When I Am Afraid

Stephen Lowrie

When I Am Afraid • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago

Psalm 56

Fear

Faith

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When I am AFRAID

E.R. Clendenen—FEAR: A natural emotional response to a perceived threat to one’s security or general welfare. It ranges in degree of intensity from a sense of anxiety or worry to one of utter terror. It can be a useful emotion when it leads to appropriate caution or measures that would guard one’s welfare. On the other hand, fear can be a hindrance to the enjoyment of life if it is induced by delusion or if it lingers and overpowers other more positive emotions such as love and joy, perhaps leading to an inability to engage in the normal activities of life.

Are you afraid? How do you respond?

David (a man after God’s own heart) confesses,

Psalm 56:3 — 3 When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.

AND YOU, WHAT DO YOU DO?

When You Are AFRAID, take responsibility for your thoughts — to the degree you are able.

Let’s learn from David . . . Psalm 56:1–4 — 1 Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me; all day long an attacker oppresses me—David begins with an appeal to God. 2 my enemies trample on me all day long, for many attack me proudly. 3 When I am afraid, (the implication is: David is experiencing fear) I put my trust in you. 4 In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?

IN fear, David is not allowing the thoughts of his demise to carry him along like a flood of emotion. Instead, he takes responsibility/control of his thoughts and chooses to direct them to God. When he is afraid, he chooses to trust in God.

And you?

Take responsibility for your thoughts —

to the degree you are able.

When You Are AFRAID, acknowledge the fear for what it is — identifying its source.

Two extremes—obsession/denial

Psalm 56:5–7 — 5 All day long they injure my cause; all their thoughts are against me for evil. 6 They stir up strife, they lurk; they watch my steps, as they have waited for my life. 7 For their crime will they escape? In wrath cast down the peoples, O God! David’s enemy is visible and ours? Yours?

What is the source of your fear?

An unseen virus

Your finances

An uncertain future?

When You Are AFRAID, acknowledge the fear for what it is — identifying its source.

Identify the source—so you can entrust the situation

into God’s care.

When You Are AFRAID, affirm God’s presence.

You are not alone in the situation

Psalm 56:3–4 — When I am afraid, I put my trust IN YOU (2nd person—speaking to the One who is present). 4 In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me? (WHEN COMPARED TO YOU)

Psalm 23:4 — 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

Psalm 56:8–11 — 8 You have kept count of my tossings (wanderings--circumstances); put my tears in your bottle. (YOU care about) Are they not in your book? 9 Then my enemies will turn back in the day WHEN I CALL. (CONFESSION) This I know, that God is for me. 10 In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise, 11 in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?

When You Are AFRAID, affirm God’s presence

Romans 8:35 — Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

A VIRUS? YOUR FINANCES?

AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE?

Romans 8:37–39 — 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

When You Are AFRAID, seek God’s help.

Psalm 56:9 — 9 Then my enemies will turn back in the day WHEN I CALL. This I know, that GOD IS FOR ME.

Philippians 4:4–7 — 4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

When You Are AFRAID, seek God’s help.

When You Are AFRAID step forward in faith –

Psalm 56:12–13 — 12 I must perform my vows to you, O God; I will render thank offerings to you. (I WILL DO THE NEXT GOOD THING) 13 For you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.

When You Are AFRAID step forward in faith –

DO THE NEXT GOOD THING.

Colossians 1:9–11 — 9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

When You Are AFRAID step forward in faith –

When You Are AFRAID, be patient with yourself.

When You Are AFRAID, allow for the support

of others.

Rebecca Arendell Franks

When You Are AFRAID, take responsibility

for your thoughts

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