Archived Articles by Father Rob Smith

What Are You Afraid Of?

When I was a child it took a nurse and my father to hold me down so that the doctor could give me a shot. Eventually I learned it was no big deal and even when I had to get a shot a week for allergies I learned to shrug it off. Not that I ever really enjoyed getting shots. Many of our fears are blown way out of proportion, and it takes a good dose of reality and some experience to shrink them down. Generally speaking when we think we are fighting dragons they usually turn out to be toads. Generally speaking -- but then again there are some things that ought to be feared.

In my personal devotions last week two texts from Psalms stood out from the daily round of Morning and Evening Prayer. The first is from Psalm 64:1b, "Protect my life from the fear of the enemy." The second text is from Psalm 56:3, "Whenever I am afraid, I will put my trust in You."

The Psalmist in the first text didn't say, "Protect my life from the enemy," but "Protect my life from the fear of the enemy." It is fear itself that the Psalmist sought protection from. Recently I have been reading Gods and Generals, a Civil War psychological history by Jeff Shaara. Gods and Generals traces the early Civil War battles in the experience of General Robert E. Lee and his Union opponents. The companion volumes are Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, which gives an account of the battle of Gettysburg, and The Last Full Measure by Jeff Shaara which traces the conclusion of the Civil War and the conflict between Lee and Grant. Gods and Generals pays particular attention to the faith of the various generals involved on either side of the conflict. One thing becomes abundantly clear. The most significant enemy they fought was the enemy of fear and the effect of fear on their decision-making and on the performance of their troops. Often the troops performed better than their leadership, while the leadership itself was harried by fears and often immobilized which led to disaster for the troops. Fear hinders our ability to see a situation for what it is, makes it difficult to plan adequately for resolutions, and stops us from taking those bold steps that are sometimes necessary for victory. A person who has dealt with their fears can do awesome things.

It is not enough just to say, "I will not be afraid." Of course we will be afraid. It is human nature to fear. Adam would have recognized fear as being "apple" flavored, that is, it came as a by-product of disobedience. The first thing Adam did after eating the forbidden fruit was to hide himself from God because he was afraid. Hence the relevance of the text, "Whenever I am afraid, I will put my trust in you." That text tells us what to do when we fear assails us. It reflects a concrete decision. "I will put my trust in You." Ultimately trusting in the Lord in the face of fear is an act of the will that needs to be periodically reinforced in the midst of the conflict.

One must move on from there however. According to Gods and Generals Robert E. Lee's favorite text was Psalm 144:1-2, "Blessed be the Lord my rock! who trains my hand to fight and my fingers to battle; My help and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield in whom I trust, who subdues the peoples under me." Fear must be acknowledged as a primary foe and dealt with by a concrete decision, "Whenever I am afraid, I will put my trust in you." But that decision must be followed by action fueled by faith. That is, God is "training my hands to fight and my fingers to battle." Here indeed our faith is completed by works, "Do you see that faith was working together with his works and by works his faith was made perfect" (James 2:22). Courage is taking heart in the face of fear and going forth boldly to battle.

~ Father Rob +

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