“Never take counsel of your fears . . .” Civil War General Stonewall Jackson spoke those words. So, what do you fear? A friend who has listened to me preach for a long time told me that from the messages he had heard I must fear almost everything: from bees, to spiders, to dogs, to water, to heights.
What if you were a prisoner of war? David was seized by the Philistines at Gath and he wrote this song. “When I am afraid . . .” not if, but when! The antidote to fear is faith. “I put my trust in you.” This is volitional. I will put my trust in something or someone. Let it be God!
Why should we trust God? Because we take him at his word. David said, “In God whose word I praise . . .” David put no confidence in his own strength. Here he declares his dependence on God. What keeps us from declaring our own dependence, today? Is it our independence? David knew that God was watching his enemies. David knew that God listed his tears on a scroll. So he cried out to God and found help.
Our future is not dependent on what others do but on what God has already done in Christ. If David had reason to trust, we have much more in view of the good news of the resurrection. I can remember my mother singing as I stood beside her in church, “Only trust Him, only trust Him, only trust Him now. He will save you. He will save you. He will save you now.”
