Psalm 56: Afraid

I often hear people say that faith and fear can’t live in the same place. I hear that faith and fear are opposed or opposite of each other. I hear that if you have fear you need more faith. I think all of those ideas are well-meaning, I think they are born in wishful thinking, but I also think that they are more idealistic than realistic, and they end up causing shame more than building faith. Fear is a real thing; it can’t be avoided and shouldn’t be dismissed. Fear can come out of nowhere, latching a hold on our hearts with no warning and many of us know that it can linger, holding on long after we’ve exhausted ourselves with efforts to make it leave. Fear is not our friend but for many it is a companion. It’s not what any of us need, but we can’t seem to figure out how to live without it. We hate it but we can’t quit it because it’s not something we chose to have, it’s something that sin did to us. The first feelings of the first sinners were fear and shame and those feelings will remain in this place until Jesus returns to make all things new by casting out everything old, including and especially fear. The question should not be how do we avoid fear, but rather what should we do when we are afraid?

Psalm 56, like Psalm 34, was written about David’s short time of trying to hide among the Philistines when he first fled from Israel to hide from King Saul. David’s life changed instantly, without warning (I Samuel 20-21 tell the story). He went from being Israel’s favorite warrior, best friends with the king’s son and married to the king’s daughter to being hunted by the king, a refugee, leaving his family, fleeing for his life and running to any place that might take him in. David was afraid, he says so in verse 3, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in You.” How could he not be afraid? There are times in all of our lives in which fear is the expected human response. I have at least three friends right now that are battling cancer or facing treatment for newly diagnosed cancer. I know widows and widowers whose lives will never be the same. I know families whose lives have been turned upside down by the choices and decisions of one person. I know people who could have their lives changed by one decision of the government. Should I tell them not to be afraid? If they are afraid should I ask them where is their faith? Shouldn’t they be afraid? Maybe that last question should be better asked, shouldn’t they be allowed to be afraid?

David had to flee or die. His king, his boss, his father-in-law was now not just his enemy, he was hoping to be his murderer. David’s first step was a natural one, he ran away. The part that doesn’t make much sense is that David ran to Gath, a city of the Philistines, who were Israel’s biggest enemy. When the children of Israel sang “Saul has killed his thousands, David his ten-thousands”, those that David had killed had been largely Philistines. He ran from danger to danger, that’s exactly what fear wants for us, that we would feel like everything just keeps getting worse. David’s situation is almost comical in hindsight, when he ran from Saul, he went to Goliath’s hometown carrying Goliath’s sword as the man who had cut off Goliath’s head. Did he really think they would welcome him? Fear makes us do some foolish things. We can’t help but feel fear, but we have to learn how to stop acting from fear. David didn’t declare, “I’m not afraid.” He didn’t promise, “I won’t be afraid.” He wrote, “When I am afraid (he made it a given, it’s going to happen), I put my trust in You.” David is teaching us that fear and faith can stand together, the question is which one will we follow?

Someone might be asking, “What about all the times that the Bible commands us ‘Do not be afraid’? If fear is a given, why the commands to not be afraid? What if we have read those commands all wrong? What if this is not God commanding us to avoid fear, but rather it’s God warning us that fear is coming? What if these are not the commands of our King but rather the warnings of our Father? The psalmist tells us that God knows our frame, that He remembers that we are just dust, doesn’t that mean that He’s prepared for our fear? He’s not surprised, disappointed or troubled by it, but rather, He’s warning us of it so that He can lead us through it?

Hear me, you can be afraid and filled with faith at the same time. Abraham was. In Genesis 20, after he had given Sarah away for the second time, Abraham told Abimelech that from the day the LORD called him to leave his home that he had been afraid that someone would kill him so they could have Sarah. This was more than 20 years after God called Abraham. The father of our faith walked by faith and had fear at the same time. His faith caused him to leave his home, to wander in a land he didn’t know, to believe that God would make him into a great nation. At the same time, his fear caused him to do some foolish things. He took his nephew Lot with him when he was commanded to go alone. He gave away his wife twice, he took Sarah’s maidservant and had a child with her hoping to fulfill the promise of God through his own understanding. Fear does not mean that faith isn’t present, but faith also doesn’t mean that we will never be tempted to do some fearful things. Don’t let the presence of fear cause you to question your faith, but also don’t be fooled into believing that being filled with faith will keep fear from leading you into some foolish places.

In verse 3 David wrote, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in You.” What does that mean? How exactly do we put our trust in God? When David was plagued by fear he reminded his faith of God’s character. He wrote about his enemies, made his complaints, he recounted his fears but then he remembered God’s goodness. David remembered that God kept track of his sorrows and caught each of his tears in His bottle, that God even wrote down every time that he cried in fear. The lie of fear is that God is not present. The problem is that we have perpetuated that lie by saying that when we are afraid our faith is absent. That’s compounded by the belief that when we lack faith God Himself is absent. We have given fear a power it does not possess, a power not just to cloud our minds but to change God’s character. The antidote for fear is to remember God’s character. He is good when we are afraid. His love endures when our fear persists. His promises are contingent upon who He is not how we feel. Ultimately these things are not about us, whether we are filled with faith or gripped by fear, they are about who God is and what God does. He is good and He never leaves. Fear will come and go but God will abide and remain. Fear will taunt and at times overpower, but God will keep us by His power and our faith. Fear will lie, but God will be and tell the truth. Don’t be afraid of your fear, trust the heart of God, He’s never afraid and He’s not waiting for us to have faith, He’s giving faith to us and building faith in us. Fear might lead us to some foolish places, but those foolish places can’t keep us from our loving God.