Most people have some sort of fear or fears that they harbour deep inside. Fear of the dark, water, pain, failure, dogs, snakes, spiders are among the many fears people struggle with. Job declared that life was short and full of troubles (Job 14:1). In my life there were a whole list of troubles and things to be afraid of. We were the only German family in my home town during WWII and there was animosity towards us. Bigger boys picked fights with us, dogs chased my brother and I as we delivered newspapers around our town. Roads were treacherous to drive on. Lightning came too close on a number of occasions. Walking home at night was hazardous as there were very few lights in town. Some of our teachers were tough and hard. There was the strap for something wrong and the crack over the knuckles when my fingers missed a note on the piano. We faced money troubles during the strikes the union promoted. We knew there were bears and cougars in the woods where we loved to play and go fishing. We had car trouble, frost in the winter, mice in the house, sick dogs and a town that was closing as the coal mines closed along with the schools. My father died at age 60 of cancer and my wife Joan died of cancer at age 45. Many people have had far, far more difficult lives that I, and I do consider myself very fortunate and blessed. Still, there were fears that needed to be overcome and controlled. It was precisely in the act of hitting back at these circumstances and fears, that our character is formed - that would see us through much greater troubles in the future. The death of loved ones, health troubles and other woes.
Phillips Brooks noted: "Some day in years to come, you will be wrestling with the great temptation, or trembling under the great sorrows of your life. But the real struggle is here, now, in these quiet weeks. Now it is being decided whether, in the day of your supreme sorrow or temptation, you shall miserably fail or gloriously conquer. Character cannot be made except by a steady, long continued process." It is a sobering, but true thought that how we will face our greatest tests is being determined right now - in the present. That is why it is so very important to face our fears now. That will allow us to face troubles boldly later. Going through life with character flaws and weaknesses is not a good way to live. It is much better to go through life with your backbone intact and straight, head held high and eyes facing our enemy.
Fear is a funny thing. It tends to travel. If a person has a paranoia or deep-seated fear about something and tends to avoid facing that fear, other areas in life soon become affected. That fear plants more areas of fear within us. Soon a person can become fearful - and that would mean afraid of a whole list of things. Fear of the dark can lead to the fear of being alone and then the fear of strange sounds. We can get into such a state that we become more and more fearful. God describes the kind of fear that would come to those who walk contrary to Him. He says they will flee at the sound of a shaken leaf and stumble over one another in fear although there is no enemy following them (Lev. 26:36,37). An old saying in the King James Bible is used to tell people to get ready for an action of some kind. "Gird up your loins" (2 Kings 9:1) includes the need to show courage. When God gave instructions of how Israel was to go into war, one of His orders was to send the fearful and faint of heart home, because they would cause the hearts of others to grow faint (Deut. 20:8). In the famous story about Gideon, the first group that was invited to leave was those who were fearful (Judges 7:3). God knew that brave and courageous men would encourage others to be brave.
When people are smitten with fear, they tend to freeze and become unable to act. A great number of people seem to be unable to react. When the terrible destruction of the twin towers of New York took place, there were people in some lower levels who had a clear route of escape, but who had to be coerced into moving and getting out of danger because they could not seem to think for themselves at that moment. It is as though our mind is not capable of determining what we should do - so too often we do nothing when faced with danger. One of the main reasons for this is that we have not prepared ourselves to face danger. We have not been trained to act in an emergency. Thankfully, there are those loyal and dedicated policemen, firemen, health care workers and others who have been trained to react in the face of danger.
We do not need to remain as one who is frozen by fear. We can tackle our fears and overcome them. It takes a training of the mind and thinking in terms of action to change a person from being a coward to being a hero, from being spastic to being active, from being unable to act to being able to lead. That was the case with the disciples of Jesus Christ. At the Passover season of the death of Jesus Christ, the disciples of Jesus who had been bold and vocal before His death, all ran. They were hidden and nowhere to be found (John 20:19). Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims had come to Jerusalem in obedience to God's command to assemble during the three seasons in which the Holy days fell (Days of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost and Tabernacles). These were devout men and women and it is certain most of them returned at the Pentecost season. About 50 days after hearing of the death of the man who was proclaimed to be the Messiah and the cowardice of His followers, these same devout men now saw and heard the disciples of Jesus Christ standing on the temple steps as transformed men. No longer cowards, these were fearless, courageous and brave men. They had faced their fears of death and overcome those fears. It may not have been a coincidence that God waited until the next Holy Day when thousands of witnesses would return before the His Holy Spirit entered the disciples and the Church of God started. Those men showed that it is possible to change. Humans can face their fears and control them. A man once said: "courage is fear that has said its prayers." It is foolish to think that fear will vanish, but it can be controlled.
F.D. Roosevelt boldly stated to the American people in his inauguration during the hard years before WWII that: "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Lloyd Douglas stated: "If a man harbors any sort of fear, it percolates through all his thinking, damages his personality, makes him landlord to a ghost." Damage to our personality is reflected in our character. Our whole being can change. We can lose confidence in ourselves and shrink from doing things that once were normal to us. Fear continues to cause us hurt and pain until we bring it under control. One sobering scripture tells us that the fearful will not enter the Kingdom of God (Rev. 21:8). There is something about a person who is smitten with fears that is almost insulting to God. It shows a lack of faith and trust in the Almighty. It is the one who tackles life that God seems to want in His family and kingdom. He wants those who will act! In verse 7 it was stated: "he who overcomes will inherit all things." An overcomer is one who recognizes something is wrong or not in order and gets busy correcting that. He acts on anything that might keep him out of the future God offers.
God tells us that He calls the weak and less than noble of this world (I Cor. 1:26-30). He gives them strength and wisdom - and expects them to overcome their weaknesses. They are His chosen children. They are expected to act like children of God. It is a glory to God when the base things in the eyes of this world are chosen - and they change. They become strong, dependable, brave and courageous. That is what amazed the leaders of Jerusalem. They did not know what to do with these fishermen and rough country folk who defied their system and withstood their threats (Acts 4:13).
Fear can make you a prisoner. Facing that fear sets you free. It seems simple, but we all know that facing fear is not easy. Still, the alternative to that is also not pleasant. To remain fearful and cowardly destroys what we are. It robs us of a wonderful life now and a future in the family of God. It shows a lack of faith in our Creator. Identify any fears you have and choose to begin taking steps to controlling them.