Decidophobia

1 Chronicles 10: 1 – 14

Decidophobia

10 Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines and fell slain on Mount Gilboa. 2 Then the Philistines followed hard after Saul and his sons. And the Philistines killed Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua, Saul’s sons. 3 The battle became fierce against Saul. The archers hit him, and he was wounded by the archers. 4 Then Saul said to his armorbearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised men come and abuse me.” But his armorbearer would not, for he was greatly afraid. Therefore, Saul took a sword and fell on it. 5 And when his armorbearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword and died. 6 So Saul and his three sons died, and all his house died together. 7 And when all the men of Israel who were in the valley saw that they had fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook their cities and fled; then the Philistines came and dwelt in them. 8 So it happened the next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. 9 And they stripped him and took his head and his armor and sent word throughout the land of the Philistines to proclaim the news in the temple of their idols and among the people. 10 Then they put his armor in the temple of their gods and fastened his head in the temple of Dagon. 11 And when all Jabesh Gilead heard all that the Philistines had done to Saul, 12 all the valiant men arose and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons; and they brought them to Jabesh and buried their bones under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh and fasted seven days. 13 So Saul died for his unfaithfulness which he had committed against the LORD, because he did not keep the word of the LORD, and also because he consulted a medium for guidance. 14 But he did not inquire of the LORD; therefore, He killed him, and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse.

Have you ever spent so long trying to decide where to go for dinner that you end up missing the opportunity entirely? It's annoying, of course to experience this failure to choose, but I want to say that there's a world of difference between simple indecisiveness and decidophobia. This psychological term means ‘A paralyzing fear of making decisions.’

It's natural to worry over a huge life decision, someone with decidophobia is so terrified of making choices that they go out of their way to avoid them.

Let's see if you might have decidophobia.

1. You Go Out of Your Way To Avoid Choices

Phobias are characterized by avoidant behavior. The fear is causing actual avoidant behavior, so there are things occurring that the person might want to do but can’t do because of the fear. The fear is so distressing that people will go far out of their way to avoid deciding.

2. You Depend on Others to Make Decisions

People with decidophobia frequently want others to make decisions for them. Over time, this may lead to the development of unhealthy dependence on other people.

3. You Put Stock in Psychic Guidance

Similarly, to putting decisions in the hands of other people, individuals with decidophobia may place heavy emphasis on otherworldly forms of guidance: Tarot cards, psychics, astrology, and so on. These are all forbidden by our Holy Father God.

4. Making Decisions Inspires Intense emotional and physical issues

Phobias are characterized by intense fear, which may manifest in physical and emotional problems.

5. Your Indecision Interferes with Your Life

Like most psychological disorders, phobias cause distress. That's what elevates simple indecisiveness into decidophobia.

If you have personally studied 1st and 2nd Samuel, then you are familiar with the decline of Saul as the king of Israel. You will somehow tend to agree that this man had decidophobia as he seemed to have each of the 5 issues just listed.

For you and me though there is good news as our Holy Master instructs us here in this chapter. We need to learn from Saul’s errors and not repeat them. Our Lord said Saul’s problem of decidophobia is ‘he did not inquire of the LORD.’

The great emphasis of the Chronicler is on the house of David which he sees as the foundation of the hopes and worship of Israel. But to introduce his reign, and in order to contrast him with his predecessor, he first introduces us to the final days of Saul, whose genealogy has just been provided, ending it with an explanation for his downfall as a man whose failures before God had meant that God gave the kingdom to David, the son of Jesse. He wanted it to be quite clear that Saul’s dynasty was over.