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“When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?” Psalm 56:3-4

Life is hard. And that’s an understatement. Our current crisis or challenge could be with regard to a relationship (family or otherwise), illness (ours or a loved one), loss (human, financial, physical), work (excessive or lack thereof)…the list could go on. And if you are a news or media junkie, there’s enough information being spewed from a talking head in just 15 minutes on any given day to elevate our anxiety level to 11. But whatever it is, fear can wrap itself around us like a heavy blanket.

Thank God for His precious Word! And for the man after His own heart, David, who in his Psalms covers pretty much every emotional upheaval we can imagine. (And plenty we can’t.) No matter how we’re feeling—from questioning God to wishing terrible things on our enemies to experiencing the pure awe of the starry sky—David wrote about it. But the thing I love most about David’s prose is that he always points himself—and us—back to the sovereignty, glory, majesty, and providence of God. This is especially true when he is feeling fearful. And the dude had a lot to fear throughout his life.

As I was reading a few Psalms the other morning (something I recommend we all do daily), it was Psalm 56 that struck me afresh with its reminder to not be afraid. Now, you may have heard that the Bible has a lot of “fear not” messages for us throughout both the Old and New Testament—enough for every day. This is true, and it’s worth a personal study for sure. But here, as David has been running from his enemies and has now been caught, his approach to “fear not” has a different twist that’s worth pointing out. See, it’s easy to get caught up in the directives to not be afraid, while feeling the feels of, “But I AM afraid!” This is where David rocks.

In this Psalm he states clearly: “When I am afraid.” This is followed immediately with, “I will trust in You—in God, whose word I praise.” So, there is his definitive: WHEN I am afraid—not if. And then, another immediate follow-through, which basically says, “Because I DO IN FACT trust God, I WILL NOT be afraid.” In other words, “I will be afraid, so I won’t be afraid.” After all, David reminds himself and us, what can a mere person do to him? The irony is that he straightaway lists what man can do: distort his words, think evil against him, attack, lurk, wait to kill him. Again, he answers his own mental rabbit hole with the fact that the Lord sees and knows him, and his tears are kept in a bottle by God.

The biggest factor that calms one’s mind and soul, though, answers the whole “how” question of not fearing when afraid. In verse 13, David confidently declares, “For you have saved my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.” Because we are saved (rescued, redeemed) from death by God through Jesus and transferred into the kingdom of His beloved Son, we can walk in the knowledge of who we belong to—and where we’re on our way to.

And with that knowledge, friend, when we fear, let’s remember God, trust in Him and His Word…and fear not.

“Father God, when I am afraid, I will trust in You—and not be afraid. You have saved me. And I will keep my mind focused on You, and You will keep me at peace.”

For His Glory

Julianne Winkler Smith
TRBC Women’s Life