Reflections on the Psalms: Fear [Psalm 56]

Turn in your bibles to Psalm 56 this morning as we continue our reflections on the psalms. I hope our time in the psalms has been just as encouraging and beneficial to you as it has been to me. I am really excited to preach this morning from this psalm for a couple of reasons.

One, it’s on a topic that we all need to deal with and have faced in our lives facing fear and moving that fear into faith.

And two, the psalm is based on a story from David’s life that I’ve never preached on before and we’ll use that story to apply this psalm to our lives. So let’s begin with reading Psalm 56, stand for the reading of the word.

You’ll notice at the beginning of this psalm, even before verse 1, the Bible says: “To the chief musician: set to the silent dove in distant lands,” which is likely the tune to which this psalm was sung. Then it says “a miktam of David,” which is a musical term. And then it says, “when the Philistines seized David at Gath.”

So we’ve got this clue into the historical setting behind this psalm—it’s the time “when the Philistines seized David at Gath.” So let’s turn back to when that happened … hold your place with me here in Psalm 56, and turn back with me to 1 Samuel 21:10. Now as you’re turning, let me set the stage.

In 1 Samuel 20, we see that Saul, the King of Israel, is determined to kill David. So David flees King Saul. In the beginning of 1 Samuel 21, David comes to a town called Nob, where Ahimelech, the head priest, gives David some food and a weapon, and from Nob, David went to Gath, which is where we pick up in verse 10 …

“And David rose and fled that day from Saul and went to Achish the king of Gath. And the servants of Achish said to him, “Is not this David the king of the land? Did they not sing to one another of him in dances,

‘Saul has struck down his thousands,

and David his ten thousands’?”

And David took these words to heart and was much afraid of Achish the king of Gath. So he changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and made marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard. Then Achish said to his servants, “Behold, you see the man is mad. Why then have you brought him to me? Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to behave as a madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?” (1 Samuel 21:10–15)

Now get what just happened: David fled to Gath, which by the way, was the home of Goliath, whom David had killed not too long before in 1 Samuel 17. Certainly he wasn’t expecting to get a welcome party when he arrived, and to add insult to injury, the weapon David was carrying that Ahimelech had given him was the sword of Goliath.

So David walks into the hometown of Goliath with Goliath’s old sword in his hand; this just shows you how desperate David was. He was going wherever Saul would least likely think he would be. And when he gets there, the people obviously recognize him and they seize him, and David, fearing that they might kill him, pretends to be insane, which apparently works. So get the picture: you’ve got David running in fear from King Saul and all his army to Goliath’s hometown, where he’s seized by the Philistines. Let’s just say … David’s not having a good day.

Identifying with the Psalmist

I want to help us identify with the psalmist by asking a series of questions.

Have you ever felt overwhelmed?

This is where I want you to think about the many ways that you (and I) might identify with David. I mean, sure, you’ve likely never run for your life from the king of the land, and you’ve likely never been seized in the hometown of a giant you once killed, but have you ever felt overwhelmed? So with that background, come back to Psalm 56 now, and think about these words:

Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me; all day long an attacker oppresses me; my enemies trample on me all day long … (Psalm 56:1–2).

All day long they injure my cause; all their thoughts are against me for evil. They stir up strife, they lurk; they watch my steps, as they have waited for my life (Psalm 56:5–6).

This psalm describes a man under unremitting pressure. He describes how men are trampling on him, oppressing him, and injuring him. Three times he uses the phrase “all day long It’s like he’s saying, “I can’t take a breath … first it’s Saul, now it’s the Philistines … one thing after another after another …” Have you ever felt like that?

Like you just can’t get out from under it? One thing drives you to despair, and in your attempt to deal with that, something else comes along and just drives you into deeper despair … and you just want a breath … something good to happen … or even just a moment to rest. Have you ever felt overwhelmed? Maybe by big things, or maybe just a bunch of little things. I’m guessing there are people who got up this morning and came into this room feeling pretty overwhelmed by some things going on in your life. It’s like you’re looking for a break.

Have you ever been opposed?

Next question: Have you ever been opposed? That’s the language of Psalm 56: people are “trampling” on David—“attackers” are “oppressing” him, “injuring” him, thinking “evil thoughts” about him. This language is military-like, it’s militant. There’s no physical attack that we know of at this point, but verbal battles and plots to be sure. Some translations use the word “slander” to describe these attacks. So, have you ever been slandered? I’m thinking particularly here about times when you’ve done nothing wrong. David had done nothing wrong here—this was Saul and others’ vengeance against him.

