When I Am Afraid

“Be merciful unto me, O God: for man would swallow me up; he fighting daily oppresses me.  My enemies would daily swallow me up: for they be many that fight against me, O Thou Most High.  What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee.  In God I will praise His word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.”  Psalm 56:1-4

This is one of King David’s Psalms.  He certainly knew what it was like to have enemies.  He was pursued by King Saul of Israel, by many of the surrounding neighbors of Israel, and even by his own son, Absalom.  There was trouble in every direction he turned.  Home is the place that should be our comfort and safety, but David’s home was filled with turmoil.  Part of the turmoil was caused by some bad decisions that he had made, thus, he was not completely innocent.  It’s no wonder that he was always on the move, but his fear and his troubles gave us some of the most meaningful and compassionate writings of the Old Testament.  There is something about troubles and trials that give one a deeper insight into one’s spiritual nature.

If we, like David, desire to know the identity of our enemies, all we have to do is to bravely proclaim God’s word before those who hate God, and they will show themselves quickly by word and/or deed.  Fear can be a paralyzing emotion or can cause a “fight or flight” effect.  David certainly did a lot of running from his pursuers.  I am reminded of a line by Mel Gibson in the movie “Maverick”.  He was being pursued and said, “The man that runs away lives to run away another day” which indicates to run from fear doesn’t make it go away.  What does make fear flee is to trust the Lord to help us face our fears.  We can’t be fearful and faithful at the same time.

Even with all of David’s failures, he had a heart for the LORD.  I can picture him hiding out in a cave because he was being pursued by one of his enemies and saying to himself, “What am I doing?  Where is my trust?  Why am I running like a scaredy cat when I could come under the wing of my heavenly Father.  He would protect me and take care of my enemies for me if only I would depend upon Him.”  Do we think similar thoughts when we are faced with situations that cause us fear and anxiety?  Do we become ashamed of how we are letting our fear control us?  Do we think, “Oh, I know that the Lord can handle this situation, but I don’t know if He will or not”.

Fear can be a good thing.  We were given the emotion of fear as a means of protection.  We know to be fearful of poisonous snakes, walking alone at night (which I don’t do, by the way, for fear of the obvious dangers), and many other things that can harm us if we are not careful.  God gave us the sense to take care of ourselves and avoid dangerous situations.  We cover our electrical outlets to keep young children from getting shocked and wear our seatbelts in our vehicles in case we have an accident.  No matter how careful we are, though, stuff happens out of our control.  That’s why it is always a good idea to stay “prayed up” and not wait until something does happen to turn to the Lord.  David didn’t wait.  He kept as close to the LORD as he could, staying in daily conversation and communion with Him.  That is how he survived all the chaos around him.

Many of our fears concern things that we think could happen.  Most of the things that we fear never happen, but some of them do because we live in a sin-cursed world.  We can be attempting to live righteously, close to the Lord, but cannot always escape the effects of the sins of others.  Since fear is a common emotion, we can’t escape it either, but we don’t have to let it control us.  The phrase “fear not” is found 63 times in scripture.  If we know the One who controls the world, we really have no reason to fear anything.  My heart understands that, but my head hasn’t been completely convinced.  If I trust Him, there is no need to fear man for man can only do to me what God allows.  Those of us who are born again trusted the Lord to cleanse us from sin and make us a home with Him for all eternity, the two greatest things that could ever happen to folks, so why can’t we trust him for everything else?