Sermons

God Is the Answer To Our Fear

November 29, 2020 Speaker: Reid Strahan Series: The Psalms

Topic: Faith Passage: Psalm 34:1–9, Psalm 56:1–13

This morning I want to talk to you about fearing people and trusting God. I think fearing people is a bigger problem for most of us than we know.  We live with a certain uneasiness, apprehension or anxiety about people in our lives.  

One great hindrance to experiencing the love of God and intimacy with God, is fear, especially fear of people.  Proverbs 29:25 says “The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe.”  Fearing people is a dangerous trap; it will keep you from doing what God wants, and from enjoying God’s presence! Trusting in the Lord allows our hearts to feel safe, unafraid, and near to God, no matter how fierce the battle is raging around us.

We all feel afraid at times, but fear that becomes entrenched in our hearts, becomes bigger than God!  And pushes God and his promises out of our thoughts and hearts! When love for our own life, our own security, our comfort, the welfare of our children, our possessions, or our reputations, becomes uppermost to us, then our fear of losing these things, rules how we live. Without knowing it, our fears have taken the place of God in our hearts.  So the real issue is: will our fears, or will the Lord, captivate our attention, thoughts and emotions!  

There is a lot in the Psalms to help us overcome our fears.  The key verses that help me deal with my fears are found in Psalm 34 and 56.  I view them as life-saving promises;  they are like keys to the prison doors!   56:3,4 “When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you”.  In God I have put my trust; I shall not be afraid”.  In this short statement there is more revelation about how to be delivered from fear than in a hundred books on overcoming fear!  “Trusting in God” is the antidote to all fear.  David testified to the effectiveness of trust in God as the complete cure for fear in Psalm 34:4. “I sought the Lord and he delivered me from all my fears”.  We trust; he delivers.. from ALL our fears!  A heart free from fear is the supreme blessing of those who trust in God.

Psalm 34 and 56 were written when David was fleeing from Saul.  Saul viewed David as a threat to his throne and he told Jonathan to send men to kill David!  Jonathan warned David that his father had determined to kill him.  So David fled.  He first went to Ahimelek the priest to get food and ask for a sword.  Ahimelek gave him bread and he gave him Goliath’s sword.  Then David went to the king of Gath, to hide from Saul.  Gath was a Philistine city.  You may remember that Goliath was from Gath.  David was safe there from Saul, but the Philistines took him prisoner!  Before long the kings servants recognized him and warned the king, “This man is David, future king of Israel!  He is the one they sing about, “Saul has slain his thousands but David had killed his ten thousands”.  

When David realized they knew who he was, “he was very much afraid of the king of Gath”.  There was no way for David to fight his way out, so he pretended to be insane.  The king fell for his act, and he sent him away!  So, miraculously, David escaped death and fled to a cave at Adullam. 

Psalm 56 is a psalm of David when the Philistine’s captured him in Gath.  Psalm 34 is a psalm of David, when he pretended to be insane before the king of Gath, and was let go.   While he was a prisoner in Gath, David said, “When I am afraid I will put my trust in you”.  When the king of Gath let him go, he said, “I sought the Lord and he delivered me from all my fears”.  These Psalms are closely connected!

PSALM 56 Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me; all day long an attacker oppresses me; my enemies trample on me all day long, for many attack me proudly. 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? All day long they injure my cause; all their thoughts are against me for evil. They stir up strife, they lurk; they watch my steps, as they have waited for my life.  For their crime will they escape?  In wrath cast down the peoples, O God!  You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle.  Are they not in your book? Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call. This I know, that God is for me. In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid.  What can man do to me?  I must perform my vows to you, O God; I will render thank offerings to you. For you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.

PSALM 34 I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad. Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together! I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack!

