God with us - Week 43: Psalm 56:3
Full disclosure: I can't stand Halloween!
I hate scary films, scary costumes, and every other scary thing that comes with the celebration. So, my only acknowledgement of Halloween this year is that this week's blog is about fear!
How would you finish this sentence?
When I am afraid I…
At school, I was always taught that there were two main responses to fear.
The teacher would wheel a giant TV into the classroom, and the gentle tones of Sir David Attenborough would narrate the predator’s every move as it skulked towards its prey. We would watch with bated breath, waiting to see if the prey would fight or make a run for it!
Most of us are familiar with the fight or flight response and associate it with extreme events. That's not really what this blog is about. Instead, I'm thinking of the everyday situations we face that fill us with different kinds of fear. We all react differently, but here are the four (previously two) responses to fear I've discovered.
FIGHT
A comment is made on social media that we don't like, and we fight back as a Twitter war kicks off. We're afraid that we've been made to look stupid or that we're not being taken seriously. So, we fight back with scathing comments or (even worse) passive aggressive memes!
FLIGHT
We're afraid of facing a situation that fills us with fear, so we throw ourselves into anything that will help us escape. We flee from the fear and run towards the distraction of work, food, looking after others…the list goes on!
FREEZE
We can also freeze, all our senses on high alert, trying to determine if that noise downstairs was the dog or someone in the front garden. In the workplace, we freeze when an important decision has to be made for fear that it will make us unpopular with our work colleagues. We may stay quiet when an inappropriate comment is made for fear of the response if we speak up. In short, we sit down, stay quiet and don’t react.
FACE
I'd never heard of this one before!
This response prompts us to recognise our fear and face it head-on. Feel free to go back to the previous three responses, as I'm not too keen on this one either!
Facing our fear means we have to acknowledge it.
It's okay to be afraid.
The Bible is full of people who were afraid.
There wouldn't be as many "don't be afraid" verses in there if that wasn't the case.
No, fear isn't the problem. It's how we respond.
When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
Psalm 56:3
The Psalmist David wrote these words while on the run from King Saul. He decided to go and live among the Philistines, the enemies of Saul, a move that feels a lot more like flight than face. Running away put him in a situation where there was even more to be afraid of. In the middle of the chaos, David decided to face his fear, but this time he didn’t feel alone.
The trappings of Halloween will be all around this week. Each time you see a pumpkin, a wonky witch's hat, or (worst of all) that horrendous mask from the Scream movie, let it remind you that no fear you face will be faced alone.
When we are afraid, we can put our trust in God.
Kay Moorby
Comments