Dealing with Fear
Psalm 56:1-13
In this sermon we will be looking at the subject of fear. At some point in life we are all afraid of something. Here we will focus on dealing with our fears instead of trying to eliminate our fears.
Psalm 56:3 “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee”
This is a very famous verse we are taught this verse as children. It speaks of trusting God when we are afraid which will be a key thing in dealing with our fears. But when we think about the verse it also seems to speak of a future fear that is not happening at the moment.
Some examples of how we can fear things:
Proverbs 29:25 (other men)
Matthew 21:46 (feared the multitude)
Mark 4:40 (storms)
Mark 6:20 (Herod feared John)
Mark 11:18 (Scribes and Chief Priest feared Jesus)
John 19:18 (Joseph feared the Jews)
2 Corinthians 11:13 (Paul feared that the minds of the Corinthians would be corrupted)
We must note the difference between verse 3 and verse 4. In verse 3 the trust is future tense, but in verse 4 the trust is spoken of in a past tense. How do we get from one to the other? Note what is in between them, “In God I will praise his word”.
Why we need Fear?
1) Without fear we would never learn to trust God (Psalm 40:1-5)
- Trust- confidence ; a reliance or resting of the mind on the integrity, veracity, justice friendship or other saved principle of another person.
2) Trust proves the word of God to us (Psalm 106:7-12)
- It was not until their own backs were to the wall that Israel believed God’s word
3) Proof of God’s word leads us to Praise (Psalm 56:4)
- Our job as spiritual priest in Christ is to offer the sacrifice of praise to God (Hebrews 12:15).
- Note that it is “In God” that we praise his word (Psalm 22:3)