Reaction Vs. Response

    Today is the day that America finishes their 2026 midterm elections. Votes are being tallied, people watching the news and social media feeds with anticipation on which direction that this country is going to head. Something tells me, human nature in fact, that the next couple of weeks are going to become ugly. People are going to react, positively if their “side” wins and negatively if they lose. Very few people will take the time to respond but the reaction will be enormous. So, what is the difference between the two and how does that affect us?

    Reacting is instant. Something happens, and before we’ve had a chance to think or pray, our mouth has already moved, our temper has already flared, or our feet are already running. A reaction is driven by whatever is loudest inside us at that moment, and very often that is fear.

    Responding is different. A response has a pause in it. There is a breath, a thought, a prayer, and then a choice. A response is driven by what we believe, and when it’s at its best, that is faith.

    Look at Israel at the Red Sea in Exodus 14. Pharaoh’s army is behind them and the water is in front of them. What do they do? They panic. They turn on Moses and say it would have been better to stay in Egypt. That is a reaction. They had just watched God break Egypt with plagues, they saw the power of God. They witnessed Egyptians burying their children. And yet, in the moment fear drowned out every memory of His faithfulness.

    Moses answers with a different spirit: "Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace." Exodus 14: 13-14. Notice he doesn’t say there is nothing to be afraid of. The army is real. He says, don’t let the fear drive.

    Or think of Peter in Matthew 14. He steps out of the boat and walks on water. That was faith. Then he sees the wind, and he begins to sink. Nothing about the storm changed. What changed was where he was looking. He took his eyes from Jesus and onto the storm. Fear took the wheel, and he cried out, “Lord, save me.”

    Fear tells us that everything depends on us, that God is absent, and that we must act right now or lose everything. That is why reactions so often leave wreckage behind: the harsh word, the rash decision, the bridge burned in an afternoon and mourned for years.

    Scripture gives us the other path. “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” Proverbs 15:1.  James 1:19 tells us to be “swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath”. That is a description of responding: space between the stimulus and the answer, and God invited into that space.

    Jesus is our clearest picture of this. In Mark 4, a violent storm is breaking over the boat, and He is asleep in the stern. When the disciples wake Him, He doesn’t scramble. He speaks to the wind and the waves, and then He asks His friends, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” The storm outside was loud, but the peace inside Him was louder.

    Now some of you are thinking, “But what about Jesus in the temple? Wasn’t that anger? Wasn’t that a reaction?” Let’s look closely, because this story shows us the difference better than almost any other.

    In John 2, Jesus goes up to Jerusalem for the Passover. He walks into the temple, the house of His Father, and finds it full of people selling oxen, sheep, and doves, with money changers sitting at their tables. A place meant for prayer had become a marketplace. Worship was replaced with commerce.

    Now, what would a reaction look like? A reaction would have been to grab the nearest table and start swinging the moment He saw it. But read verse 15: “So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts.”

    When he had made it. Before a single table was overturned, Jesus stopped. He saw it, took it in, and then sat down and braided cords into a whip. That takes time. It takes a plan. Every knot was a pause. By the time He stood up, His anger had been shaped into purpose. Even the other Gospels hint at this. In Mark 11, Jesus enters the temple, looks around at everything, and leaves. He comes back the next day to act. This was not a man who lost control. This was a man who was in control of His anger and not controlled by it.

    And notice who He drove out and how. He told those selling doves, “Take these things away! Do not  make my Father’s house a house of merchandise.” He didn’t strike the doves or the people who were poor. He aimed at the corruption, not at the crowd. A reaction lashes out at whatever is nearby. A response knows exactly what it is confronting and why.

    Here is what the disciples remembered afterward: “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.” John 2:17. His motive was not fear, ego, or wounded pride. It was zeal for His Father. Fear says, “Protect yourself.” Faith says, “Honor God, whatever it costs.” Jesus faced down a crowd, the merchants, and the religious authorities who profited from all of it, and He was not intimidated by any of them. He acted from a place of settled trust in His Father.

    This tells us something important. Responding doesn’t mean we never get angry. Paul writes in Ephesians 4:26, “Be angry, and do not sin.” Righteous anger is real. The question is whether it is driven by impulse or guided by purpose. A reaction burns hot and burns everything. A response makes a whip first. It stops, thinks, prays, and then acts with intention.

    So when something stirs you up, ask yourself: Am I about to flip a table, or am I willing to braid the cords first?

    Now hear this next part carefully, because it is where many people get discouraged. Responding does not mean you are never afraid. A person who responds in faith is not someone who has escaped fear. It is someone who feels it fully and refuses to let it make the decision.

    David was a man of great faith, and he was also a man who knew terror. Hunted by Saul, surrounded by enemies, he wrote: “Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You” Psalm 56:3. Look at the order of those words. I am afraid. He doesn’t deny it. I will trust. He decides. Faith in that verse is not the absence of fear. It is the choice made in the middle of it.

    Elijah stood against 450 prophets of Baal and saw fire fall from heaven. Then one threat from Jezebel sent him running into the wilderness, begging to die. Even a man like that felt fear. And God did not scold him. He fed him, let him rest, and spoke to him in a still, small voice. God knows our frame.

    Even Jesus, in Gethsemane, was in such anguish that He sweat drops like blood. He asked if the cup could pass. Then He said, “nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” Luke 22:42. Feeling the weight and choosing the Father anyway is the very heart of a faith response.

    This is also why God keeps saying, “Fear not.” He tells Joshua, “Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid” Joshua 1:9. You don’t command someone to be courageous unless fear is a real possibility. Courage and faith were never meant to describe people without fear. They describe people who have fear and choose otherwise.

So how do we respond?

    Here is a simple pattern.

    First, pause. Even three seconds. Fear wants speed, and faith can afford to wait.

    Second, name the fear honestly. Tell God what you’re afraid of. Philippians 4:6-7 says to bring everything to Him in prayer with thanksgiving, and that His peace will guard our hearts and minds. Peace doesn’t come from pretending. It comes from handing it over.

    Third, choose. Ask yourself: What does faith do here? What would trusting God look like in this exact moment? Then do that, even if your hands are shaking. Especially if they are.

    And if you react anyway, and you will sometimes, remember that Peter’s story doesn’t end at the sinking. “Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand, and caught him.” Grace is there for the reaction, too, and it trains us toward the response.

    Reacting asks, “What do I feel?” and lets the answer rule. Responding asks, “What do I believe?” and lets that answer lead.

    Both people may be afraid. The difference is who gets the final word. Paul wrote, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7. A sound mind is a mind that can pause, trust, and choose.

    So while the election results come pouring in, whether your side wins or not, and we see the nation reacting, let’s pause and pray. Let us pray for those that are in fear. Let’s pray for those that are reacting. And let’s pray that we will take our petitions to God and choose faith.