“Way! Way! Way!” came the voice. “Way for the White Barbarian King, the guest of the Tisroc (may he live forever)! Way for the Narnian lords.”. . . It was quite unlike any other party they had seen that day. The crier who went before it shouting, “Way, way!” was the only Calormene in it. And there was no litter; everyone was on foot. There were about half a dozen men and Shasta had never seen anyone like them before. For one thing, they were all as fair-skinned as himself, and most of them had fair hair. And they were not dressed like men of Calormen. Most of them had legs bare to the knee. Their tunics were of fine, bright, hardy colors— woodland green, or gay yellow, or fresh blue. Instead of turbans they wore steel or silver caps, some of them set with jewels, and one with little wings on each side. A few were bare-headed. The swords at their sides were long and straight, not curved like Calormene scimitars. And instead of being grave and mysterious like most Calormenes, they walked with a swing and let their arms and shoulders go free, and chatted and laughed. One was whistling. You could see that they were ready to be friends with anyone who was friendly, and didn’t give a fig for anyone who wasn’t. Shasta thought he had never seen anything so lovely in his life.
~CS Lewis, The Horse and His Boy
Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle. And they were gathered at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim. … And the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man, that we may fight together.” When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid…. Now David was the son of an Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, named Jesse, who had eight sons. …And Jesse said to David his son.. see if your brothers are well, and bring some token from them.” …And David left the things in charge of the keeper of the baggage and ran to the ranks and went and greeted his brothers. As he talked with them, behold, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines and spoke the same words as before. And David heard him. All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were much afraid. And the men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel. And the king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father’s house free in Israel.” And David said to the men who stood by him, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” And the people answered him in the same way, “So shall it be done to the man who kills him.” …. (And David said,) “Let no man’s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.” But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” And David said, “The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the LORD be with you!” … When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him.
~ The Beloved David, in 1 Samuel 17
Oh beloved, it is true.
It is absolutely vital that we live beyond fear. Oh yes, we will fear Him all-the-more when we live in this space, so that is not the point of this entry. The dread joy of His Presence is the bedrock, though, from which the rest of this fearlessness flows.
There is a deep need for our fearlessness. And it is not just that we might live in some deeper sense of peace. Though this will certainly be a side effect of the being.
And, it is important to note that many people will simply not “get” what we are doing when we live the way that we do. For, a person who lives beyond fear does not change his/her behavior based on the circumstances around them. No, our responses are based on a set of principles that we have allowed Him to inculcate into our souls.
We do things because they are true, and just, and pure, and lovely, and of good report, and worthy of praise. We do things because they are right. Oh SURELY we fail, but the reset is easy. We don’t have to go back over some frenetic list of how everyone else is reacting, or whether what we are doing is getting enough ‘likes’ on social networks. We reset to freedom.
This is why we should dance the way we could. This is why David thought it nuts that no one was going to go out and whack this monster mole and get back to the business of being the army of The L_RD.
Can we see it?
Our selfish anger and reactions, scar those closest to us.
Our egocentric worrying, keeps us from assisting others.
Our inward-looking angst, keeps up from find ways to help those in need.
So, it goes deeper. Our freedom is not just for us. Our freedom has a critical capacity wrapped up within it. Frightened people get other people hurt. Soldiers who are cowards, get their buddies blown up, and battles lost. But, and this is big, fearless people have a capacity to actually make a difference and bring hope and healing and strength to others.
And nobody else does. This is one of the many reasons why G_d forbids fear throughout His Word.
So again, are you feeling the self-consciousness creeping in again? This fool of a writer does nearly daily. But warriors do not have to live in the space of the creeping shadow. They can run to The Light. For, in His Presence there is fullness of joy (read strength) to live above the lowlands of self and fear and doubt.
Tonight is your night beloved. Dance!
You’ve got to sing like you don’t need the money
Love like you’ll never get hurt
You’ve got to dance like nobody’s watchin’
It’s gotta come from the heart if you want it to work.
~ Susanna Clark and Richard Leigh
