Fear Factor

Fear Factor

By Grant Gaines

There are over 500 phobias (“an excessive or irrational fear reaction”¹) recognized by the American Psychiatric Association, medical papers, and reference books². Some of the most common phobias include: Arachnophobia (fear of spiders), Ophidiophobia (fear of snakes), Acrophobia (fear of heights), Cynophobia (fear of dogs), and Astraphobia (fear of thunder and lightning).

But of all these 500+ phobias that are medically recognized in today’s world, do you know how many fears you were born with? Just two-the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. That’s it. You weren’t afraid of public speaking, death, spiders, the monster in your closet, or the creepy circus clown when you first came out of the womb. The only two things you were afraid of were loud noises and falling.

Think about what that means for a moment. Every other fear that you now have is not the way God designed you. Sure, you should be a little bit afraid of spiders, awkward situations, and drowning but not enough to, as the definition of phobia puts it, have an excessive or irrational fear reaction. But in today’s world it seems like there are so many things to be afraid of-just turn on the news for five minutes and you’ll know what I’m talking about. It seems like every time you flip on the radio, open a newspaper, or turn on the TV you’re bombarded with bad news, a depressing story, or a new threat to our country’s safety.

So how are we to respond in these situations that are inevitably going to rear their ugly heads on a daily basis? To answer that question, let’s look at a case study on fear and see how two men who were put under a similar amount of pressure, stress, and fear responded in two entirely different ways.

These two men I’m talking about are David and Saul. Saul, if you’ll remember back to 1 Samuel 10 with me, was the first earthly king of Israel. Saul was the type of guy that all the men hated because all women loved him so much. In fact, 1 Samuel 9:2 (NIV) tells us that Saul was, “…as handsome a young man as could be found anywhere in Israel, and he was a head taller than anyone else.” I don’t know if you know this but the Bible doesn’t often take the time to describe how too many people look like. So if the Holy Spirit decided it was important for us to know that Saul was handsome, he must have been really handsome. I’m talking GQ model handsome.

But despite all of Saul’s outwardly confidence and swagger, he was a rather fearful man. In fact, the very first time the Israelites were introduced to Saul as their king, they found him, “…hiding among the bags” (1 Samuel 10:22, NIV) in order to avoid being seen by people. That should have been a giant red flag for the nation but they were mesmerized by Saul’s physical beauty so they continued to crown him as their king. As Saul’s life continued, the fear in his heart spread rapidly like cancer into every area of his life.

Multiple times throughout the reign of Saul Scripture records that Saul was afraid. Think of his showdown with Goliath in 1 Samuel 17 for a moment. Giant vs. king. Goliath was huge but so was Saul. It was a battle of titans!

Wait, whoops. That’s not right, is it? Saul never fought Goliath because he was afraid that he would be defeated so instead he sent a young, lanky shepherd boy named David who was largely unknown and essentially unproven to defend his kingdom. To make matters worse, after this small little shepherd boy took part in the greatest upset in the history of the world, Saul became fearful that the nation would love David rather than him, so he tried to kill David.

1 Samuel 15:24 (NIV) pretty much sums up Saul’s time as king, “…I have sinned. I violated the LORD’s command…I was afraid of the people and gave into them.” Fear drove Saul to violate God’s commands. Fear caused him to act in excessive or irrational ways.

David, on the other hand, had a different story. Don’t get me wrong, David had A LOT to be afraid of. Remember that giant that Saul didn’t fight? Well because of Saul’s passivity David ended up facing off against Goliath even though he was greatly outsized, out-skilled, and outmatched. Remember how we discussed earlier that Saul tried to kill David? That couldn’t have led to too many nights of great sleep!

David, just like Saul, had his fair share of frightening moments. But unlike Saul who so quickly rushed into an excessive and irrational fear response, we see how David overcame his fears in Psalms 27:14 (NIV) when he penned- “Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.”

David didn’t rush into anything before he felt the peace of God instructing him to do so. David took his fears to God and let the King of kings, the Lord of lords, and the Prince of peace take care of his fears for him. David understood that a problem might have been over his head but it was still under God’s feet. David, to put it plainly, trusted in the Lord.

Which of these two men do you see yourself mimicking? Do you run around like a chicken with your head cut off when your pulse starts to rise or do you take your problems immediately to God? Saul did the former, David did the later. I don’t know about you, but I would rather follow in the footsteps of the “man after God’s own heart” (Acts 13:22) rather than the king who was rejected by God (1 Samuel 15)!

How do you handle fear?

“I sought the LORD, and He heard me; He delivered me from all my fears”
-Psalms 34:4 (NIV)

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©Grant Gaines 2013