Gripped by Fear
Fear is something that we all deal with. It is something that grips us and will not leave us.
Sometimes fear will hold us back from pursuing a dream. Sometimes fear will hold us back from doing something dangerous.
Fear will keep us from riding roller coasters. Fear will keep us from riding planes.
Fear can cause us to not live life to the fullest. It will speak in our ears and tell us we can’t do it or that it is too hard and difficult. Fear will tell us to sit back and let another do it.
Fear can do some major life changing things to us. It can push us into hiding or it can push us to God. Fear will drive you somewhere the question is where will you let it drive you?
Howard Taylor–son of Hudson Taylor, once wrote of fear and the pressure it causes, “It doesn’t matter how great the pressure is. What really matters is where the pressure lies, whether it comes between me and God or whether it presses me nearer His heart.”
When we realize that God is a Fear Calming God, we can move forward regardless the fear we have.
We will be able to move forward and charge the world and its challenges, the people who challenge us, the people who assail us and want to take us down, with courage because we know God is with us.
We see in this text today that God will Protect Us, He will shelter us, and He will never abandon us to face fears alone.
Maybe you feel you are facing difficult situations alone, maybe you feel abandoned, maybe you feel exposed and fearful of what may come; if you do, let today’s Scriptures soothe your soul and ease your troubled heart. Because in Psalm 27 we see that God is a Fear Calming God
Of David. 1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? 2 When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. 3 Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident. 4 One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. 5 For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock. 6 And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the Lord. 7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me! 8 You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.” 9 Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, O you who have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation! 10 For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in. 11 Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. 12 Give me not up to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence. 13 I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! 14 Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!
Psalm 27 ESV
What an amazing word this is to any who fear and struggle.
What a wonderful word this is to those who feel alone, to those who feel abandoned.
This Psalm shows a tremendous amount of God’s love for us.
The first point we see is that…
He Protects Us and Holds Us (1-3)
He is our light and salvation. He is the stronghold of our life. He makes those who assail us to stumble and fall yet, through Him we can have confidence.
When we have the Lord as our light and salvation we can see the evil of the world because He has shone us with His light. He has saved us and He will give us protection/deliverance.
What that means is that no one or nothing can remove you from Him. We are His and if something happens and we are taken out, taken from this life, we will be with Him and no one here can change that.
Much like when I was a child. I had some issues with a few other people who were working me over. I was alone in that situation, until my brothers heard of it. They were there in a second and all the problems ended. Those people decided it was not much fun when they arrived. That is what God does for us, only on a grander scene.
He will deliver us either through a deliverance that keeps us moving forward or one that brings into His perfect protection. Nothing can alter that. When we are His we have no need to fear because we will be with Him forever regardless what happens here.
That is why David asked rhetorically “Whom shall I fear? Whom shall I be afraid?” and said, “my heart shall not fear.”
He was confident in the Lord to guard and keep him regardless what his enemies or anything else tried to do to him.
He was much like the famed Texas Ranger Leander McNeely. McNeely is noted to have believed and said that when it is your time it is your time. Nothing you do can keep you longer if it is your time and nothing in battle can take you any earlier if it is not your time.
If someone believes this and follows it through they will live life without fear. This is the life you can have with the Lord.
If you are His then you can boldly go forward without fear. You can live a life of boldness because you are a child of God and no one or no thing can do anything to stop that.
Your identity is in Christ and not the world. They can mock, ridicule, scream at, speak profanities at, cut you down, or anything else they want , and you can move forward like there is not a sound because you only hear “the Lord is my light and my salvation…The Lord is the stronghold of my life…I will be confident.”
Just as David says in these verses they may eat you up, they may assail you, they may raise a war against you, and encamp against you setting in to try and do as much harm as they can, but with the protection of the Lord, there is nothing they can do.
This is true because not only will he protect and keep us but…
He Shelters Us (4-9)
Just imagine that you are in a severe storm. A major tornado is coming at you. You are trying to figure out whether to run or find something stout to hide under.
You have no where to go though is the problem. This tornado is bearing down and there you are right in the middle of its path.
What do you do? Where do you go? You are without shelter and you know that you are a goner any minute.
This is the situation of all the people in the world who do not have the Lord.
They are in the middle of a pasture with nothing in sight to shelter them from a tornado. Only they do not even know the tornado is coming. They are blissfully ignorant.
This is not the case with those of us who are the Lord’s. We not only have His big brother protection but we have His amazing sheltering for us.
This is what we see in verse five. He will hide us in his shelter in the day of trouble. He will conceal us in his tent but He not only shelters us and hides us He will lift us High because we are His.
His love will restore and strengthen us after the trouble He sheltered us in passes.
When we seek him and desire Him above everything in this world, when we seek to find Hi shelter and dwell in it, when we want Him and nothing else, we have this shelter because He strengthens our faith and makes us able to stand.
