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Everyone has fears. We have different ways of revealing them. You would never know someone has a fear of spiders until a spider shows up near them. Then the person transforms into a nervous wreck wondering if the spider will fly into their hair. But what will we do when we are afraid. I once heard or read somewhere “Courage is not the absence of fear. It is going forward in face of our fears.”

So how do we actually do that? In Psalm 56, David suffers from those who oppose him. They oppress him; trample on him. Some proudly attack him. They injure his cause and think only evil of him. “They stir up strife, they lurk, they watch my steps as they have waited for my life.” So David faces real opponents who wish him harm. It disturbs his sleep and causes him to fear.

Yet in verses 3-4, he shows us the way forward. “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you (God). In God, whose word I praise – in God I trust and am not afraid.” He puts his trust in God. However, notice that something happened before this that enables him to trust in God. “In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust.” David has spent time in God’s Word. David got to know God through His Word.

My devotional today says this: – “Fearfulness and faith in God can coexist in us even as trust slowly wins out. Faith is not a vague sense that ‘God will work it out.’ It comes from prayerful immersion in Scripture, the Word of God.”

In places like this:

Psalm 1:1-2 – Blessed is the person who walks not in the counsel of the wicked or stands in the way of sinners or sits in the seat of mockers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law they meditate day and night.

Psalm 3:5 – I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the Lord sustained me.

Psalm 18:1-2 – I love you, O Lord my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Psalm 23:1 – The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Psalm 27:1 – The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?

Psalm 37:4 – Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 40:1 – I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry.

Psalm 46:1 – God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Psalm 54:4 – Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life.

Psalm 55:16-17 – But I call to God and the Lord will save me. Evening, morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and he hears my voice.

“Thank you Lord for your Word. It is not a collection of positive thinking sayings. You are the Eternal God of the Universe who stands behind this Word and speaks it so we may know you and trust you when afraid.”

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