Choosing to Face Our Fears 

During the recent Winter Olympics, I heard an odd fact about one of the German ski jumpers. It seems that he suffers from a severe fear of heights. While there are a number of people who share that particular phobia, there are probably not too many of them who choose to regularly hurl themselves off the edge of a high hill. The announcers said that this skier had a therapist whom he had to constantly consult in order to help him deal with his fear. It made me wonder how he first got into ski jumping in light of his condition. Why not pick some other sport to compete in? Even if he liked to ski, he could do cross-country or some other version in which he could keep himself closer to the ground. Whatever his motivation, he can be admired for facing his fears in order to pursue a sport that must be very important to him.

We are all called upon to confront our fears at times. However, often it involves dealing with challenges that we cannot avoid, such as sickness, financial struggles, death, and other common experiences in life. We don’t really have a choice about whether or not we go through the ordeal. It is simply a matter of how we do it – often having to choose between fear or faith. But what about when we do have a choice? That ski jumper wasn’t being forced to jump off those hills. He chose that activity for himself. There was something that took such priority in his life that he was willing to put himself through the experience of having to encounter that which he was so afraid of. Do we ever find ourselves in that position?

Sometimes God calls us to do things that bring us on a collision course with one of the fears in our lives. One of my greatest challenges was when I became aware that the Lord was calling me to be a preacher. I suffered from another one of those common phobias – the fear of public speaking. I would go to any lengths in school to avoid having to give any kind of oral report. I would rather have written five lengthy essays than to have to stand before a group to deliver one brief oral presentation. Yet I knew what God was wanting me to do. It was a struggle, but my love for the Lord and my desire to please Him ultimately led me to choose to follow His will rather than let my fears direct my path. And I can say that after over forty years of speaking almost every Sunday in a public setting that God has been faithful to enable me to do what He called me to do. The fear, or at least the preference not to speak publicly or to choose writing over speaking, may still be there. However, the Lord is with me and helps me to face my fears.

As we seek to faithfully follow the Lord, we will come face-to-face with other fears at times – the fear of rejection, the fear of losing friends, the fear of what other people think of us, and many others. In some cases, we could avoid putting ourselves in those positions if we unwisely chose to keep quiet about our faith, not insist on doing the right thing, compromise on truth, or not be committed to living a godly life. However, if we are going to please the Lord, we have to do what He calls us to, climb that hill, take the leap of obedience to God, and face those fears.

Hopefully, following God’s will and purpose for us is such a priority in our lives that we are willing to confront whatever it is we may fear.