Fear is a tough emotion, how can it help us?

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"Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You." What a simple truth David expresses in Ps. 56:3. What is not so simple are the things, events and people that make us afraid and our response to it. Fear is an emotion that actually protects us. It causes us to move away or be careful of things or people that might hurt us. Having a healthy respect for things like fire, and water, high places causes us to be careful.
Being aware that others could hurt us is a good thing too. I am all for self defence and knowing how to respond when your life is in harms way. Fleeing to live another day ain't a bad idea either. Turning the other cheek in relationships and forgiveness is not the same thing as facing evil people with the intent to destroy you. The emotions of fear and even anger are there for our good.
Fear can make you aware and even motivate you to care for yourself by learning to swim, use smoke detectors, take care hiking in the mountains, learning self defence and identifying possible threats. Thank God for fireman, police, armed forces, and those who help us.
Fear of diseases, sicknesses, germs really do have their place.
Fear like anger can take control and with fear we can be paralysed. How many movies have we seen the scream and non movement happens until the slow moving monster gets the victim?


He leads me beside quiet waters

David actually was afraid for his life. He was running for it in fact. I believe in his fear he made the wrong move. He ran from one enemy to another. He either reacted or acted crazy and his enemy thought he had a disease that the enemy might catch. He was let go and I believe it was while David was in hiding that he prayed the verse in Psalms 56. Also Psalms 34 comes from this experience. Read 1 Sam. 21:10-22:2 for the background.  Being afraid is very human, we all have experienced it and acted on it and learned from it. Next time you experience it remember fear is there to get you to respond to be safe.  Many times I have gone through some type of fear or anxiety only to pray afterwards. Each fear has its own reaction.
Breathing a prayer like, "Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You.", may help you keep control to do what you have to do to be safe. If David was really scared then so can we be. Like David, we may even do the wrong things or crazy things in time of fear, but David put his fears to rest after the experience. That is something we can do. After the experience of fear, learn from it and give it to God. Don't hang on to it, talk it over with a friend and talk it over with God. Some fears may take some time to work out.
How does walking have to do with fear, anxiety, and worry? Like David praying after the fearful experience, when we can, I think a good walk is good as well. What do you think? Keep walking