Fight or Flight: Or, Maybe a Third Choice

“And it came to pass, that when Zedekiah the king of Judah saw them, and all the men of war, then they fled, and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the king’s garden, by the gate betwixt the two walls: and he went out the way of the plain.” (Jer 39:4 AV)

Zedekiah, king of Judah, with his princes and the people were warned not to flee when Babylon reappeared after Egypt’s departure.  They were told by the prophet Jeremiah to succumb to the demands of Babylon and submit to the pending captivity.  If, when Babylon returned, they fled, then they would be taken by force, some would lose their lives, the king’s eyes would be put out, and the Jerusalem would be burned.  In hind sight, we can see the futility of rejecting the prophet’s words.  But, if we are fair, we can certainly understand why thy did what they did.  If we are honest, most of us would have done the same thing.  We are wired with a fight or flight response to threats.  We will either face them head on and, win or lose, fight to the end.  Or, like Zedekiah, we will turn tail and run.  Most of us would do the later.  It is wired into us so that we will survive.  Which brings us to the principle for our edification.  It takes faith and obedience to allow the hand of God to work in and through difficult circumstances of life.

Going through therapy after shoulder surgery, there were exercises I absolutely hated.  The one that really caused a great deal of pain was the alphabet exercise. It required holding a volleyball sized ball against the wall with the palm of the shoulder that we repaired, then tracing the alphabet one letter at a time with the ball.  It sounds rather innocuous, but try it some time.  Specially after surgery.  What got me through those painful exercises was two things.  The first was the reminder that if one does not do their exercises, they may very will lose mobility of that arm and the pain of surgery would have been completely wasted.  In other words, if I rejected to correction, no matter how painful it was at the time, my shoulder would have frozen in place and I would have been a one-armed man.  The other was the desire to overcome.  I wasn’t going to let a silly thing like pain to keep me from conquering the alphabet.  After all the exercises were over, the patient gets to enjoy a session with a clinical strength TENS machine.  Oh, baby, did that feel good!  I had the therapist turn that machine higher and higher.  The got a laugh out of it.  Again, more short-term discomfort for the benefit of prolonged relief.

The point is this.  I can certainly understand why Zedekiah ran.  I probably would have to.  It takes a certain level of faith to submit to uncomfortable circumstances in order that one might be changed.  Here is another point.  Zedekiah was going to Babylon one way or another.  With or without faith.  If he goes with faith, it will go easier for him.  If without it, the experience would be far more difficult.  Better to trust the LORD and surrender to correction than to fight it.  It is coming whether we like it or not.  Better to lay down our arms and allow the free work of the Holy Spirit than to put on our running shoes and try to outrun an omnipresent God.