Fear and Anxiety

Fear is a natural and sometimes beneficial emotion in a crisis situation. Fear results from a lack of knowledge and understanding, while anxiety is a form of fear in which we anticipate what may or may not occur. There are productive and unproductive reactions to fear and anxiety. It can be difficult to eliminate your own fear; however, you can learn to control and use it to your own advantage.

A term used in the bible is “subject to like passions.” It means to suffer the like with another, of like feelings or affections. In other words, being just as human as the next person. When we consider the people we read about in the bible, sometime there’s a tendency to dehumanize them, but concerning the prophet Elijah, James 5:17 wrote that he was a man subject to like passions as we are.

We read about how God moved in their lives, and the various miracles that were accomplished by the mighty hand of God, but we can’t forget that the human-earthen-vessel was just as human as we are. Fear and anxiety are universal human emotions. Our responses are both psychological and physiological, and may also be referred to as the fight or flight response.

For example, 1 Samuel 17: 34-36 records the account of how David slew Goliath.

David was just as anxious, and just as afraid as anyone of us would have been. In the account of David and Goliath there are examples of productive uses of fear and anxiety. David, first gained a psychological advantage by recalling how God delivered him out of previous crisis. He recalled to King Saul how while tending to his father’s sheep that he had to rescue a lamb out of the mouth of a lion, and out of the mouth of a bear. Based on his previous experiences, David concluded that just as God had delivered him given him victory with the lion and the bear that he would be victorious in defeating Goliath.

Productive uses of fear and anxiety will increase your speed and strength. Increase in motor reaction resulting in an increase of oxygenated blood to the muscles in preparation for movement.

Productive uses of fear and anxiety will increase your sensory activity, sharpening your senses; decreasing in cognitive reaction and decision-making time, causing you to make quick judgments.

Productive uses of fear and anxiety will also decrease your reaction time. For example, in 1 Samuel 17:48, Goliath came forward to meet David. David did not run for cover, but he ran quickly toward the Goliath. Running toward Goliath is a productive use of fear and anxiety. By moving in closely, David was able to close the reactionary-gap, which reduced Goliath’s ability to react to David slinging the stones. Because action always beats reaction, David placed himself in a position of advantage, ultimately conquering Goliath.