The Brain's Brave Override

In 2010, neuroscientist Yadin Dudai and his team at the Weizmann Institute of Science made a remarkable discovery about what happens inside the brain when a person chooses to be brave. They studied volunteers who were terrified of snakes and gave them a simple option: press a button to bring a live snake closer, or press a different button to send it away.

Here is what stunned the researchers. The people who chose courage — who brought the snake closer despite their terror — did not show less fear in their brains. Their amygdala, the brain's alarm system, was screaming just as loudly as anyone else's. The difference was that another region, the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, activated and essentially overrode the fear signal. Their brains did not silence the fear. Their brains answered it.

This is what Scripture has been telling us all along. When the Lord said to Joshua, "Be strong and courageous" (Joshua 1:9), He was not saying, "Stop being afraid." He was saying, "I have given you something stronger than your fear." God never promised that the Red Sea would not look terrifying. He promised He would make a way through it.

Courage is not the absence of a racing heart. Courage is the presence of a deeper voice — the voice of the Almighty — saying, "I am with you." And that voice is enough to override any fear you will ever face.