Trusting You

Psalm 56: 3, 4b               TPT

But in the day that I’m afraid, I lay all my fears before you and trust in you with all my heart. The roaring praises of God fill my heart, and I will always triumph as I trust his promises.

I am enjoying Psalm Mondays and I hope you are too. I wanted to stay with Psalm 56 for another day or two to soak in what David had to share. His experiences are different from ours but the trials themselves are common to us all and I think by reading David closely, we get some important clues as to how to deal with difficult situations. David also teaches us much about trust, praise and a personal relationship with God.

We have learned that fear is a very dangerous pastime. It is fear which nearly destroyed Job’s life. None the less, it is a state that every one of us will experience from time to time. There are several characteristics of David’s writing which I appreciate. First, his honesty and transparency are laudable. He isn’t so tied up with his image of himself that he won’t express the truth of his fear. The other thing that I value so highly about David and am so appreciative that he shares is how he works his way out of fear, despair or sorrow. He expresses the truth of his state and is eloquent in divulging the depth of his emotion, but we also get to follow along as he works his way back to faith.

In today’s passage we see that praising God is what lifted him out of despair on this day. Praise set him free from fear. He took his fears to God and he walked away with trust and the assurance of triumph. I am sure if we could have stopped David in that moment when fear turned to confidence, he would have expressed an unwavering, absolute belief in his upcoming victory.

We too can trust God’s promises and the trust itself becomes the catalyst for success. Trust begets belief and Jesus said we can have what we believe. It certainly worked for David and my bet is that it can work for us too. Be blessed my fellow believers.

Redeemed From Fear

Psalm 56: 3 – 4

When I am afraid, I will put my trust in Thee, in God, whose word I praise, in God I have put my trust; I shall not be afraid. What can mere man do to me?

Who among us is not faced with fear at some time? It is a common human reaction to challenges in life. The first mention of fear appears in Genesis 3. It didn’t take long for mankind to find fear. However, they only became afraid after succumbing to the devil. Before Adam and Eve followed Satan and ate the forbidden fruit they knew not fear. Interesting. Since that time people have been plagued by fear. However, there is good news. God has provided a remedy for everything which plagues mankind, including fear. His remedy for fear is trust.

When I am afraid,” the psalmist writes, “I will put my trust in thee.” He doesn’t deny that he was afraid. He just determines not to let fear have him. We are not to abide in fear. We are to run into the arms of our loving father and envelope ourselves in an abiding, overcoming trust. Trusting Him is the solution for every fear. It seems, then, that overcoming fear requires a decision from us. It also requires action on our part. We must intentionally shift our minds and hearts from fear to trust in the Lord. That means you take your eyes off of that which frightens you and put them on the Lord of your salvation. Look upon Jesus and decide to believe Him and to believe in the Father’s love rather than to believe in that which frightens you.

Fear is slavery and Jesus has set us free from all of the shackles of bondage. If we allow fear to remain in our lives then we are effectively rejecting the gift of Christ. It is making his sacrifice of no effect. This is no place for Christians. Galatians 5: 1 reads, “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.” That seems pretty clear to me. It is a shout, a command that we should not allow ourselves to be victims of fear. We must stand firm against fear. Jesus came to give us abundant life, not a life shackled by fear.

The psalmist, David, gave praise to the word of God. It occurs to me that was another of his weapons against fear. He looked to the word and encouraged himself so that he could pronounce his faith in God’s saving ability. David trusted God and stood on God’s word. He determinedly put his trust in God and God’s promises and time after time God pulled him from certain defeat. Now David teaches us these valuable lessons. Let us declare as he did, “In God I have put my trust; I shall not be afraid.”