Tag: fear

An Irrational Fear

12 “Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with him but had departed from Saul. 13 So Saul removed him from his presence and made him a commander of a thousand. And he went out and came in before the people. 14 And David had success in all his undertakings, for the Lord was with him. 15 And when Saul saw that he had great success, he stood in fearful awe of him. 16 But all Israel and Judah loved David, for he went out and came in before them.” 

1 Samuel 18:12-16 

This account is saturated with Saul’s fear. He dreads David’s success, and he’s terrified by it. Saul wants David dead. Obviously, the spears didn’t work. David was not dead. 

Psalm 5 was apparently written at this time. It seems that his psalms (songs) were often what keeps him centered on the Lord. David sings his way through conflict. He must sing in order to trust in God’s presence, to sing settles him into the peace and safety of the Father’s presence. To be honest, our discipleship demands “singing.” 

“Now Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with him: By all outward appearance, Saul is in control. Saul has a throne. Saul has an army. Saul has spears. Yet Saul was afraid of David because the LORD was with him.” 

EnduringWord.com 

I suspect that Saul was not only disturbed by David’s success, but more importantly he no longer had the presence of God. Saul was uncomfortable around David. Afraid, and that fear now motivates him to hate, and also throw spears. He wanted to murder David. 

David must now have to face a new “Goliath.” 

He innately understood this. And what must he do to defuse this? Israel loved David, and that was a good thing, but it was also difficult. The praise of the people only stirred up Saul. That was very dangerous. David has now become a target. 

I think that when God took His presence away it only accelerated the destruction of Saul. “Nature abhors a vacuum,” and if God withholds Himself nothing but jealousy would control him. Murder was now free to rule Saul.

Saul now has an intimate understanding of being afraid.

A Human Tank

“Then Goliath, a Philistine champion from Gath, came out of the Philistine ranks to face the forces of Israel. He was over nine feet tall! 5 He wore a bronze helmet, and his bronze coat of mail weighed 125 pounds. 6 He also wore bronze leg armor, and he carried a bronze javelin on his shoulder. 7 The shaft of his spear was as heavy and thick as a weaver’s beam, tipped with an iron spearhead that weighed 15 pounds. His armor bearer walked ahead of him carrying a shield.”

1 Samuel 17:4-7, NLT

Goliath was like a human tank. First of all, he was almost twice the size of any other man. Secondly, decked out in his armor he was pretty much “bullet proof.”

The giant wore about 140 pounds of bronze armor, his thick spear weighed over 15 lbs. I guess Goliath wanted to keep it somewhat interesting, He “stood and shouted a taunt across to the Israelites.”

In the book of 1 Samuel 17 we read that the Israelite camp was “terrified.”

“I defy the armies of Israel today! Send me a man who will fight me!” 11 When Saul and the Israelites heard this, they were terrified and deeply shaken.”

Any infantry officer will tell you that if you can instill fear the battle is pretty much won. The Philistines already had the upper hand. The terror infected the Israel, in spite of some lucrative inducements no one moved–there still were no volunteers.

But here comes the boy David, “a man after God’s own heart.”

Goliath was arrogant and blasphemous. He believed that the Philistine army was superior in every way, and he was the ultimate Philistine.

How do you handle fear? As a believer do you listen to the enemy lies. If you are a believer (and I assume you are), the enemy has a “contract” out on you. Satan has marked you as a threat to his kingdom, and your fear is incredibly useful to him.

“Fear is born of Satan, and if we would only take time to think a moment we would see that everything Satan says is founded upon a falsehood.”

   A.B. Simpson

“But the Lord is faithful; he will make you strong and guard you from satanic attacks of every kind.”

1 Thessalonians 3:2, LB