Don’t fear fear.
Psalm 56
June 12, 2010
Writing on the Run
Not very many people write poems and songs when they are afraid. David in the Bible did. In fact, he wrote some of his best stuff when he was scared silly.
Both Psalm 56 and Psalm 34 were written during or about the same experience, and it’s during the same time period as last week’s Psalm (52). Just in case you weren’t here, let me tell you a bit of the story.
David’s life develops in three major divisions. If I were writing his biography, I might call them “Carefree Kid,” “On the Run,” and “In Charge.”
As a “Carefree Kid,” David grows up as the youngest of eight brothers. He’s a ruddy runt, and gets no respect from his brothers or his father. He loves music, poetry, and the outdoors. When he gets old enough, he is sent out to the fields to care for his father’s flock – a place of limited action and lots of quiet.
David’s life is unalterably changed when Samuel the prophet comes to Bethlehem. Samuel calls David in from the field and anoints him with oil. Hardly anyone understands the significance of that act at first, but a series of events – including a shocking victory over the giant Philistine warrior Goliath followed by multiple slaughters of Philistine warriors – make Saul realize that David will be the one to replace him as king. Insecure, Saul then makes numerous attempts to kill David, sending David “On the Run” for, some say, thirty years or more.
Finally, David comes to the throne at age 40-something, and is “In Charge” for another forty years. We’ll have some glimpses into those years in the weeks to come.
Today’s Psalm is written during this middle part of David’s life, when fear is a constant companion. 1 Samuel 19 tells of David’s escape from Saul with the help of his wife, Michal (Saul’s daughter). Chapter 20 adds the moving account of David’s parting with his best friend, Jonathan (Saul’s son).
When we come to chapter 21, David is not only on the run but very alone. He is without food, weapons, or direction. He finds all three at Nob, where the people worship and the priests live, but in his fear he lies to Ahimelech the priest to get what he needs. David leaves Nob with five loaves of bread and Goliath’s sword.
The bread doesn’t last long and David is hungry. Now where should he go? He can’t go home, because as the king’s son-in-law, his residence is under surveillance. He can’t go back to Nob, because he surmises (correctly) that his deceit of Ahimelech and the witness of a conniving adversary to that conversation have endangered everyone involved.
Because he is out of good options David chooses a bad one. What he does baffles me. He heads to a town named Gath – Goliath’s home town and the capital of Philistia. That in itself is a display of temporary insanity. What could he possibly be thinking to imagine that he will be welcomed there?
Maybe he thinks now that he is on the run from Saul the Philistines will take the proverbial approach, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Some suggest that he believes he can go incognito – like nobody’s going to notice that giant-sized sword.
The servants of the Philistine king Achish do recognize David. They have heard of his reputation far beyond the whole Goliath episode. They are intimidated by his accolades during the Israelite victory parade. They are not happy about his presence.
1 Samuel 21:12 says, “David…was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath.” He realizes his mistake. In another act of survival-motivated desperation, David feigns mental illness. He drools on his beard and claws at the doorpost like an animal. In addition to being a musician and a warrior he’s a fairly good actor. If he’s really gone crazy (and why else would he have shown up in Gath), he’s no longer a threat to the Philistines, and their culture seems to allow for being “guilty by reason of insanity.” David is allowed to live and leave.
Sometime during that sequence of events, trembling from a terrifying sequence of what his life has been and how quickly it could still end, David writes Psalm 56.
Out of control
As I began work on this sermon this week, it seemed to me that the intensity of David’s situation dwarfs most of our fears. I don’t personally know anyone with a king trying to take him out. Although I know a lot of “crazy people” (yours truly included), we usually can’t blame it on revenge for our warrior past.
I asked my friends on Facebook (otherwise known as an Internet site for telling more people than are interested more about yourself than they need to know) to talk to me about fear. Members of Corinth and others offered some great responses. It turns out fear is, indeed, a big part of our daily existence.
We do fear, as David did, for life itself. One person told of witnessing a head-on collision caused by a drunk driver. The man and his girlfriend escaped serious injury, but the other driver was killed. How can you go see that without being profoundly affected and wondering if you could be the next casualty?
We seem to fear more for our loved ones than for ourselves. A husband has a stroke. A Mom puts her pre-teen daughter on a bus to New York City. A baby needs a transplant.
It’s not just that we fear death for our loved ones, however. We fear losing love or loyalty. Especially those who have been abused or betrayed or left behind in a series of losses experience genuine fear that the love we enjoy today will not be secure tomorrow. One person spoke of coming to this church wondering if her trust in people, particularly Christian people, could be restored after a life of wounds. Thankfully, she says, it has been.
We fear doing the wrong thing, making the wrong decision, saying the wrong words. Several people expressed their fear that their witness for Christ would be inadequate – with someone else’s eternity in the balance.
A couple of people nailed fear when they said, “I fear being out of control.” That is the heart of any fear. We think that happiness is related to some measure of being able to manage if not manipulate the world around us. We know that everything will not be perfect – we just want to minimize the damage and move on.
The Arkansas flood and the Gulf oil disaster are metaphors for our greatest fears. We fear that everything will suddenly change, that a power beyond our ability to stop or cap will wreak havoc on life as we know it while we watch helplessly. We fear what we cannot control.
Learning to TRUST
Whatever we fear, in Psalm 56 David tells us how to turn fear into TRUST. (Thanks to those of you who helped on Facebook to develop this acronym.)
Turn upward (1-2). David begins, “Be merciful to me, O God.” “Merciful” means to show favor or pity. A good paraphrase: “Give me a break, God!” Do you ever feel like that?
