02/07/2023
THE EMOTIONAL CONSEQUENCS OF FEAR: (1Samuel 25:2-38) Fear is a powerful emotion that produces a very potent psychological response. History holds many or countless stories of individuals whose fear reached such an overwhelming level that they fell over dead. One of the classic examples of the toxic power of fear appears in the Bible. The story involves a man named Nabal, whose name means "fool"(see1Sam. 25). The meaning of this man's name may be a first indicator to his anger management problems- doesn't overreacting and boiling rage make fools of us at times? Nabal was a very wealthy man, with three thousand sheep and one thousand goats,which by anyone's standards is a lot of livestock. Livestock in the desert economy of Bible tines was better than gold. When Nabal's wife, Abigail, learned of her husband's foolish response, would cause a serious financial loss for David, and would likely to spread to other livestock owners, she acted quickly to save her household. She packed much as she could a generous gift to David and his men. Abigail didn't tell Nabal her husband when she returned home from meeting David, and his men. Abigail returned home to find Nabal hosting a feast fit a king. The Bible tells us "Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk"(1 sam. 25:36). When Abigail told Nabal how close he had come to being killed, and all his servants, his heartdied within, and he became like a stone"(v.37). In other words my friends, he suffered a severe heart attack that left him in a comatose state. Ten days later, he died. Jesus warned that circumstances can and will arise in this world that result in "men's hearts failing them from fear" (Luke 21:25-28). THE Emotional Consequences OF FEAR!!! BROTHER WALLACE JACKSON SR