To Deny Fear is to Deny to be Human

Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me - Psa 55:5 

What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee - Psa 56:3  

For, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears - 2Co 7:5  

You would think the little boy who had killed Goliath, and a bear and a lion had no more fears in his later life as an adult. But you would be wrong. Fear eventually caught up with David as it always does to all of us as the years strenuously march on.

Youthfulness is a time of robust and extemporaneous living. Their strokes on the canvas of life are bold and rugged.  In youth the faculties are sturdy and untrammeled by the dust of death. It is not so when one has bloomed into maturity. At this stage wear has set in and the veins that throbbed with strength once can now hardly stretch without a wince. At such a time fear is often a regular visitor in one’s life. He comes in unbidden and he doesn’t knock at the door.

 

There were times David felt as powerful as a rock, and other times when he felt deeply punctured and emasculated.

We go through the same episodic motions in our lives too. But the difference is that we do it in the closets of our lives. The loneliest and the most fearful persons are in our midst but we don’t see them. David did it in the open before “all Israel.” And whether he was crying or dancing like mad it did not shame him. Rather it elevated him to a greatly ennobled status among his subjects. He proved to them that he was human too.

 

But of course David is a type of Christ. He is an emblem of truth, of which our Lord Jesus Christ is. We are to bring everything to the light, including our fears, that we might obtain His help.

David would feel courageous enough to face Goliath alone at one time. At another he would be running away from his own son. Elijah would at one time massacre eight hundred and fifty false prophets of Baal. The next day he would be stampeding for his life because of a lone woman called Jezebel. The famous schemer Jacob may have wrestled God once, but he was once brought to his knees by his brother Esau.

These all stood at one time in their lives at the behest of great fear. But they also stood at behest of an indomitable courage once. In the end they became great not because they were born great, but because they did not obscure their humanity.

But the grace of God is an amazing grace. These were ordinary men greatly used by God. They were men of like passions like you and I. They fought and won tough battles at one time. At another they despaired even to death. But in the end they were victorious. They rose up from the dust of fear to stand at the pinnacle of strength. And that is always the road with this life.

So don’t hate yourself or feel embarrassed because you are afraid. You are in good company. Even Christ trembled at the agony that was about to befall him. That is why he understands us. That is why he is compassionate towards us. He has been down that road. He knows its bumps and its worn places.

They were afraid but it was for only one dark moment. In the morning shafts of light broke through and scattered to smithereens the gloom that had stubbornly attached itself to the landscape like glue. Their eyes readjusted their vision. Then the path they had lost in the darkness became clear again in the morning. Always there is a way out. Wait until morning and you will see it.

Trust God too. Trust him like a child trusts a father and He will come through for you. He will bring the depths that you are in to the surface again. You will see it and in the morning you will laugh out aloud.

But some fears are good. Like the fear of God. That is respect.  Other fears are comrades to our common sense. Like the fear of imminent danger. Therefore we don’t run towards a hurricane but we run away from it. This sort of fear is healthy. But too much fear can become pathological. In Christendom we call that demonic or a stronghold. Only Christ can bring such into captivity. On our own we can do nothing (2 Co. 10:4-5).

Have faith. But without faith it is impossible not only to please God – but also to please self. The perpetual fear mode saps energy. It shrinks the flesh. It dries the brain. Roses vanish overnight and thorns overrun the plains of the mind.

Fear is a fire. And no one loves to be in the place Daniel was unless God is on their side. To utterly cringe in fear is to come upon an embankment.  To despair is to fail one’s exam in the school of life. “If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.”

So gird the loins of your mind. Think straight. Weigh the circumstances. Is there really no way out absolutely? Be encouraged that though “a just man falleth seven times, [yet he] riseth up again.”

Then sometimes you will need to come out of the closet. Get out into the open and admit you are afraid. Admit that you are human after all. After that life will be easy. God never meant it to be complicated. We make it so ourselves.

And watch out for the devil. He is a comrade of fear. He magnifies it. He articulates a hundred ways to convince one that everything is impossible. But God stands on the other side throwing a rope with the banner “Nothing is Impossible with Me!” It is up to you to catch it.

Now the heart has been at school and it has accomplished its study in life. Weariness has set in. Even a bit of cynicism has slowly but arduously crept in. “Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.” So is there a new fear? - “it hath been already of old, which was before us”!

All people are afraid at the beginning. All tasks seem impossible at the beginning. Our parents were likely fearful once when they contemplated having us as their children. What, pray, was in store for them? But because of their faith they now look at us and are glad that the risk they took was worthwhile. Some may be regretting, probably, but that is life. It hardly starts and ends in a straight line.

Magnificent cities, and lights, and all sorts of good inventions dot the landscape of our living because people robustly fought their fears once. They fought their unbelief. Their minds went to work and not to sleep. They gave vent to their imaginations. And that gave birth to their ideas. They are the cities and avenues and motorways that we now see. I believe you can do that too if you believe. If you robustly fight off that fear. God is on the side of all that is good. Make it good and good luck!