At the time David wrote Psalm 56, he does not seem to have a friend in the world, except Jonathan.  Saul wants to kill him, the Philistines, will either keep him a prisoner or kill him.  And so David begins this Psalm, “God be gracious to me, man tramples upon me!”  “All day long an attacker oppresses me; my enemies trample on me all day long”.    “They are against me, they watch my every step, they wait to take my life.”  

Much of our fear in life, is rooted in what other people have done to us, are presently doing to us, or might do to us! We can be mistreated by our parents or a spouse or a someone we considered a dear friend.  Children can say cruel things to  their parents, a boss may demand too much, or unfairly blame you or mistreat you.  

We can fear groups of people: nations, governments, organizations.  Lawyers can sue, insurance companies can deny a claim, a collection agency can harass, the IRS can audit.  We can fear what the doctor is going to tell us, or what the neighbor might think.  We can be afraid to say “No” to someone, or afraid of not being accepted or liked.  We can be afraid of what people think about us for loving and following Jesus.  We can fear people in so many ways!  

Of course, some people are obsessed with the idea that everybody is out to get them, when that is not the case in reality.  But we do have real fears of people and David tells us how he trusts God in when people trample on him.  

First, David EXPECTS God to be good to him!  “Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me.” What a contrast! God is gracious, man tramples!  David is confident God will treat him better than people.  Only God loves you perfectly and completely.  God is never heartless, vindictive, or cruel in dealing with his children.  Even though he may take us through some painful things, there is a heart of compassion and love through it all.  We can always count God to be gracious to us.  This gives us unshakable security and peace, even when people trample on us.

Then David goes right on to say, (verse 3) “When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you”.   “WHEN I am afraid” -  how do you finish that sentence?  We all experience anxiety, apprehension, uneasy feelings or foreboding thoughts about the future.  What you do with these manifestations of fear greatly affects your life!  David said, “When I am afraid, I trust in God”.  You can make that your response to fear!! 

Trust is something you do with your mind and your heart.  Psalm 25:1,2 says, “To you, O lord I lift up my soul, in you, my God, I trust”.  Trust is directing your soul to God. It is giving God your full attention!  You look to him to keep you in his care, no matter what!  Trust in God has to be absolute or complete trust, or it isn’t trust. You can’t “sort of” trust!  It is a complete abandonment of your worries and fears to him.  It is a complete abandonment of your concerns about what people have done to you or are doing to you, to God.   

*The solution to fear is trust in God AND to trust in what God has said.  3 times David said, “I will trust in God whose word I praise.”  He exalted God’s promises over his fears!  That is how we deal with our fears!  It is the power of God’s voice that silences our fears!  Several commentators note this could be translated “I will boast in what God has said to me”.  Matthew Poole said this means, “I will have great respect for the assurances he has given me on which I may rely in times of danger.”

David vowed to trust in God... but he also vowed to NOT be afraid!  “In God I trust; I shall not be afraid.  The lie of the devil is that you can do nothing about your fears. The truth of God is that you can repudiate fear and replace it with trust.  It is dangerous to coddle our fears, to justify our fears, or to continue in our fears.  Fears don’t go away on their own, until you refuse to let them rule over you. Alexander MacLaren said, “True faith, by a mighty effort of the will, fixes its gaze on the Divine helper, and there finds it possible to lose its fears.”   The solution to your fears is more than wanting to not be afraid.  It is vowing to trust in God and to NOT be afraid!!!

*Our fears are relieved by seeing God as big and seeing men as merely human!  Verse 4 “I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?” NASB says, “What can mere man do to me?” To some, God is more like a phantom, and people are solid, real. To David men were mere mortals, God was the All-Mighty One!  People can become so big in our eyes, their opinions seem so important, their power over us seems so complete.  But when God is who we see, and live for and please, that frees us from a thousand anxieties and fears! 

*Yet that doesn’t mean that we never get hurt or that God is indifferent about our suffering at the hands of people. Verse 8 “You have kept count of my tossings; (or my misery and sorrow) You put my tears in your bottle.  Are they not in your book?”  See how carefully God keeps track of your pain and sorrows! We may not understand what is happening to us, but God sees, he knows, he cares! He remembers better than you do all the stuff you have been through!  It matters to him!

