rejecting Fear from 60 feet up

by Joel Bates

​She was standing there shaking.  Oh, I knew she didn’t want to go, but I wouldn’t enable her fear by even hinting that she step back from the challenge.  I calmly and simply, called her to my side as if she had no choice but to obey.  I knew full well that I could not force her, manipulate her, or require her by some rule.  No, she would have to make the decision, and in the moment between my call and her response, the crucible of choice would unveil the outcome like the last pages of a compelling novel. 

I didn’t relish the moment because I wanted for all the world to see her look fear in the eye and reject this thing that had held her back so many times before.  This moment of truth required submission and trust on her part, and as I asked for trust, it meant I would relinquish my own control to her decision.  Would she go through with it?  In that moment of time, I prayed for God to intervene, for the spirit of fear to be vanquished once and for all, and victory in this trembling girl’s battle which had been raging in her mind all day. 

Right from the start, she had vowed that she would not be doing anything remotely hard or scary outside her comfort zone—a space about the size of a postage stamp!  With an accusing finger, she pointed first at her climbing instructor and then at the rock face and said, “And I’m definitely not going down the rappel!” 
The DM facilitator giving the instruction talk was as resolute as the stone he stood upon when he calmly responded, “We’ll see about that.” 

Now, hours later, here she stood before me at the top of the rappel, the day’s activity—the success of her friends, the encouragement of the instructors, and the proven quality of the equipment—having withered her determination to forbid challenge to confront her.  I could see the spirit of fear struggling to gain footing in her mind as she hesitantly stepped toward me and stood at the edge of the cliff.

It occurred to me in that moment that I was dealing not with a timid child but with a false spirit—a spirit of fear.  Fear can come from our enemy, Satan, at least in a form of a spiritual element that affects our minds.  I see it all the time at DM because here we use teaching tools incorporating high, perceived risk with low, actual risk.  Take rock climbing for instance.  It’s a perfectly natural phenomenon to feel fear when standing atop a high place.  That’s not necessarily from the enemy, rather that is a God-given awareness of our safety.  Its normal to want to move away from the edge.  We call that common sense.  So, what’s the problem?  When we encounter a fear moment and refuse to have faith in something more powerful and knowledgeable than ourselves, we make ourselves the authority.  And when this happens, we sometimes succumb to the enemy’s tactics.

In the ministry work at DM, we give a credible replacement for fear by presenting people with the choice to place their faith in reasonable experiences.  When we rock climb, we are not asking people for blind faith and ignorant obedience.  We are asking them to place trust in something reliable, but all the truth in the world won’t make people faithful.  Faith boils down to the willful decision to trust even what one can neither see nor fully understand, and here is where the spirit of fear makes his attack. 
 
For some, fear is a thing that they learned as a child, parents or mentors having modeled it.  It may have increased as they heard people speak of fearful situations that are confusing to understand or that carry a stigma of danger.   For many, it is an ingrained habit of making decision after decision only trusting in what they know--much like the person who has learned to let anxiety reign in him based on an unfettered imagination even before he’s thought about the realities of what’s in front of him.  For most, fear boils down to a loss of control--like my petrified girl felt as she was about to rappel over the edge of a cliff. 

This battle is nothing new.  It’s an age-old war found throughout scripture.  The second, most often stated command in scripture is DO NOT BE AFRAID.  It’s there because we are not alone in our anxieties and fears.  And Jesus has a word for you and me. 

I was reading in scripture recently about the time Jesus was on a mountain overlooking the Sea of Galilee, praying.  He’d just fed five thousand people and sent the disciples on ahead of Him across the lake.  During the night, He watched.  Mark 6:47-48 tells it like this:

And when evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and He was alone on the land. 
And He saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night, He came to them, walking on the sea. 

---

Engaged in this mind-blowing occurrence, we see how Jesus deliberately allows circumstances to evoke fear, strike terror, and compel daring.  But why?  First, He just sat and watched them fight the storm all night.  Why did He not go to them and take away their discomfort and struggle?  We read that He was about to pass by them as He glided and bobbed over the tops of the breakers.  Why not go directly to them?  Then, as they looked on in pensive terror Jesus invited Peter, at his own brazen request, to step out onto the water.  What was Jesus attempting to accomplish in the hearts of His followers? 

A moment came when Peter was actually walking on the water, but he faltered in his terrifying circumstances despite Jesus’ standing in front of him.  Jesus was there, and amid the waves and wind, He reached out to the sinking apostle, asking, “Why did you doubt?”  Peter doubted because the waves rose high.  Lest we chastise Peter, we must remember that the disciples in the boat didn’t even have the courage to take one step out of the vessel. 

Then Jesus, finished with the Sunday school lesson, simply got into the boat.  When He did so the wind and waves calmed, and the disciples are utterly astonished.  Their shields of faith had become stronger and bigger, and they would depend on this strengthened faith when they would struggle in a few short years to build a church, spread the gospel, and turn the known world upside down for Jesus. 
 
That girl standing at the top of the rappel, like Peter and like you and like I, was really caught up in the same battle. So, we didn’t talk about her fear as I secured her to the ropes and directed her to the ledge.  Sure, she had said she would not do hard, scary things, but that didn’t matter now because she was about to overcome her fear, proving her earlier declaration false.  In my care and at the mercy of the stalwart ropes and anchors, she denied fear a victory and chose to back out over the cliff’s edge, making herself vulnerable to the expanse between her and the ground.  About four feet over the edge, just past the point of no return, I encouraged, “You certainly have been victorious over fear.” 
She halted a moment and said, “It’s like the fear is just…gone!” 
​
By the end of the day she had climbed two crags, rappelled three times, and added size to her shield of faith.  I have to ask: What victories have increased the size of your shield of faith?  Will you choose to trust Jesus?  How is your faith?