So have you ever been slandered when you’ve done nothing wrong to deserve such slander? Have you ever been opposed for doing something right? Have you ever been unjustly attacked by others? Has someone ever plotted strife against you? Have you ever been opposed?

Have you ever felt alone?

Another question to help us identify with David: Have you ever felt alone? David has no one around him at this point. No one. A chapter later, in 1 Samuel 22, a few hundred people will join David at the cave of Adullam, but at this point, no one is with him. Have you ever felt alone? Maybe literally, physically … alone at some point in your life … maybe at this point in your life? Or maybe just felt alone. Isn’t it interesting how sometimes even when surrounded by people, you can feel alone? Like no one else understands, no one else knows what’s going on in your shoes.

Have you ever been afraid?

And then finally, have you ever been afraid? They key word in Psalm 56 is afraid. Verse 3 says, “When I am afraid.” It’s the same word that’s used in 1 Samuel 21:12 to describe how David was afraid of King Achish in Gath. And it’s interesting, at the end of verse 4 and verse 11, David says, “What can flesh do to me?” and “What can man do to me?”

They’re rhetorical questions, but the answer seems to me, “Flesh and man can do a whole lot to you.” Man can attack and oppose and injure and threaten and even kill you. That’s what I appreciate about this psalm—it’s real. This is not some superficial religiosity that ignores life’s reality. This is right in the thick of it. David is running for his life, he’s pursued by enemies on one side and surrounded by enemies on the other side … and he’s afraid. It’s a fear that we’re all familiar with.

It’s frightening what people can do to us. People can slander you and ruin your reputation.

People can fire you from your job.

Your spouse can be unfaithful to you and/or abandon you.

People you love can abuse you, harm you, and hurt you in different ways.

And it’s not just people, but circumstances. Circumstances can come at you that you can’t control.

Fear of the unknown can paralyze us. We can get so worried and so anxious about little things in our lives and about big things in our lives. What if this or that happens in my life or my marriage or my family? We can fear and worry about some of the worst things.

I’m not trying to be depressing here, but real. This is David experiencing his worst nightmare. And so the question is: how does David deal with real fear in this world? The kind of fear that we’re all familiar with?

And the answer—oh, this is the most poignant part of this psalm, and it’s really the crux of the song—is in verses 3 and 4. David says, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust,” and then he says, “I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?” Did you see it? Did you see the transition that just took place? You put the beginning of verse 3 with the middle of verse 4 together, and David says, “When I am afraid … I shall not be afraid.” Ha! That just begs the question, “How?”

How do you go from being afraid to not being afraid in a matter of one verse? How do you go from a frightening sense of what man can do to you to asking the question confidently, “What can flesh, what can man do to me?” And the answer is right in the middle. “I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust” (Psalm 56:3–4). So unpack those words with me based on the chapter as a whole. Here are the...

Implications of the psalm

What are the implications of this psalm for how you and I move from fear to faith? What do we do when we’re overwhelmed? What do you do when you’re wrongfully opposed? What do you do when you feel alone or afraid? First, put your trust in the character of God. What is the first thing David does? He looks to God.

He cries out to God. Oh, this must be our first reaction … when overwhelmed, opposed, alone, afraid … to cry out to God. Prayer is not a last resort; it’s a first resort. Notice the approach here is not, “When all else fails, pray.”

No, it’s first and foremost: Pray. This is huge.

When we are faced with that which overwhelms or those who oppose, with loneliness or fear, it is so easy for our focus to be on that which overwhelms us… and the more we focus on it, the more overwhelming it gets.

In the same way, the more we think about those who oppose us, the more oppressive that can be. The more we dwell on our loneliness, the more lonely we feel. The more we contemplate our fears, the more afraid we become. So what is the antidote to all these things? Instead of looking at them, look to Him. See your circumstances in light of his character. Put your trust in the character of God.

See how important the object of your faith is here. We’re not talking about moving from fear to faith in general, as if the object doesn’t matter. That’s how the world often tries to cope with fear. With putting faith in yourself. Or faith in your circumstances (it will get better). Or faith in other people (they’ll change). No, that’s not where David puts his faith. He doesn’t put his faith in himself or in others or in his circumstances; he puts his faith—his trust—in the character of God. Because, follow this …

He is the omnipotent God. Nine different times David refers to God in this psalm, using the term “Elohim,” the most common name for God in Scripture. It refers to his authority and power as Creator and Sustainer of everything in the world. “In God I trust … what can flesh do to me?” “In God I trust … what can man do to me?” (Psalm 56:3,11).

