"When I am afraid"

"When I am afraid, I put my trust in you." (Psalm 56:3)

David was afraid and on the run once again from king Saul who wanted to kill him. So he fled over to the king of Gath, the perpetual enemies of Israel, the Philistines. At Gath he was recognized by the king's servants as the man who killed many of their warriors, so David afraid again acted crazy before the king of Gath. But the king simply dismissed him as another madman, and those he had plenty around him and didn't need another one, as he said. After that David in fear again, escaped to the cave of Adullam, where he felt safe, and where other men in trouble gathered to him, including his family.

Afraid? Are you fearful of anything? What do you fear when you're all alone? What scares you the most in your life? Being alone? Loosing health? Loosing a spouse? Not being able to find a job? Being abandoned by a loved one? Afraid that you're not good enough for anything or anyone? Or just imaginary fears of what people might be thinking of you? Or what if, who knows fears? Or simply afraid of dying?

Whatever it is you and I may be afraid of, you're not alone in it. David was one of the greatest warriors, and he was afraid. But, even in his fear, he resolved "I put my trust in you". And two times in this Psalm he said, "In God, whose word I praise—in God I trust and am not afraid." It is God's word alone spoken to David that has given him the strength to go on. It is God's promise of his faithful covenant love which has sustained him in the midst of an eminent danger of being hunted down and killed. It was knowing and being assured of that God was for David, that has given him the confidence in his troubled life.

Do you know that God is for you? Here's a promise, a word of God to them who put their trust in Jesus Christ to save them. "What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" (Romans 8:31-32)

The Scriptures are full of the good news of who God is and what he has done for us, in his Son Jesus. So, in our many different fears, let us put our trust in God. Let us praise God's word. Let us thank him that he has not left us alone, but is with us and for us. And his promise is that along with Jesus, he will "graciously give us all things" we need. So join me and let's trust the Lord in the present and leave the future in his hands. He can handle all things, real fear, big fear, or just imaginary fears.