Psalm 56:3 Trust in God
Food for Thought
An all-creatures.org Guide to Kingdom Living

Psalm 56:3 New American Standard Bible

When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You.

I often hear people make negative or self-condemning comments about the fear they feel.

They automatically ridicule themselves for not having faith.  But these are usually people who are asking for prayer because of the fear they feel, which means they still have the faith to believe God is the answer; they have faith that prayer will help.  

Christians who lean toward being pharisaical, will unnecessarily quote the scripture as a way to control or manipulate another person.  This only causes the fearful person to feel condemned.   God did not give us the Bible to use as a weapon against those who are struggling.      

Jesus felt fear.  If He didn’t He could not claim that He was tempted as we are and call Himself our high priest, because it says in the Bible that our high priest experienced every temptation we do.  In the garden Jesus prayed to God to let this pass from Him. He was afraid and didn’t want to go through what He knew was coming. If fear is sin, than Jesus sinned and that is impossible.  But Jesus gives us the key to faith in the midst of fear when He said,

 Luke 22:42 (NKJV)

saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.”

As we recognize our weaknesses and how helpless we are on our own, fear accompanies this recognition.  God tells us not to fear because He is with us, but He also understands that not being able to see God or His plans can cause fear.  Little by little He removes control from us and this too brings much fear.  It is difficult feeling so vulnerable.   But we have a choice in these times of fear.  It is to speak words of faith and hope in the moment of struggle and fear.   Fear will not leave just by us waiting it out or ignoring it.  In time fears will grow and escalate until it is overwhelming us.  To choose to put our trust in God is to acknowledge that there is no other action needed but to listen and believe He will lead us.

We can all boldly declare this statement when we are feeling strong and capable, but the real test is when we are feeling the intense emotions of pain, fear and disappointment, leaving us feeling weak and hopeless.   We still need to profess our love and trust for the Lord through our tears and our sorrow.  This is when it means something and God sees that in the midst of our breaking heart we are choosing to trust in Him with our words.

God desires us to be broken;  that is when we are truly vulnerable to Him and fear is part of the adjustment from depending on ourselves to depending fully upon God.

Challenge:  When you feel fear…. Speak words of trust and hope and belief in God.  Proclaim to God that you believe Him and you will trust Him.  And remember feeling fear does not mean you don’t have faith, but your words will declare that.

God bless

Marni

Go on to: Psalm 56:8 Father Knows
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The purpose of this series is to encourage people to live as loving, compassionate, and peacemaking children of God: Jesus tells us to pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10) God tells us through Micah (6:8), "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God." And we know from Revelation 21:4 that there will be no more mourning, or crying, or pain, or death. Thus, Christian living requires us to set the standards of these conditions here on earth for our fellow human beings, and for the other animals, as a witness to the rest of the world. To do otherwise is not Christian.