We can trust God with complete abandon, because of the truth in verse 9. “This I know, that God is for me.”  I remember the first time I read this verse and how deeply it impacted me!  You need to become convinced of this in your heart. When you get up in the morning, you say, “I don’t know what the day holds, but this I know for sure, that God is for me today.  When people trample you down, you say, that hurts but this I know, that God is for me!  God’s favor overrules what any person, organization or government can do to you.   This is not just positive thinking, Jesus Christ died to bring you into the Father’s favor! 

*David expresses his confident trust AGAIN in verse 10!  “In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise, In God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?”  David repeats what he already said!  If you want to be free from fear, you don’t passively say I will trust in God; you say it strongly, tenaciously, you repeat it, you stay with it!  That is how you fend off your fears!  

*David ends THIS psalm by saying “I will do what I have vowed!!  I will offer up to you a sacrifice of thanksgiving!”  When David was afraid, he vowed to trust God and to praise God!

**

Psalm 34 is the fulfillment of the vow David made in 56. “I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the LORD.”  David Guzik said “David cleverly won his freedom by pretending madness, but he knew that the working of the thing was due to God, not his own cleverness. David had little to boast of, from a human perspective. He had to humiliate himself like a madman to escape the Philistines”.  God often let’s us look and feel weak or humiliated, so that we will boast in him, not ourselves! 

“Let the humble hear and be glad.  Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together!” When David escaped to the cave at Adullam, 1 Samuel 22:1 says “his brothers and all his father's house, went down there to him. And everyone who was in distress, or in debt, or discontented, gathered to him there.  David Guzik suggests that David sang this Psalm of thanksgiving and praise, for this desperate, needy, humble group of people.  David STILL had plenty to fear!  Saul was still trying to kill him.  But he blessed the Lord, he boasted in the Lord and he invited those around him to magnify the Lord with him.  We choose either fear or worship! 

Verse 4, “I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.”  God got David out of a jam in Gath, and even though he is still in danger, he declares that God has delivered him from all his fears!  WHAT a precious promise!! How many fears can you be freed from?  You may have one or two fears, or you may have so many you can’t count!  You can make this your confession as well!

Verse 5 “Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed.” What a difference it makes in our heart and on our face when we look to the Lord instead of looking at our fears! Fear does something to our face and so does trust!  CEV says, “Keep your eyes on the LORD! You will shine like the sun and never blush with shame.”  You can keep focused on your fear, or look to HIM! 

He continues his personal testimony in verse 6: “This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.”  What a statement of faith for you and me! We are poor people, nobodies, but the Lord hears us and saves us out of all our troubles!  No matter how small you feel, trust in the Lord to save you!  Do that INSTEAD of being afraid!

Then this important truth!!!!  Verse 7 “The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. 8 Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!  Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! 9Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack!  

All the good that God promises is for those who fear God.  God says, “If you fear me, and have deep respect for me, my angel will pitch his tent right next to you and will deliver you.  If you fear me, you need not be afraid of anything else for I will be with you and deliver you. David goes on, and declares this to be true for all.  “Those who fear the Lord will not lack any good thing.  Basically David says the thing that delivered him from all his fears was fear of the Lord!   If we are living in fear that should be a wake up call that we are not revering and fearing God as we ought.  

Ed Welsch, author of “When People are Big and God is Small” said, “The most radical treatment for the fear of man is the fear of the Lord.  God must be bigger to you than people are.”  We give all our attention to someone or something we fear.  To fear the Lord is to give him all our attention, to be absorbed with God, and what matters to him, and what pleases him, and what he says, with what he loves and what he hates.  God looks on this kind of reverential fear and he says, I will act on behalf of that man or woman!! And that promise of security frees us from all our fears. 

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