We’ve already said that man can do a lot to us, but what man can do to you must be put in light of what God can do for you. For that matter, what this world can do to you must be seen in light of what God can do for you. It’s like the basis for fear is what man (or this world) can do to you, and the basis for faith is what God can and will do for you.

David is echoing here what we read later in Romans 8:31: “If God is for [me], who can be against [me]?” It’s also like what Jesus says to his disciples when he sends them out in Matthew 10 like sheep among wolves, and three times he tells them, “Don’t be afraid.” And the reason he gives them is that man can do a lot of things to them, even kill them, but God alone has the power and authority to save your soul (Matthew 10:26–28). He is omnipotent over all. Man is flesh; God is God. And God …

He is the merciful God. The omnipotent God is merciful to us in our time of need. So David cries from the first verse, “Be gracious to me, O God.” He knows that God delights in showing mercy to the overwhelmed and the opposed, the alone and the afraid, so David cries out for grace … for unmerited, much needed mercy. Hear this, all who are overwhelmed or opposed this morning … all who feel alone or afraid … the omnipotent God of the universe is an endless source of grace to those who trust in him … to those who cry out to him. He is the merciful God who says to his people, “Cast your cares upon me, because I care for you” (from 1 Peter 5:7).

He is the God who judges sin. In verses 5–7 he says, “All day long they injure my cause; all their thoughts are against me for evil. They stir up strife, they lurk; they watch my steps, as they have waited for my life. For their crime will they escape? In wrath cast down the peoples, O God!”

Now this is one of those places in the psalms, and we see this at different points, where the psalmist invokes the judgment of God, and calls down such judgment on his enemies. Some of these passages can be a bit baffling, but see this one simply … and at the same time, seriously.

David is referring to unjust men who are wrongfully opposing him, sinfully plotting to take his life, and so he cries out for God to show his justice upon not just those who are opposing him, but “the peoples,” he says—a larger picture of sinful people, nations, and armies that are unjustly attacking and opposing not just him, but others, as well. And David finds comfort and hope and faith in the fact that God will indeed judge sin.

This is key, by the way, and as a side note, but I believe an important one, sometimes we are overwhelmed as a result of our sin. Sometimes we are opposed as a result of our sin. Sometimes we’re alone because of our sin, and sometimes we face fear because of our sin. So David in this psalm is facing these things due at this point to no fault of his own. Think back to last week and looking at Psalm 51 where David is facing these sames feelings as a result of his own sin. Here it is no fault of his.

So whether we are facing hurt or suffering or fear whether due to our own fault or not... God is a God who sees, hears, knows, and remembers suffering. Just think of it, suffering friend, this morning. Overwhelmed and opposed, alone or afraid, the God of the universe knows every time you’ve tossed back and forth in the bed. He sees, and counts, every tear you shed. He hears every single cry, and he records, he remembers, he never forgets all of these things.

The omnipotent God is not indifferent toward you. He sees, hears, knows, remembers, and cares for you in all your suffering. Now you might be tempted to say, “That’s nice, but what good is it if he can’t do anything about my suffering?” But this is the beauty of the very next verse, for David says, “Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call.” And then he repeats this phrase, “whose word I praise” in verses 10–11: “In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?” And then, in faith, he says, “I must perform my vows to you, O God; I will render thank offerings to you. For you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.”

Now get this, David says this while he’s still in the fearful throes of Gath, with King Saul and his army on his heels. Yet David renders a thank offering to God, because he knows who he’s praying to. He is the God who delivers from darkness and death. You deliver my soul from death. You keep my feet from falling. Remember, this is the omnipotent God who sees your tears. This is the omnipotent God who knows your pain. And though enemies may mark your steps, and trouble may pack your path, he has power to keep your feet from falling.

He is the God who delivers from darkness and death, and he is the God who gives light to life. So in this psalm that begins with such a bleak picture of being overwhelmed and overtaken by trouble, David ends by saying that he will “walk before God in the light of life.” “In the light of life”—what a great phrase!

What do you do when you’re overwhelmed or opposed, alone or afraid, or all of the above? Put your trust in the character of God, and lift your heart to the Word of God.

So go back to this section of the psalm that’s repeated twice—go back to verse 3: “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.” And then he repeats it again in the middle of the next verse: “In God I trust; I shall not be afraid.” David puts his trust in the character of God, but look at what’s right in the middle of that—“In God, whose word I praise.” Same thing at the end of verse 9, where after he says, “This I know, that God is for me,” he then says, “In God, whose word, I praise.”

He then says it again, this time using the covenant name for God, “In the LORD, whose word I praise.” Three times, David says he praises the Word of God. So clearly, God’s Word has a fundamental place in moving from fear to faith. And not just reading God’s Word, or knowing God’s Word, but praising God’s Word. What does that mean?