He shelters us through His power working in us. He empowers us to stand strong because He is holding us and enveloping us. It is His presence and the knowledge of His presence that keeps us and shelters us.
No different than when you have a child who is terrified of the dark. Your presence is enough for them to sleep and rest. You do not need to do anything else but be present and the child will fall asleep.
This is the same with the Lord. When we know we are His and we know He is present we have strength and shelter. He is our shelter and strength in all storms and situations.
Yet, this does not mean we do not dry out to Him and seek Him. We need to always reach out to Him and seek Him. He is never far away nor does He not listen.
This text does not imply that. It tells us that we can desperately urge God to answer our prayers and our cries of anguish.
This takes us to the moments of fear and worry that God has abandoned us. That we are alone. That we have no one on our side. This is the place of faith in the Lord. Where we are putting total reliance on Him to do what He has said He will do.
We may think we are alone but we are not. We may think we are abandoned, but we are not. We, along with David here, cry out to God to give the deliverance and shelter. We cry out for our prayers to be answered and the pain and anguish gone.
David desperately wants this protection and shelter from the Father. He seeks it because this is what we all seek. We all want protection and shelter.
We all want that perfect loving, caring, and devout protector.
We all want to know…
He Never Abandons Us (10-14)
Verse ten is a strong and painful but also joyful verse.
God does not abandon those who are His. He has not abandoned this world.
We are wicked and sinful and He sent His son to die for us so we could live with Him forever.
He has set a path for us to learn and live out His ways.
He has made a way for us to not be given up to our adversaries.
We can have strength and patience on the Lord because He is faithful and will not abandon us.
Maybe you struggle with this concept because you have been abandoned and feel rejected.
If you have, that is a horrible situation and struggle for you or anyone in that situation.
If that has happened then this verse is for you, The Lord will take you in.
He will protect and keep you.
He will give you shelter. He is for you and wants you.
He loves you and that is truth. He sent Jesus to die for all people so all can be His child through faith in Christ.
If you have believed then you are in His shelter and protection and able to dwell with Him. He wants you there and He will give you that shelter.
He will not give you up to the false witnesses or turn you over to the wicked.
Yes, you may go through difficult times, you may have enemies surround you, you may have people mock and ridicule you, but God is with you and He will strengthen you through that time.
This does not mean, either, that we will always have comfort or peace in life. Nor, does it mean we will be despised by the Lord if we feel fear and are continually crying out to Him.
There is pain and suffering in life and we will have moments of doubt and insecurity and abandonment.
This Psalm tells us that when we have those times that we can and need to cry out to God. He is there and He will hear. He will give us what we need. He does not abandon us nor will he forsake us.
We are His if you have believed in Christ and He will take you in.
God is not like this aircraft carrier from WWII.
During WWII six Navy pilots left their aircraft carrier on a mission. After searching the seas for enemy submarines, they tried to return to their ship shortly after dark. But the captain had ordered a blackout of all lights on the ship. Over and over the frantic pilots radioed, asking for just one light so they could see to land. But the pilots were told that the blackout could not be lifted. After several appeals and denials of their request, the ship’s operator turned the switch to break radio contact–and the pilots were forced to ditch in the ocean
God will not make us ditch in anything because He will open His arms and bring us right into safety. As a matter of fact He will pilot the plane in so we will have a guaranteed landing in His shelter.
He is the God who calms all fears and with Him we can make it through because God is for us and if He is nothing can be against us.
Stand Strong
Fear is a strong opponent and it is one we all face. Our lives can become miserable and weak if we allow fear to rule us. Satan wants that because when fear rules us we have allowed the world to overshadow the Lord.
The young tree faced many storms through its young life. The powerful winds, torrential rains, famine, ice, and snow would lie across its branches. At times the young tree questioned its maker asking,”Why have you let so many storms come into my life?” His maker whispered, “You will understand one day, stand firm, you will make it through the storms of life.” “The challenges will pass, keep this in mind.” The tree questioned his master, “If I go through one more winter the snow will surely break my branches if I face any more powerful wind I will surely be uprooted and moved away.” His maker whispered, “Stand strong, dig your roots deep into the soil, you will understand someday.” Somehow the young tree kept the positive thoughts in his mind and managed to survive and make it through even the toughest of storms.
Somehow, even in the toughest of times, when the things it went through should have broken it down, it found a way to stand firm even through the worst of storms. As a young tree grew taller, stronger, and matured the tree realized the storms of life had made it stronger.
Fear will cause us to leave what we are in and we may never grow to the place God has for us.
Rest in Him and know that He protects and keeps us, He will Shelter us, and most importantly He never abandons us.
Just cry out to Him and He is there for you. But cry out and cry out frequently if you need to God is for you.
If you need this courage and faith just trust the Lord to give it to you through faith in Christ. When you have believed in Christ and received everlasting life you have the strength of the Father and His love to carry you through any fearsome situation this life can throw at us.
