Deuteronomy 20:1 –
“When you go out to fight your enemies and you face horses and chariots and an army greater than your own, do not be afraid. The LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, is with you!”
This chapter contains God’s “marching orders” for the troops as they go into battle. It goes on to list “exceptions” on who may stay behind and not fight. As I read through them I wonder if they applied to the draft in the 60’s would anyone be able to fight? Actually, the answer would be yes, since there are always brave men who will take up arms to protect our nation but the press seems to like to focus on those who are protesting. I digress into sixties politics, but again it was my thought as reading this chapter.
As we focus on this verse on thing I take is “do not be afraid” and how it may apply to everything in life. That is so easy to say from the pulpit but difficult to apply in all aspects of life not just battle. Honestly if you are going into a battle where people will die and do not have fear I would be concerned. It’s perfectly normal to fear going into battle or just dealing with everyday life. If you are facing losing everything due to a loss of employment, fear of what will happen is normal.
The key is not to become overwhelmed with fear. Our faith in God will overcome the fear knowing all things work out for good. One thing I personally know about fear is it takes control and shuts down the ability to respond. I have had this happen a few times racing where I know I am “coming up short” on a jump and just freeze. That ends up complicating the problem even more since a stiff body tends to break where a relaxed one will “go with the flow” and sometimes ride out of a near crash. We are all going to “come up short” during our life, the key is do we freeze and panic or have faith that we will “ride out” and continue.
Let’s face it life is full of obstacles that we must face, be it battle with an enemy that will kill us or a situation we got ourselves into. No matter what the problem fear is normal when facing the unknown. The point Moses is making here is that we don’t allow fear to overwhelm our bodies. If we become overwhelmed with fear we are useless to ourselves or anyone needing our help. It’s easier said than done and I have found practice helps.
One instance was when I was taking karate and they were teaching us how to fall, later that year I “came up short” on a double in a race. I knew I was hitting the face of the double with my front wheel and would be going over the bars. Instead of freezing and breaking a wrist, I just tucked and rolled … got back on the bike and finished in last. The key was not allowing fear and panic to take over my body. Faith in God helps alleviate our day to day fear or anxiety and practice in reading the word daily helps us do just that.