Fear Not

Reference Scripture: 1 Samuel 17:1-24 NIV 

"Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembled at Sokoh in Judah. They pitched camp at Ephes Dammim, between Sokoh and Azekah. Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah and drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines. The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another, with the valley between them. A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span.He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels; on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels.His shield bearer went ahead of him. Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us. Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other. On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified. Now David was the son of an Ephrathite named Jesse, who was from Bethlehem in Judah. Jesse had eight sons, and in Saul’s time he was very old. Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul to the war: The firstborn was Eliab; the second, Abinadab; and the third, Shammah. David was the youngest. The three oldest followed Saul, but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s sheep at Bethlehem. For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand. Now Jesse said to his son David, Take this ephah[d] of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp. Take along these ten cheeses to the commander of their unit. See how your brothers are and bring back some assurance from them. They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines. Early in the morning David left the flock in the care of a shepherd, loaded up and set out, as Jesse had directed. He reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle positions, shouting the war cry. Israel and the Philistines were drawing up their lines facing each other. David left his things with the keeper of supplies, ran to the battle lines and asked his brothers how they were. As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance, and David heard it. Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear." 

 I am not sure but whether you believe it or not, fear is totally subjective. To illustrate this point, we’ll examine 1 Sam 17:1-24. Please take time to read it, but our focus is verses 4-7, from the NIV it reads: A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span. He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels; on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. His shield bearer went ahead of him.  

From the very first day Goliath taunted the armies of Israel, verse 11 states they were dismayed and terrified. However, in verse 23 of the same chapter, David hears Goliath for the first time, and his response in verses 26 was to ask about the reward for killing Goliath. Do you remember verses 4-7? It was a detailed description of Goliath and his armor. What the army of Israel and David saw was the same Goliath but their responses to him were different; The armies of the Living God cowered in fear, but David saw an opportunity for advancement!  

That thing you’re afraid of, I encourage you today, fear not! Joshua 1:9 KJV states, "have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest". This verse reminds you to be strong of good courage and not too afraid for the simple and yet most important reason that God is with you. That was exactly what made the difference in David’s response, he knew God was on his side. 

Still encouraging you about fearing not, let us still look at 1 Samuel chapter 17. From this scripture we see that fear grows if not dealt with. Look at verse 11 of the NIV: "On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified." Goliath consistently came out to taunt the Israelites for 40 days in a row.  

Now let’s look at vs 24: "Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear."  Let that sink in; every time the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear. On day one, they were dismayed and terrified but by day forty they were fleeing in terror.  

Child of God, if you don’t deal with fear the moment it first shows up and you keep exposing yourself to the source of your fears, eventually fear will take on a life of its own until it totally incapacitates you. Instead of meditating on what your enemy is saying, get to meditating on what God says. If the children of Israel fled from Goliath forty days after they kept hearing him speak daily, just imagine what courage forty days of meditating on the Word of God could have done for them, just think if they kept meditating the instructions God gave them in Joshua 1:9 what strength and courage could have swelled up within them, the same that made Joshua and the armies conquer Jericho and the surrounding towns on the Israelites' conquest of Canaan. Deal with fear now, don’t let it grow, combat it with the word of God. 2 Corinthians chapter 10 reminds us that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they are mighty through God to the pulling down of anything that comes in opposition to the Word of God. 

Another important scripture to consider is the one found in 2 Timothy 1:7 KJV and it states: "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." For context, this is taken from a letter that Paul the apostle wrote to Timothy, his son in the faith towards the end of his earthly life. When you think about that, you know this scripture was one of the last major points the apostle gave to Timothy and just like any scripture, it should be given much consideration. From this verse it is very clear that God is not the one that gives us a spirit of fear which in other translations is translated as timidity. Rather, He gives us a spirit of power, love and a sound mind.  

With that in mind, now examine 1 Samuel 17 again and we have discussed in some detail the effects that the words of Goliath had on the armies of Israel. These were supposed to be the strongest, the bravest, the mightiest that Israel had to offer but they cowered in the face of Goliath and even worse still, they were indoctrinated by his words to walk in fear. In the face of fear, there was no way they could walk in power, obviously they did not have revelation of the love that God had for them which is the foundation for our confidence in the face of any situation and as a result they became irrational in their thinking. 

One thing I want to point out to you as well is that everything in scripture is for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness according to 2 Tim 3:16, which happens to be another scripture that records some of Paul's last instructions to Timothy and by default to us today. With that in mind, take a moment to imagine this scenario: you are standing in front of a battlefield and before you stand the army of Israel facing an army of Philistines on the opposite side. In this scenario, you could either be Goliath or David. When you are facing God’s people in your daily life, are you encouraging them or with your mouth are you destroying them? Death and life are in the power of the tongue. Goliath had such a privileged spot on the battlefield because he was a champion from Gath and he represented the Philistine side. David also had such a privileged position on the battlefield because he had experience taking down bears and lions. Everyone has experience in fighting battles, but the question is what kind of battlefield experience do you have? Your words do give a glimpse into what camp you represent. Are you the reason why people are filled with hope and a future or because of you people have no hope of a future. We are a conduit for either God or the enemy. Because David spent time with the God of Israel he spoke victory, he was acquainted with one who gives us the spirit of power, love and a sound mind whereas Goliath spent time with the gods of the philistines and the words he spoke were nothing but curses and they produced fear that manifested in the fleeing of the Israelites. Remember that every seed produces after its kind: if you live in an environment of fear, you will infect others with fear. If you live in an environment of victory, it will eventually rub off on others. Something to think about.