaps it is because Christians have been taught to walk by faith and not by sight, that we are sometimes so gullible. A few facts, a few figures, throw in a pinch of the end-times, and behold! The stage is set for the anti-Christ to appear at any moment. “Informed” believers liquidate assets, lease land in “Y2K communes” in Montana, buy gold, stockpile three years’ worth of food, and, of course, search diligently for government conspiracies under every rock. (Don’t laugh, all this is actually being done by Christians!) How is it that the household of faith could be so spooked? “Panic” and “Christian” are supposed to be oxymorons. This is what happens when believers forget to check their anxiety at the door: they become prey to every prophet of doom who comes down the road - with a book and video to sell, of course! We do well to recognize that fear has an insatiable appetite for rumor and gossip. Faith, on the other hand, is distinguished by its unique ability to not only expose fear within our own hearts, but also to recognize it in the actions and words of others. In this we have a useful test for evaluating Y2K news and information: Is the author fueling fear or faith? A responsible response
Now that you’ve considered all this, you’re probably expecting to read that everything is OK, that nothing is going to happen. But that isn’t true. Airplanes aren’t going to fall out of the sky. Nuclear missiles aren’t going to launch on their own and spark war. The world’s banking institutions aren’t going to fail en masse. But this is not the same as saying that nothing will happen. The question with Y2K is not whether bad things will occur, but rather to what extent they will occur. The occurrence of disaster does not diminish the omnipotent sovereignty of God in the least. Remember, God’s sovereign hand doesn’t always prevent disaster; He is more likely to preserve us in spite of disaster. Add all this together and we find that there is still a legitimate basis for preparing for disaster, because preparation and faith are not mutually exclusive propositions. The point of faith is that it teaches us how to respond appropriately, in accordance with the purposes of God. It takes as much faith to believe God when He says disaster will happen (Gen. 6), as it does to believe God when He says nothing will happen (Ps. 91:9-10). Consequently, there is nothing wrong with taking responsible precautions. After all, Noah built an ark; Joseph prepared Egypt for the famine. In each case the precaution was commensurate with the need. What is striking about these precautions is not the fact of their existence, but their orientation. In both instances the preparations were oriented away from self, and toward helping others. Noah could have built a boat big enough to save just him and his family. But he warned the people of the impending judgment, implying that there was room on the ark for those who believed. Joseph could have kept all the grain for Egypt, but he shared it with the surrounding peoples. You see, there is a fundamental difference between hoarding and storing. Hoarding keeps to self. Storing shares with others. Hoarding overstocks out of fear for the future - thus creating shortages for others; storing contributes its share in keeping with faith - all for the common good. Hoarding is motivated by fear; storing acts on faith. A testimony of peace
More than anything else, a right attitude before God is the best defense against panic in the face of Y2K. It is this otherworldly peace which will be the greatest testimony to those around us who have lost their heads. It is a peace that comes not from knowing we have enough supplies stashed in the cellar, but that we know the One who orchestrates the affairs of men to fulfill His perfect will. It is a peace which quietly attends to the lessons God is trying to convey to mankind. After all, this isn’t the first time God has spoken through events such as these. In fact, God has an unsettling knack for singling out the gods in which we have come to depend, and exposing them as worthless. This generation has worshiped at the altar of technology. We did it when the Titanic set sail and asserted that “God Himself couldn’t sink this ship!” But He did, and we still haven’t learned our lesson. Today it isn’t a ship, but computers. They are wonderful tools, but they will never replace our need for an omniscient God. And that, I believe, is the big lesson behind Y2K. By Dave Hart