Jump Start # 234

Psalms 34:4 “I sought the Lord, and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.”

  Psalm 34 is an amazing chapter. It is here that we find: “O magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt His name together” (v. 3). Also, “O taste and see that the Lord is good; how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him” (v. 8). And, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (v. 18). Just a great chapter—a MUST READ for all.

  Our verse today is the aftermath of a prayer. The writer, David, was afraid. We remember in Ps 23, the Lord led him “through the valley of the shadow of death.” He sought the Lord. The Lord answered. The Lord delivered.

  Fear certainly can have a strangle hold upon our hearts and spirit. Fear comes in many forms and none of them are desirable.

• Sudden Fear. As the expression says, it comes “suddenly.” You are out for a walk and a dog jumps out, snarling his teeth at you. Immediately your heart races and your become frightened. Or, you have a child who loves to hide behind doors and jump out and scare you when you are walking by. Sudden fear, it’s what races through you a second before you hit another car. I think of Peter and the disciples in the boat during a storm. Jesus is asleep. They wake Him up thinking they are going to die. They had fear.

• Anticipated fear. This is just the opposite of sudden fear. This is something that you see coming and you feel paralyzed to be able to stop it. The company you work for announces a downsizing at the first of the year. It kills your holiday spirit because you don’t think you’ll have a job much longer. Or the bills have been piling up, creditors have been calling and you are facing serious trouble financially. It’s coming and you can’t seem to stop it. Or a loved one is dying of cancer. You know they are not going to make it. This feeling gnaws at you and makes you feel numb.

• Fear of the unknown. This fear is often a manufactured fear. Often there isn’t anything solid to make us afraid, we just think the worse. For instance, you haven’t been feeling real good, so you go to the doctor and he wants to run some further tests. You ask him what it could be and he tells you the whole list, from nothing more than stress and anxiety to cancer. Our minds get stuck on the cancer. We fear the worst. We just convince ourselves that “this is it.” When we have to go through a difficult task or test, it is not uncommon for us to fear the worst, get ourselves all worked up and in the end, it wasn’t nearly as bad as we thought.

• Fear of the guilty. This is the feeling when you know you are doing wrong and you fear getting caught. This is why the shoplifter is looking over his shoulder. This is why the student who is copying answers off another paper is always looking to see where the teacher is. There is a fear that I will get caught.

• Fear of death. Hebrews 2 tells us that Christ delivered us from the fear of death. There are many things people fear here. Fear they are not right with God. Fear leaving their loved ones. Fear the finality of death—everyone who dies, is dead. No one dies on a weekend and then comes back on Monday. That doesn’t happen.

  There are all kinds of fears. Some will have more than one at a time. Which is the worst? They are all bad. It’s like asking, which is better, “getting punched in the nose or the stomach?” I don’t like either option. Fear chokes out faith. The greater our faith the less our fear. Fear keeps us up at night. It steals our health and makes us miserable. This is no way to live. This is not the way God wants you to live. What’s the answer?

  Our passage shows us that David prayed. He believed in God. God is greater than what we fear. God can do things. He put his hope in God. The passage says God delivered him. We remember the stories in David’s life. There was a lion and a bear that he fought and killed. There was a giant, named Goliath. There was the fleeing from King Saul who sought to kill him. Later, David would fear that his sin with Bathsheba would become known. He would run from Jerusalem because he feared his son.

  I think we learn from this, that the things that causes fear will always be there. The difference is in putting our trust in God. David said in Ps 23 about the shadow of death, “Thou art with me…” Paul would say in Romans 8, “If God is for us, who is against us?”  Later in that chapter he wrote, “But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer though Him who loved us.”

  Got some things that scare you? Who doesn’t in these times? Try taking it to the Lord. God is always on the throne in Heaven. He is always there. He never stops caring. So often, we want the problem to go away, instead God wants us to journey through the problem. We hate that. But that journey strengthens us, draws us closer to Him and equips us to help others.

  Scary times—certainly. But with God at the helm and we staying right next to Him, all will be ok. Late at night, when there is a violent thunderstorm passing through the area, children will wake up crying. They are scared. Often they run and jump in bed with mom and dad. The storm still rages on, but they are able to fall asleep. They are safe next to mom and dad.

  It is said that during a violent hurricane, way down deep, near the bottom of the ocean, all is calm. The deeper your faith…the less your fears. That is the answer!

  Roger