Devotion 17 – Faith Amidst Fear
Ps.56:3-4 – “But when I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. I praise God for what he has promised. I trust in God, so why should I be afraid? What can mere mortals do to me?”
It is fine to be afraid at times. Fear is a reality, and we all must deal with it one time or another. Instead of avoiding it, we must learn to confront it and manage it; if not, it can become a problem when it dominates our lives.
David wrote Psalm 56 when he was seized by the Philistines in Gath while running from Saul’s army (1Sam.21:10-15). In this psalm, he expressed his fear and his trust in God amid this precarious situation. He began by saying, “When I am afraid . . .” He acknowledged that the danger, the trial and the fear was real. He did not deny his fear. However, in the same breath, he also said, “I put my trust in you. . . why should I be afraid?”
When we learn to cast our fears on God’s sovereignty, it empowers us to rise above our fear. Notice, David said, “When I am afraid” and not “If I am afraid”. That means fear will happen. God gives us the emotion of fear to alert us to danger so that we can take appropriate actions against it. Fear is a powerful negative emotion and irrational; non-action will cause it to take root in us and causes us to give way to panic attacks, hysteria and ultimately, paralysis.
Trusting His Word
Ps.56:10 – “I praise God for what he has promised; yes, I praise the Lord for what he has promised.”
When David said he put his trust in God, he was putting his trust on what God had promised in His Word. He anchored his pain and longing and fear in the promises of God. Instead of dwelling on the terrifying circumstances, he set his mind on God’s nature and character as revealed in the Holy Scripture. He allowed those threatening voices to be drowned out by a lounder voice – God’s voice. When we turn our focus back to God and His Word, it helps to bring us back into perspective of resting in God’s love and sovereignty. We might not do it perfectly, but we must mindfully maintain that attitude of our heart.
1Jn.4:18 - “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear…”.
Many a times, we do not see the fullness of our hope in God until fear comes and causes us to lean on God again and again. We can deny all that we want, but we have "other gods", other people and things that we place our confidence in and take comfort in. Like David, we often turn to the Lord only when it is proven that all these "other gods" are no gods at all -- that they can do nothing to meet our greatest needs or to alleviate our greatest fears. It is then and then only that we look to God for deliverance and comfort--when it becomes clear to us that we have no other option. Think of it positively, fear makes us feel that we ‘need’ God and recognise that we have no power to save ourselves.
Ps.34:4 - “I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.”
There are a lot of things in this world to be afraid of. We are surrounded every day by fears of every kind. Some involve personal issues, some social issues, some political issues, and some spiritual issues. In Psalm 23:4 when David said, “I will fear no evil”, it actually meant “I will trust God in the face of evil”. Very often we look to appease these fears with human solutions. But all those efforts are futile. There is only one Refuge for us -- only God can deliver us from all our fears and save us out of all our troubles. The fear of Him is the fear that empower us to ends all fears.
God is Trustworthy
Isa. 41:10 - “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’”
Have you ever watched young kids when they feel insecure or unsure of their surroundings? What do they do? They go to their parent and oftentimes, they will reach up and grab their hand. It like manner, we can reach out to grab the hand of our heavenly Father when we are afraid.
Heb.13:5 – “Let your character or moral disposition be free from love of money [including greed, avarice, lust, and craving for earthly possessions] and be satisfied with your present [circumstances and with what you have]; for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!]”
In the Amplified version of the Bible, four times the Scripture emphasized God will not leave us nor forsake us. The reasons are that He wants us to firmly grasp the truth that whatever circumstances may indicate, we must believe, on the basis of His promise, that He has not forsaken us or left us to the mercy of those circumstances. He is always beside us and we can always reach out to Him, to ‘hold’ His hand to calm our fears.
Unfortunately, instead of putting our trust in God, subconsciously, many are afraid to trust God fully. This has been the greatest handicap for most Christians, and it leads us to walk in disobedience and make very foolish decisions. We need to reflect, contemplate, acknowledge and confront the ‘UNBELIEF” in our hearts. We must rely on the truth that the fear that is keeping us from trusting God is unfounded, unreasonable and a lie from Satan, to keep us from the joy and peace of a yielded life.
God is interested and involved in each of our lives—the little things and the big things. He is never too busy or preoccupied; our problems are never too insignificant for him. He knows us better than we know ourselves. The God who created the world and everything in it is greater than any trouble we could ever face. When we choose to trust Jesus, fear will slowly lose its power over us and progressively, we will move from fear to faith.
1 Pet.5:7 - “Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”
When anxiety is permitted to dominate our life, faith will submit to fear and ultimately replaces God in our life. We need to humbly admit our inadequacy before we can benefit from His super-sufficiency. Learn to mindfully cast all our fears and worries upon Him for He cares for us!