God bless you
In Part IV of Living in God’s Power, hour two we learned there is a fight or flight mechanism that we all have. We also learned that some people’s fight mechanism is turned up and a little louder than their flight mechanism and vise versa. But whatever our natural tendencies are, there are times when either response is godly, appropriate and necessary. I have also recently learned to add another component to those two options: freeze. Both fighting and fleeing are deliberate actions and are appropriate to consider quickly. However, freezing is not an appropriate option. Freezing is inaction. Freezing is what the roar of the lion is supposed to cause (I Peter 5:8). Our adversary roars to frighten us so we freeze so he can prey upon us (Isaiah 5:29; Amos 3:4 ). We cannot afford to be frozen and not act when only acting will bring deliverance.
In I Kings 19:3 God has Elijah flee from Jezebel. Similarly the brethren sent Paul and Silas away from Thessalonica when things got hot in Acts 17:10. David was indignant when friends encouraged him to flee in Psalms 11:1, but we are well aware of all the times he did correctly flee from Saul’s vicious attacks.
There are also times to stand and fight. Elijah did show himself to the king and went toe to toe with the prophets of Baal in I Kings 18. David didn’t run from Goliath, but rather ran toward him with God’s guidance. When Jehoshaphat sought the Lord’s counsel in II Chronicles 20, he was told to stand and fight. Unlike David who had to engage Goliath, Jehoshaphat’s battle was to stand and see the Lord fight for him.
God’s promise is clear. He will deliver His people. Sometimes he calms the storms and sometimes He calms his children in the storms (Matthew 8:26 vs Acts 27:23 & 24). He either removes us from the trouble or sees us through to the end of it. God didn’t deliver Daniel from being thrown into lion’s den, but he delivered him from the lions while he was in there. God didn’t stop Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, from being thrown into the fire, but he stopped the fire from harming them. Sometimes He takes us from the situation and sometimes He takes us through it. It’s important that we stand and fight when God requires it for deliverance.
Psalms 91:15:
He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.
There are situations we will face in life in which God’s will is not to flee, but to fight. He is simply not going to remove us from the situation. Rather, He is going to give us what we need to slug it out right where we are and win. If He doesn’t deliver us from it, He’ll see that we make it through it.
Many times, we get tired of the people we work with, or tired of the job we do, or tired of the house we live in, or tired of this that or the other. We might want to leave ever so badly; we may want the situations to change in the worst way. However, it may very well be that God wants you to stay right where you are and fight it out. Furthermore, if He wants you to stay and fight, He will equip you to slug it out and win right where you are, He will not leave you to do it alone. If He takes you to it, He’ll see you through it.
He said that He would be with us in trouble. God will help us bear every burden and break every yoke. The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee one way, to flee before thee seven ways. (Deuteronomy 28:7) That’s why we need to find out if this is the time to stay and fight or take to flight. God has the answers we need. You can be sure that if God says to stay, He will equip you with all you need to win the battle. God causes us to triumph in Christ; that means we can win every time. Fight, flee, but never freeze.