He then launches into naming his fears before the Lord – “men hotly pursue me; all day long they press their attack. My slanderers pursue me all day long; many are attacking me in their pride.” What matters is that he takes these complaints directly to the top. Turn upward is step one.
When Linda and I were in college, we had the privilege of sitting under a master teacher of the Bible named James “Buck” Hatch. If you have ever seen my Bible overview chart, I got it from Buck Hatch. Mr. Hatch’s son Nathan is now President of Wake Forest University.
Mr. Hatch was a humble man, an introvert if there ever was one. But he had the gift of teaching in a way I’ve never observed. He used stories, voice inflections, and chalkboard drawings to gain and keep attention. And if he felt he did not have the undivided attention of the whole class, he would say, “Look up here.”
I wonder how often the Lord is saying, “Look up here.” I don’t promise to take it all away, but I want you to start by turning upward.
Remember God’s word (3-4). I love how verse 3 begins, “When I am afraid, I will trust in you.” David is afraid. 1 Samuel 21 said so. He doesn’t say, “If I ever become afraid, I will trust.” His heart is racing, his palms are sweaty, his blood pressure is off the charts, he can’t sleep. “When I am afraid, I will trust.”
Why? He continues in verse 4, “In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?”
A lot, I suppose. But sometimes it helps simply to let your fears play out to their logical conclusion. One parent wrote to me to say that when she thought her child might not live she found comfort that he would be with the Lord – that Jesus would read to him and roll around the floor and play with him. That’s not something I would lay on a fearful parent as a pastor, but she was coming close to what I’m talking about. What’s the worst that could happen? At the end of that, God is still there.
David chooses to believe God’s word. To trust God is to trust God’s word. I don’t know if David is talking about God’s special promise to him that he will be king or about the promises of God made to those before him (Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Gideon), or just about the character of God revealed in all that and more. But David will remember God’s word.
Use your head (5-9). The middle part of this psalm is just about taking a deep breath and remembering what you already know. In spite of present appearances, justice will ultimately prevail. If we don’t believe that, we don’t believe in God.
David is very honest again about what’s happening. “All day long they twist my words,” he says in verse 5. “They are always plotting to harm me. They conspire, they lurk, they watch my steps, eager to take my life.” He seems to be talking both about Saul and his men as well as Achish and his men.
One of the ways to “use your head” is to distinguish between real fear and irrational fear. David is facing actual danger. Sometimes we’re paralyzed by dreading the improbable. The fear isn’t any less real – but at least we need to name it.
Think about what or who you fear. The same Bible that says countless times, “Fear not,” also says about as often to “fear the Lord.” Use your head. Jesus said to fear the one in whose hands is our eternal destiny (Luke 12:5). Why? Because fear can be a steppingstone to faith.
“On no account let them escape; in your anger, O God, bring down the nations” (7). You don’t pray like that unless you really believe God is God. Stop and think. Do we live in a random universe or a God-created, God-controlled universe? Those are the only two choices. I may not fully understand, but I don’t have to.
“Record my lament; list my tears on your scroll – are they not in your record” (8)? The word “scroll” might be translated “wineskin” or “bottle.” This is a powerful image – that God preserves David’s tears. They matter to him.
He adds in verse 9, “Then my enemies will turn back when I call for help. By this I will know that God is for me.” If you think that sounds overly optimistic, read David’s other psalm written during this same crisis. “The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
Again, there are only two choices. Either God knows and cares or God doesn’t exist. You don’t have to answer every question about why this is happening. When you fear, use your head. This crisis, minor or major, does not negate God.
Say it again (10-11). Repetition is powerful, and much of the next paragraph (vv. 10-11) is a refrain that repeats verse 4. “In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise – in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”
Someone commented to me this week that when he says, “I am not afraid” over and over again, he’s really admitting how afraid he is. But that’s OK – it’s exactly what David is doing here. He is afraid, but he keeps telling himself the truth: “In God I trust; I will not be afraid.”
Words are powerful, and repeating the truth over and over again will help you claim it. God is for me. I can trust him. I will not fear. Humans have no power over me.
But what do you do when it doesn’t turn out right, when your prayers aren’t answered, when it seems like God does give you more than you can bear. You say it again. “In God I trust; I will not be afraid.” The promise is not that you will never be brokenhearted – that God will be your genie. The promise is that God will never abandon you and he is all you need. Keep telling yourself that as often as needed.
Take your vow (12-13). Finally, David makes his promises to God. “I am under vows to you, O God; I will present my thank offerings to you. For you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.”
How many times have you promises to God in the dark only to forget them when the sun shines again? When you were in great financial need, did you promise him you would tithe when you got on your feet? When you were wondering if you would survive, did you tell him you would come to church? When your heart was broken, did you tell him if he’d get you through you would serve him?
There’s nothing wrong with the promises. Be careful what you vow, though, and keep it. One of the best results that fear produces is a fresh sense of dependence on the Lord and commitment to him.
Fear and pain
Don’t fear fear. To be afraid of fear is like being afraid of a thermometer or a blood pressure cuff or a financial statement or a physical at the doctor’s office. Emotions are symptoms. They’re part of the diagnosis.
Fear is to the soul what pain is to the body. When I have pain, I want to know why it’s there. If it persists, I want some help from my doctor or chiropractor. I’m not afraid of the pain – I am more afraid of what will happen if I don’t understand the pain and treat it.
So it is with fear. When fear overtakes my life, I have lost my trust. I want to know why, and I want to know how to get it back. It’s time to learn again to TRUST – Turn upward, Remember God’s word, Use your head, Say it again, Take your vow. Amen.