Am I wierd because I get scared?

I'm teaching a Bible study on Wednesday nights to a few folks using Swindoll's book David. We just finished with the section of 1 Samuel that deals with David's victory over the Philistine giant. One of the neat things about that story is that the author never even hints that David possesses an ounce of fear. In fact, we see him explaining to King Saul how reasonable it is that he fight the giant because God already allowed him to destroy a lion and a bear that threatened his father's sheep. What we don't see in 1 Samuel is a frightened boy, with knees knocking, hoping that God will come through for him.

The same thing is true in the accounts of Elijah at Mount Carmel; Joshua at the walls of Jericho; Daniel in the face of lions; Peter and John before the high priest; Paul before every human judge he faced on his way to Rome and ultimately Christ, himself, as he faced his passion. Scripture is full of examples of those that have followed God's leading with what seems to be fearless resolve. Even if there was a measure of fear, the aurthors do not tell us.

I'm sure I'm alone in saying that I don't always possess the fearless faith of those biblical heros. Since I'm the only one who feels this way let me take a minute to explain. There have been, and are, times in my life when I know what the right course of action is. I have every intention of doing the right thing and most of the time when I get that far I follow through. However, the circumstances around doing the right thing might mean that some people I love could be upset with me or it might bring some measure of embarassment to me or it might cause some measure of heart ache or suffering. I know what to do but the prospects of all might go on around me makes me afraid or nervous.

In these times, it's hard for me to find real encouragment from the heros I mentioned above because, as bad as want to, I don't have that sense of "fearlessness" that they seem to possess. I was encouraged today in my reading from the OT book of Ezra. I was a day or so behind in my reading from a devotional guide I try to follow and it began in Ezra chapter 3. Ezra, in part, records for us the events that immediately follow the decree of Cyrus (King of Persia) for the Jews to be allowed to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. When this group arrived they faced great opposition from those that were living in the land at that time (foreigners who were placed there by the Assyrians). Verse 3 really stood up and yelled at me. "They (the Jews that had returned) established the altar on its foundations, even though they were in terror of the local peoples, and they burnt offerings on it to the LORD, both the morning and the evening offerings." This verse really encouraged me. It says that even though they were scared to death, they still did the right thing. Now I can relate to that. It reminds me that I'm not as wierd as I thought I was.

Let me be real...I get scared! Can you believe that? I even sometimes get scared when I know I'm doing the right thing! That's okay. What's not okay is when I let that my fear keep me from doing the right thing. Let's stop thinking that because we sometimes get scared that we are, in some way, less spiritual than those who boast of their fearlessness. Let's be real with each other. You encourage me when I'm scared and I'll do the same for you.