Fear: 1 Samuel 17:23-30
It is always easier to confront people exposing our fear than confront the fear itself. Confronting fear requires two difficult actions. First, confronting fear mandates acknowledgement of some emotion deep within. Second, confronting fear encompasses change in a difficult direction.
As David meets with his brothers, Goliath comes forth to offer up his daily challenge. The Hebrew soldiers tremble in fear and talk about how impressive Goliath is. They’ve heard the same challenge for forty days in a row. Nothing has changed since the first issue of challenge, including the inaction of the soldiers.
The two sides faced each other for over a month without action. Both sides fear their comrades dying in all-out battle. The Philistines fear losing because of the unseen power that fights with the Hebrew people. The Hebrew people fear the armor and weapons of the Philistines. Every Hebrew soldier fears losing to Goliath in one-on-one combat.
Fear is one of the most common sources for inactivity in our life. Fear keeps us where we are. Human beings fear failing. We fear the unknown. We fear embarrassing ourselves before others. We fear being wrong. We fear backlash. We fear having to live with our bad choices. We fear disappointing those in our lives whose opinion matters. Some of us fear God and His evaluation of our choices.
What’s worse, our fear is easily validated by the fear of others. Almost all fear is valid. We fear for reasons we can name, state, and rationalize. If we have a rational fear, chances are that many other people rationalize the same fear. Those who don’t own the fear can at least follow the logic.
For the record, irrational fear is called a phobia. Phobias are different; by definition, phobias have no rational root in our life. Therefore, if a fear is not a phobia, it has a rational logical source within us.
The logic of fear works heavily in this story. Goliath ushers his challenge. He’s massive and heavily armed. The warriors know how fast he could demolish any foe one-on-one. They all rationally fear Goliath, and each soldier’s individual fear easily reinforces the fear of every other warrior, including Saul.
When David hears Goliath, he doesn’t see a massive warrior. David sees a stain on the landscape. David sees a source of reproach that needs to be dealt with. He inquires about Goliath and what warriors have done about him.
Naturally, the answer is embarrassing. No warrior has lifted a finger against Goliath. All they’ve done is talk about how impossible it is to defeat him. David’s brother tries to put David in his place by reminding him how he’s a shepherd and spends most of his time around sheep.
David exposes fear. Eliab reacts naturally. Eliab tries to belittle David because David exposed his fear. This is how fear works. This is how fear wins. It is always easier to confront people exposing your fear than confront the fear itself.
