Delivered from "fear"

I love how all the Psalms are written from real life experience. Some of them we know the situations that were happening in the lives of the writer, others we are simply left with a beautiful verse of praise and adoration, or a heartfelt questioning of wondering and asking.

            This morning I read Psalm 34. There is quite a story behind this psalm! You can read it in 1 Samuel 21:10-15. It is a psalm of David, and one that I think we could talk about for days.

Why don’t you grab your Bible and let’s read it together, ok?

There are so many amazing verses in here, imagery that is painted by David’s skillful artistic use of words as he reflects on a time when God heard him and God saved him.

We have all had times like that. Probably more than we even realize. But one verse really stuck out to me today.

“I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears” (verse 4).

First David sought the Lord. That might seem obvious, but I think it’s important to say. We seek after many things in life, even on a daily basis. And while God should be the primary object of our seeking, the reality is that on some days we can get distracted by many other things. In fact there are many other things, even right now at this very moment that I am writing this and this very moment that you are reading this that are vying for our attention and our focus.

There is a beautiful promise from God that is tucked away in part of a letter that the prophet Jeremiah wrote to the exiles living in Babylon after the Babylonian king Nebuchannezar destroyed Jerusalem and took Judah captive, and it reads, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with your whole heart. I will be found by you”, declares the Lord’. (Jeremiah 29:13-14a)

Not just sort of seeking God, not just seeking God when you close your eyes to make your request in prayer, not just seeking God in the minutes spent in the morning reading your Bible, but a life spent seeking God, first and foremost and above all things.

That’s why Jesus said, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33a).

So, Davis did that, he sought the Lord, earnestly and intently, and with his whole heart.

And then God answered David.

That’s what the Lord promised Jeremiah, that He would be found when He is sought.

God is not hiding, He is simply waiting for us to seek Him completely.

But here is the most compelling part for me today, the last part of that psalm verse says, “he delivered me from my fears”.

Fear.

If you read the background from the psalm that is found in 1 Samuel there is plenty that David needs to be delivered from, in particular from Achish, the king of Gath. And the background of that scenario is that David is also fleeing from Saul, the king of Israel.

Yet David does not thank the Lord for delivering him from Saul, nor from Achish. He says that he sought God, and that his prayers were answered, and that he was delivered from his fears.

I wonder what fears the Lord would like to deliver you from today. What fears are you facing that, perhaps is even preventing you from fully seeking the Lord with all your heart, and from fully loving the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loving your neighbor as yourself?
            There is another psalm that says, “Say to God, ‘How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you” (Psalm 66:3).

Fear is an enemy of God, and fear cowers before the Lord God of hosts because God is love and perfect love casts out all fear (1 John 4:18).

And while there were plenty of things (and people!) that David needed delivered from, he needed delivered from his fear at this moment in his life so that he could fully move in direction God was leading him, so that he could fully seek God with his whole heart, and so that he could fully praise God with his life.

May you seek God fully this day. May He answer you. And may your fear be cast aside so you can be fully delivered from its hold and bondage. And may you believe, not in a spirit of fear but rather in the spirit of power in which you have been clothed in the name of Jesus, that while “the righteous person may have many troubles, the Lord delivers him from them all” (Psalm 34:17).