Faith bigger than your Fear

 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. 

Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

 Galatians 5:1

There are many biblical characters whom I openly admire and want to emulate, but there are some biblical characters who unsettle me because their life choices, feel uncomfortably familiar. King Saul is one of those figures.

Saul did not begin as a villain. He began with promise, yet his life became a cautionary tale of what happens when God’s anointed king becomes obedient to fear.

When Saul was first chosen as king, the people could not find him. Scripture tells us:

“Finally Saul son of Kish was taken. But when they looked for him, he was not to be found. So they inquired further of the Lord, ‘Has the man come here yet?’ And the Lord said, ‘Yes, he has hidden himself among the supplies.’” (1 Samuel 10:21–22)

This is more than an anecdote. It is an introduction. Saul begins his kingship hiding. Was he already divided between God’s call and his fear of being seen, known, or measured?

As Saul’s reign unfolds, fear increasingly governs his decisions. When faced with military pressure and the absence of Samuel, Saul panics and offers the sacrifice himself, violating God’s command. (1 Samuel 13:13)

Saul’s fear of losing control outweighed his trust in God’s timing.

Later, after disobeying God’s command regarding the Amalekites, Saul finally speaks with startling honesty:

“Then Saul said to Samuel, ‘I have sinned. I violated the Lord’s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the men and so I gave in to them.’” (1 Samuel 15:24)

This is the core of Saul’s story. His downfall was not ignorance, but fear ; fear of people, fear of rejection, and above all, fear of losing approval. Fear became the voice he obeyed most.

As Saul continues to submit to fear, it reshapes him. He becomes controlling, image-conscious, jealous, and paranoid. When David rises in popularity, Saul hears threat instead of gratitude:

“Saul was very angry; this refrain displeased him greatly. ‘They have credited David with tens of thousands,’ he thought, ‘but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?’ And from that time on Saul kept a close eye on David.” (1 Samuel 18:7–9)

Fear turns people into rivals. It distorts perception. It isolates.

Though God continues to warn Saul through Samuel, Saul becomes more concerned with appearances than repentance.

“Saul replied, ‘I have sinned. But please honour me before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord your God.’” (1 Samuel 15:30)

Eventually, Saul’s fear drives him to do what he once forbade: consulting a medium in desperation because God feels silent and distant. (1 Samuel 28:5–7)

Fear, once obeyed, leads him to betray his own values.

Saul’s life ruled by fear reaches its tragic conclusion on the battlefield. Surrounded, wounded, and desperate, he refuses capture and humiliation. Scripture tells us: 

“Saul took his own sword and fell upon it.”(1 Samuel 31:4)

Even in death, fear dominated Saul. The fear of disgrace, fear of being powerless or maybe the fear of the unknown. It is a sad, desperate, but almost inevitable conclusion for a life that had repeatedly obeyed fear rather than God.

Personal Reflection

So why does Saul’s story unsettle me?

It is because it is not loud rebellion that ruins him but the fear he chose to obey. He speaks God’s language, yet his choices are ruled by what he is afraid to lose. Why do approval, control, relevance, or even safety become idols in my life?

I see how fear can become something I consult before God. How I wait to see who is watching before I act. How I choose relief over obedience, closeness over truth, survival over trust. Like Saul, I can call these choices wisdom or responsibility, when in reality they are the tension of giving into fear’s demands for my loyalty.

Fear promises protection, but it slowly shrinks my soul. It turns people into threats and obedience into performance. It makes me hide among the baggage while God calls my name.

The warning in Saul’s life is not that God abandons the fearful, but that fear, when obeyed, dulls the heart’s responsiveness to God. What I repeatedly give my allegiance to, will shape who I become.

Scripture warns plainly:

“Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.” 
(Proverbs 29:25)

Today, I want to name fear honestly, not as an enemy to fight, but as a false god to step away from. I do not want a life organized around what I am afraid to lose. I want one shaped by trust, even when trust feels costly.

Scripture calls the fear of man a snare because it does not confront us but quietly traps us. A snare is hidden, subtle, and tightens the more we adjust our lives to avoid disapproval. What begins as wisdom or peacekeeping slowly becomes captivity.

Trust in God does not remove fear, but it lifts us out of fear’s authority. When fear no longer gets the final word, obedience becomes possible again. It is not because the risk is gone, but because God, not fear, defines what is safe.

God does not ask me to be fearless. He asks me to be faithful. And faith begins when fear no longer gets the final word.

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” 
(2 Timothy 1:7)