Psalm 56:3-4 (NIV)
When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise – in God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?
“We are men, and therefore liable to overthrow; we are feeble, and therefore unable to prevent it; we are sinful men, and therefore deserving it, and for all these reasons we are afraid. But the condition of the psalmist’s mind was complex—he feared, but that fear did not fill the whole area of his mind, for he adds, I will trust in thee. It is possible, then, for fear and faith to occupy the mind at the same moment.” Charles Spurgeon, like David, was a man of immense ability and faith…but he was also a broken man who struggled for years with depression and fear. In fact, Spurgeon himself once said, ““I pity a dog who has to suffer what I have.”
Are any of us in the same league as King David or Charles Spurgeon? I think not…yet, both of these great men of God struggled with fear in the midst of their great faith. Sadly, far too many of us are unwilling to openly acknowledge when we are struggling with fear…or depression…or anxiety…or doubt. We pass each other on Sunday mornings declaring, “I’m too blessed to be depressed,” while inwardly we feel cursed or alone or like a colossal failure. David, on the other hand, put his fearful feelings on paper and then to music to be distributed for use by his fellow Israelites! Like his counterpart years later, David lived out, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile” (Rom. 1:16). Despite his fear, David chose to live by faith because he had come to understand (and experience) that his faith in God’s faithfulness was the only sure rock he could cling to in the middle of any storm.
So, where does that leave the rest of us? In the exact same place – choosing faith in the midst of our fear. But notice what else David mentions: God’s word. In David’s time that was the Torah, or the first five books of the Old Testament, and he also might have had the books of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth as all were written before his lifetime. Like David, if we don’t have a firm grasp of the Word of God then it is virtually impossible to have a firm grasp on God himself. Do you want to hear God talking to you? He has already spoken. Do you want to hear his voice guiding you? It’s always available to you…but you have to speak his language, and God’s language is mostly God’s Word. Can the Holy Spirit guide you? Certainly, but He will never guide you in a way that isn’t totally consistent with the Word of God. Therefore, the only true remedy for fear is found in faith, which is ultimately rooted in who God is, which is most fully revealed in what God has said.
Finally, when it comes to the fear of man, what can a mere mortal do to you that your Eternal Father cannot thwart or undo? Nothing! Even if they kill your body, they can’t kill your eternal soul…and the body they killed will be raised to new life when Christ returns! Jesus himself said, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Mt. 10:28). Fear is a natural result of life lived in a fallen world, but faith in a supernatural and super-loving God is always fear’s master. We all struggle with serious issues – like David and Spurgeon did – but whether you are a mighty king or a famous pastor or merely an ordinary follower of Christ, we all must utilize the same solution: Faith in God…in the midst of our fear.