Here’s what it means. Oh, see this. See the importance of God’s Word when you are overwhelmed or opposed, alone or afraid. Lift your heart to God’s Word, because, first of all, his Word is supreme.

Psalm 119, a psalm all about God’s word says in verse 48, “I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes.” Then look at Psalm 119:120: “My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times.” Then turn over to Psalm 138:2: “… for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.” God puts his name on the same plane as he puts his Word. So praising God is similar here, at least in some sense, to praising his Word. Which means trusting God in the midst of despair must mean trusting his Word.

God’s Word is supreme and his Word is sure. David trusted in God’s promise to make him king, David was anointed king by decree of the word of God. Now you may think, “Well, I don’t have a specific Word of promise like David had in every situation I face,” but this where we realize, brothers and sisters, we have something better.

We have what David didn’t have. We have sixty-six books that are the written, revealed Word of God, on which you and I can bank our lives. These are sixty-six books that are filled with countless promises that God is with us and for us … promises of peace and comfort, guidance and grace … promises to love and lead us … promises that are worthy of praise and delight in us.

After seeing that God’s Word is sure, next we see that his Word is sufficient. This means it’s what we need, and in a real sense, it’s all we need. Oh, if only we’ll believe this. Remember a couple of weeks ago I shared about the story of Israel at the edge of the promised land and sent 12 spies to scout it out and all but Caleb and Joshua said, “we can’t win”.

But God had promised for centuries this land, God had spoken and had promised…they had forgotten that God’s word is sufficient. Now you can’t know the sufficiency of God’s word if you don’t know God’s word right? Friends that’s why it is so important for you to be reading God’s word…every day make it a point to be in the word of God.

So those are the two main exhortations in Psalm 56. They’re the core of that section that’s repeated in verses 3 and 4. David puts his trust in the character of God and he lifts his heart to the Word of God. But we know that this psalm does not ultimately end in verse 13, for along with all of Scripture, it points to something greater.

More specifically, along with all of Scripture, it points to Someone greater. Jesus Christ is the center of the Bible, and he is the center of this hymnbook known as Psalms. Therefore, the ultimate exhortation in this Psalm, when seen in light of all of Scripture, is that when you are overwhelmed or opposed, alone or afraid, put your trust in the character of God, lift your heart to the Word of God, and place your hope in the Son of God.

Jesus encapsulates the first two exhortations. First, he is the fullness of God’s character. All of these attributes of God—his omnipotence and mercy, his justice and kindness—are fully revealed in the person of Christ. And so the call to put your trust in the character of God is a call to put your trust in Jesus Christ. He is the one who delivers us from darkness and death. He has taken the judgment due our sin, he has died on a cross in our place, and he has risen from the grave in victory over death, so that you and I might walk with God in the light of life.

{{Oh, I invite you, non-Christian friend, today, to put your trust in Christ. He knows your sin, he sees your suffering, and he longs to save you … to show you mercy, and to raise you up to new life with him, so that you never have to fear, so that you are never alone, so that no matter who or what opposes or overwhelms you, in him you can trust}}

This is the beauty of Romans 8 that I mentioned earlier. David says in Psalm 56:9, “This I know, that God is for me,”—oh, that’s a sentence worth memorizing. Memorize that (“This I know, that God is for me.”) and know that this confession of faith is grounded in the work of Christ for us.

Paul goes on to say in Romans 8 … “If God is for us who can be against us?” And that whole question—rhetorical question—is based on the work of Christ on our behalf. “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised [to life].” Listen to this. Christ Jesus right now “… is at the right hand of God … interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?” Or cancer or this person or that person or whatever else? No. “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 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” (Romans 8:31–39)

Oh, see it! If God in Christ has saved you from sin, death, hell, and the devil, then what circumstance in this world can you not trust him in? What can man do to you? You can trust God in Christ amidst overwhelming opposition, amidst loneliness and fear. He has taken on sin and death on your behalf. You now have nothing to fear.

Put your hope in the character of God, knowing Jesus Christ is the fullness of God’s character, and lift your hearts to the Word of God, knowing that he [Jesus] is the Word made flesh (John 1:14). David praises the Word because it brings light to his life. Jesus says, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

He also says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). Oh, see it in Christ, for the Word of God made flesh is the light of life. In the midst of being overwhelmed or opposed, alone or afraid, fix your gaze on the face of Christ, and you will find yourself moving from fear to faith. You will find yourself saying, “In him I trust. What can man—what can this world—do to me?” I trust in Him!