August 14, 2018 Tuesday

“1 ¶  « A Psalm of David when he pretended madness before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed. » I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. 2  My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; The humble shall hear of it and be glad. 3  Oh, magnify the LORD with me, And let us exalt His name together. 4  I sought the LORD, and He heard me, And delivered me from all my fears. 5  They looked to Him and were radiant, And their faces were not ashamed. 6  This poor man cried out, and the LORD heard him, And saved him out of all his troubles. 7  The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, And delivers them. 8  Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him! 9  Oh, fear the LORD, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him.” (Psalm 34:1-9 NKJV)

            Fear is such a destructive force in our lives and our world. While fear can protect us from an act of foolishness taken too far fear can bind us and keep us from the fullness of all God has for us.

            David ran from Saul and fled to the land of King Abimelech then out of fear David pretended to be insane. It seemed David had no place to go and the few who came to him were also fleeing.

            While this may seem a hard judgment in reality it is the heart of this Psalm. The title of this Psalm first shows how fear gripped David and the Psalm reveals to us the proper response to fear.

A.     We begin responding to fear by praising God then share our praise and worship with others.

B.     Having broken the chains of fear by praising God we then can seek God and discover God’s power and love.  By beginning with praise we can be calm and  hear God’s response and be delivered from fear.

C.     Verse 4 and 5 are an amazing picture of what we become after God delivers us from fear! There is a picture showing several Christians from the Middle East on their knees with Muslim “warriors” with masks preparing to behead them. The Christians out of love for God were willing to die for Jesus who had died for them but the Muslims out of fear murdered them.

D.    Through praise the chains of fear are broken then we can know God heard us and will deliver us. If we are not careful we stay here and miss the best!

E.     Remembering God has delivered us from fear we can live trusting God to protect us and save us we can continue to be delivered from fear by remembering God’s deliverance, praising God, rejoicing in God’s goodness and in awe and fear trusting God is greater than our fears!

            How do you respond to the fear in your life? Do you let your fear fester into anger which will destroy you? Will you seek to keep fear at bay by remembering God’s love and power and praising God who has and will deliver you?