When I Feel Afraid

We’ve all had to live our lives with an element of fear. It’s the feeling we get when we perceive that we are in imminent danger. We live in a world filled with anxiety and bombarded with urgent voices telling us we must act.

Fear does disqualify you from belonging to God, but it doesn’t remove His grace from your life. In fact, scripture gives us the pathway out of fear. It gives us a license to feel what we are feeling, but it also gives us the life raft our souls need to find rescue.

So, what do we do when we feel afraid?

Psalm 11 has two different perspectives. The voice of fear and the voice of faith. This passage shows us that the antidote to fear is faith. Do you trust God or not? That’s what it all comes down to. Will you listen to the voice of fear, or will you listen to the voice of your Father calling out to you?

This psalm is technically a conversation between David and his advisors, but it’s really a conversation between faith and fear. David starts by saying that he will trust the Lord, but his advisors step in with a plan. The voice of fear says to flee. They tell him to retreat and play defense. We all have a knee-jerk reaction to threats. Fear will tell you to look at the pain and anxiety, and run from it.

In Psalm 11:2, the advisors have already told David to flee with his feet, now the voice of fear tells him to fixate on the problem. There’s nothing wrong with assessment. It’s encouraged in Proverbs 27:12, but we’re not meant to fixate on the danger.

We flee and fixate because of what it says in Psalm 11:3. The voice of fear says that the foundations are falling. Real fear is never shallow or surface-level; it goes down to the foundations. We have to figure out the root of our fear.

Faith decides to respond. Faith goes in the opposite direction. While the voice of fear says the foundations are falling, the voice of faith says to fall on the Lord’s foundation. Psalm 11:4 says that God Almighty is on His Throne in His Temple, and it is not shaken. In Psalm 27:10, David put it this way, For my father and mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in. This faith understands that we have enemies and the world’s foundations are shaken, but God is still on His throne, and our hope is built on Jesus.

You don’t have to fixate on the problem in fear because the voice of faith tells us that the Lord is fixated on the issue. Psalm 11:4-5 lets us know that God’s eyes are always watching. He doesn’t need to be briefed on the situation. His eyelids test, meaning He squints as He inspects what is happening. He tests by fire to prove what is genuine. The righteous pass the test. He approves the righteous and hates the wicked. In Psalm 25:18-20, David asks for forgiveness in one breath and then asks for victory over his enemies in the next. He can do this because his worldview includes knowing there are no perfectly righteous people with squeaky clean lives. Righteous doesn’t mean sinless. David’s faith rendered him righteous, not his record. In his view, there are people who trust God and seek to lead Godly lives, and there are those who don’t.

This doesn’t mean we will have a life of ease. It does mean that we can continue knowing that God does not sleep or blink. God is watching over you. Fear’s empty promise is deliverance from pain, but faith’s guarantee is God’s presence in the pain.

The voice of fear says to flee, but the voice of faith says your Father will fight for you. In Psalm 11:6, David doesn’t just believe God can destroy his enemies; he asks for it to happen. He appeals to God’s justice and righteous character for help. We know that ultimately, the fight goes beyond the physical. Ephesians 6:12-13 speaks of the spiritual realm that we’re up against, but we have God’s armor to defend us and take ground with. Exodus 14:14 says that we need only to be still. God will fight for us. Fear plays defense, faith plays offense.

Until the day of judgment comes, we can hold onto the promise of Psalm 11:7. Those God has saved, He is sanctifying, and He will never let them out of His hand. We will behold Him face to face. We can know that God fights for us, He is fixated on our problem, and His foundation is firm. So, we can end where we began in Psalm 11:1. We take refuge in the Lord, how can you ask us to do anything different when He has proven Himself over and over?