When you try and get a mental image of King David what do you see? I don’t know about you but I see a Brad Pitt look-alike and I’m thinking of when he played Achilles in the movie Troy. I get that mental image because I know David to be a brave, valiant warrior. Nothing seemed to scare him. When he was a teenager, he killed the giant Goliath with just a sling—and before that—perhaps in his middle-school age years—he killed a lion and a bear with his bare hands.
I mean, in my mind David was FEARLESS! And yet in Psalm 55 we see a much-different David. This “mighty king” is in “panic-attack” mode. He says in Ps.55:2 “Attend to me (God) and answer me. I am restless in my complaint, and distraught 3 at the voice of the enemy, at the pressure of the wicked. For they release disaster upon me and revile me in their anger.4 My heart murmurs within me, and the terrors of death assail me.5 Fear and trembling grip me, and horror has overwhelmed me.”
Truth be told, all of us deal with fear and anxiety to some extent. All of us worry. All of us have times in life when we feel like King David did when he wrote this psalm. All of us are fearful for various reasons—and I’m not talking about little everyday fears—I’m talking about big things. To quote Charles Swindoll, “…the ulcer-causing, big-time, mental monsters that crawl into your head, then go with you to bed and steal your sleep…the concerns you can’t shake off.”
Well, whatever its cause, when anxiety comes our way, it can do incredible DAMAGE. If we are not careful, it will corrode our confidence in God’s goodness and suck the life out of our souls. It will curl us into an embryonic state, and drain us dry of contentment. Fear—anxiety—worry—whatever you call it—when it attacks it can rob us of joy. It can make us more self-preoccupied and less attentive or loving to other people. It can poison relationships—because when we are anxious our focus is of course on ME.
Well, how can we overcome the fears that so easily beset us all? How can we be delivered from them? David ends his psalm like this: Psalm 55:22 Cast your burden upon the LORD and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous be shaken.
When we choose to trust in the Lord, when we give Him our cares in prayer knowing and believing that He can take care of the problem; then we can be released from all anxiety and fear.
Matt Soulliere will be speaking this Sunday in my absence; I look forward to hearing his message!
Join us in person on Sunday at 10:00 a.m. or via livestream by going to https://www.firstbaptistsudbury.com and clicking on livestream for “Overcoming Fear Through Christ.”
Blessings,
Kevin