No Fear

The LORD is my light and my salvation—so why should I be afraid? The LORD is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble?

Psalm 27:1

SOMETIMES WE NEED TO talk to ourselves rather than listen to ourselves. This is especially true when we’re tempted to fear. And let’s face it, we’re tempted on a regular basis. There are just so many things that we could be afraid of—failure, disease, death, relational breakdowns, a bad economy, and on and on it goes.

Living with fear is crippling. It shrinks our world down to what we think we can control, which is actually not that much. It eats away at our confidence—in God and in ourselves. It renders our faith less effective as we slip into survival mode rather than maintain an optimistic expectation of what God can do through us and for us. In summary, fear is a great enemy, and often comes from the enemy, the devil. But we don’t have to listen to it. We can prayerfully respond with faith. We can talk back to ourselves in faith-building ways as David does in Psalm 27.

David starts by simply reminding himself that because the Lord is his “light and salvation,” his “fortress,” he has no need to fear. No matter how bad things were looking on the outside—and they were looking pretty bad for David—he remained confident in God’s help and deliverance. In fact, he looked forward to offering sacrifices to God with shouts of joy (Psalm 27:6). That doesn’t sound like a guy paralyzed by fear. Instead, it sounds like a guy who is confident in God—and therefore free from fear.

BOTTOM LINE

You may sometimes feel afraid, but you don’t have to live in continual fear. You can remind yourself of God’s faithfulness. You can worship your way out.

Moment of Strength: Psalm 27