#like. the whole “seen as a predator” thing. the fun intersection of “men dangerous to women” and “lesbians infiltrating women's spaces”

[neverendingford]

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[justinpotter1]

Why Are You Running?

Typically, when we face something that we are afraid of (or something we are just uncomfortable with), our instinctive fight, flight, or freeze mechanism kicks in and we make a quick decision. Either we use force to combat the situation — FIGHT; we take off — FLIGHT; or we just lock up and don’t move at all — FREEZE.

There are also situations when the same mechanism kicks in — and apparently for no good reason. King Solomon references it himself in the book of Proverbs:

The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion. // Proverbs 28:1

As I read this, I was fixed on the first half of the verse — “The wicked flee — when no one purses…”

Why would someone run away if nothing was chasing them? I have joked for years about people who run for pleasure, and used it to justify my disdain for running — “the only way I’m running anywhere is if something is chasing me”. That’s NOT what we are talking about here. We are talking about a literal running from something that we believe is in pursuit of us — and it’s our own fear.

Matthew Henry’s Commentary on this verse says this:

“Guilt in the conscience makes men a terror to themselves, so that they are ready to flee when none pursues… Though they pretend to be easy, there are secret fears which haunt them wherever they go, so that they fear where no present or imminent danger is.”

The Message translation puts it this way:

“The wicked are edgy with guilt, ready to run off even when no one’s after them…”

Perfect example: I’ve seen an experiment where a group of researchers had staged a situation at a convenient store. There were a few regular patrons sitting outside the store in their daily conversation, when out from around the corner of the building comes a gentleman in a white tank top and baggy jeans, in a FULL SPRINT as if someone — or something — was chasing him.

The guys sitting in front of the store didn’t stop him to ask him why he was running.

They didn’t wait to see what it was, or how close it was.

They didn’t put it on their Insta Story, or Snapchat.

They took off.

They jumped up, knocked over the plastic patio chairs and table… and hit a full sprint — IMMEDIATELY.

They never looked back to see what was chasing them.

They just ran. In several different directions.

When they felt like they had run a safe distance, they all stopped.

But why?

Well, some people may say that these men could have had some lingering past legal issues, and possibly perceived that the gentleman in the white tank top and baggy jeans in a dead sprint probably wasn’t running for fitness. Picture it.

It’s the same feeling that we get when we are going 5mph over the speed limit and we cross paths with a Police car — or when we run the yellow light and he’s sitting first in line at the intersection. That feeling is the feeling of GUILT, and hand-in-hand is our fear of getting caught.

In the case of the convenience store experiment, the men out front could have been completely void of any prior criminal behavior, but I’m willing to bet that they still would have run.

Because FEAR.

See we are all guilty, not because we are actively engaged in illegal activities, but because we are not perfect. And as long as the standard set by Jesus is perfection — we all fall short. This is called sin, and sin makes men cowards.

It makes us feel guilty.

It makes us afraid of punishment.

And so we run away.

Fast.

We run from anything that makes us the least bit uncomfortable.

In a situation where in reality nothing is chasing us, our guilty conscience is the thing that causes us to choose FLIGHT.

On the other hand — “the righteous are bold as a lion”.

If our conscience is clear of guilt, then why would we feel the urge to run?

Only if we are currently living in sin, or have never been forgiven of our sin (by God, self, or others…) would our conscience ever be one consumed by guilt, and force us to make the decision to FLIGHT.

The only way to overcome our natural, innate FEAR, is to trust our unnatural, cultivated, and trained FAITH.

Back to the experiment.

Let’s switch out the gentleman in the tank top for another man — this one is lean in build, wearing a long-sleeve bright yellow moisture-wicking tee shirt, black shorts that are cut right above the knee, tall compression socks, and brightly-colored running shoes. He is in a full sprint as he comes around the corner.

How would you respond?

More than likely we would look at the guy like, “bruh, they make treadmills ya know…”, but its unlikely that this particular gentleman would ever remind us of our mistakes. The runner isn’t leading us to instantly reflect on our past, and dart away to protect our future. He’s just out running… for fun it seems.

WHAT IF we gauged EVERY situation, no matter what, that way instead of in the previous example?

WHAT IF we chose NOT to revert our minds back to our sinfulness, but instead resorted forward to our FAITH.

After all, God is our defender, right? So why are we so jumpy when things get uncomfortable?

So that whole “the righteous are bold as a lion” thing — ever seen a lion take off running for no reason? No. Because they rest in the confidence of their Creator.

God made them bold, strong, fast, and placed them at the top of the animal food chain. There are very few predators out searching for a lion, because there are very few that can overcome a lion. Only when a lion lets down his guard does he become susceptible to being taken out…

Do you realize that you are created the same way?

We have no reason to FLIGHT from FEAR, but we have every reason to REST in our FAITH.

When our natural, innate FEAR is overcome by our unnatural, cultivated, and trained FAITH — whatever difficulties we face in the way of our duty, we are not daunted by them.

None of these things will move us.

Especially the “nothing” that we fear is in pursuit.