In this series we examine some of the top reasons Christians give up on their appointed ministry assignment.

Today we examine the problem of fear. Fear is the #2 problem emotion. What things make you afraid? Are you afraid today? Fear can paralyze. Fear can force our focus off Jesus, our assignment, our appointed task at hand and the goal of hearing His “Well done!”

Fear is normal. Emotions are only signals about what is going on around us.

Fear is not a sin.

How you react to the feeling of fear is important for running your race and for your development.

Let’s look at the example of David in 2 Samuel 22. Psalm 18 is the same thing but 2 Samuel puts the psalm in context.

Here is the context from 2 Samuel 21:

¹ Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.

² And the king called the Gibeonites, and said unto them; (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn unto them: and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah.)

³ Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? and wherewith shall I make the atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of the LORD?

⁴ And the Gibeonites said unto him, We will have no silver nor gold of Saul, nor of his house; neither for us shalt thou kill any man in Israel. And he said, What ye shall say, that will I do for you.

⁵ And they answered the king, The man that consumed us, and that devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel,

⁶ Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, whom the LORD did choose. And the king said, I will give them.

⁷ But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the LORD’S oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.

⁸ But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite:

⁹ And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the LORD: and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest.

¹⁰ And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night.

¹¹ And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done.

¹² And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabeshgilead, which had stolen them from the street of Bethshan, where the Philistines had hanged them, when the Philistines had slain Saul in Gilboa:

¹³ And he brought up from thence the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son; and they gathered the bones of them that were hanged.

¹⁴ And the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son buried they in the country of Benjamin in Zelah, in the sepulchre of Kish his father: and they performed all that the king commanded. And after that God was intreated for the land.

¹⁵ Moreover the Philistines had yet war again with Israel; and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines: and David waxed faint.

¹⁶ And Ishbibenob, which was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of brass in weight, he being girded with a new sword, thought to have slain David.

¹⁷ But Abishai the son of Zeruiah succoured him, and smote the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David sware unto him, saying, Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, that thou quench not the light of Israel.

So we see from the context that David is aged and no longer able to fight. David, whom God identified as a bloody man, unfit to build the temple. 1 Chronicles 22:

⁸ But the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great wars: thou shalt not build an house unto my name, because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight.

We also see from the context that David is finishing unsettled business with Saul’s house and with his wife, Michal.  Remember when David danced before the Lord as the Ark of the Covenant was brought to Jerusalem? Michal scorned him and David gave retribution.  2 Samuel 6:

²¹ And David said unto Michal, It was before the LORD, which chose me before thy father, and before all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the LORD, over Israel: therefore will I play before the LORD.

²² And I will yet be more vile than thus, and will be base in mine own sight: and of the maidservants which thou hast spoken of, of them shall I be had in honour.

²³ Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no child unto the day of her death.

So what can we learn from this Psalm?

2 Samuel 22

¹ And David spake unto the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul:

² And he said, The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;

³ The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence.

⁴ I will call on the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.

Solution to fear: Focus on your relationship with God. He is personal

⁵ When the waves of death compassed me, the floods of ungodly men made me afraid;

⁶ The sorrows of hell compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me;

⁷ In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried to my God: and he did hear my voice out of his temple, and my cry did enter into his ears

¹⁷ He sent from above, he took me; he drew me out of many waters;

¹⁸ He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them that hated me: for they were too strong for me.

¹⁹ They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay.

²⁰ He brought me forth also into a large place: he delivered me, because he delighted in me.

Solution to fear: Remember what He has done for you in the past

²⁹ For thou art my lamp, O LORD: and the LORD will lighten my darkness.

³⁰ For by thee I have run through a troop: by my God have I leaped over a wall.

³¹ As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him.

³² For who is God, save the LORD? and who is a rock, save our God?

³³ God is my strength and power: and he maketh my way perfect.

³⁴ He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet: and setteth me upon my high places.

Solution to fear: Celebrate Who He is and what He is doing

Hebrews 12:

¹Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

² Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Let us run with patience the race Jesus has set before us,

Coach Patti