Why is it that in a fearful situation people react differently? While some become overwhelmed and give in to the situation, others remain resilient. Someone may say people differ; each has his gift. But if that was the case God will not say ‘Fear not’ to everyone since He knows He created people differently. There must be something special about some people that others lack; and that is what we seek to know in this article.
David was resilient
The story of David and Goliath demonstrates that kind of reaction. Goliath, a champion from the Philistines camp threatened the Israelites army saying,
“ Why have you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us. I defy the armies of Israel this day! Give me a man that we may fight together.” 1Sam.17:8b-10
The whole army of Israel was terrified at the sight of just one soldier of the Philistines. The scripture said for forty days Goliath came forward every morning and evening and took his stand. Whenever the Israelites saw him they fled in great fear.
But David, a young shepherd boy came around to see his elder brothers and happened to hear what the man was saying, reacted differently. Unlike the Israelites army who fled in great fear, David was resilient; he made up his mind and faced the situation boldly. Without any mechanized weapon but with a stone and a sleet David overcame the man and kill him. (1 Sam.17:49-50)
How comes a young shepherd boy untrained for war was able to resist a situation trained soldiers fully equipped fled from in great fear? This is the secret:
“Then David said to the Philistine, you come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied”.1 Sam.17:45.
The presence of fear is the ignorance of God’s presence
God is God of the armies of Israel, but the armies fled from Goliath in great fear. Where was God when the army was fleeing from the Philistine soldier? The simple truth is they ignored Him and got overwhelmed by what they saw and heard. They could not see God physically, but they saw how fearful Goliath was. David also saw how huge and equipped Goliath was, but he trusted in the Lord of hosts, the God of the army of Israel. And that gave him the courage to face the situation not minding how scary the sight of Goliath was.
How do you react when threatened with a fearful situation? Are you like the Israelites army or like David? Remember, retreating from a fearful situation produces no result, rather puts you in bondage. Surely, if you fail to believe the fact that God is with you and that He is bigger than your situation, you would surrender to fear. And the devil is the author of fear; that means you submit to him rather than God.
God did not give us the spirit of fear
The scripture said in 2Tim.1:7 that God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of sound mind. But here we are, like the Israelites army always fleeing from any little knock of the devil. We have forgotten the assurance of our Lord Jesus Christ that He will be with us till the end of the age.Matt.28:20b Now, though more than conquerors, we are being pursued by the devil. We live perpetually in defeat; hardly do we triumph over difficult situations because we fail to recognize the presence of the Lord of hosts in our situation.
Sometimes we tend to envy unbelievers because they seem to be happier than us. I used to envy them too when I see them progressing and having an easy life. Of course, we know that the devil may not bother them since they don’t constitute any threat to him, but we hardly have anything to show that we are better than them.
The Lord Jesus said we shall have tribulation in the world, and said we should be of good cheer because He has overcome the world. (Joh.16:33) But it seems we only know of the tribulation and are ignorant of the victory.
I challenge you this day, like David, rise up in the resurrecting power of our Lord Jesus Christ and resist fear, face whatever situation that is threatening you with confidence. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Jam.4:7
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