Fear

There is fear all around the world. Just look at the news headlines every day. All we read about is war, disaster, and terrorism. Things seem to be going from bad to worse. The Middle East is a powder keg. People are on edge everywhere. What do we do?

King David was a man who understood such anxiety. Remember that he lived on the run and had to hide in caves for 10 years to avoid being killed by King Saul. This fear and anxiety, and the antidote to it, seem to be on David's mind in Psalm 23:4 (TNIV) when he sings, "Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." David echoes the same lyrics in Psalm 27:1 (TNIV), "The Lord is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life - of whom shall I be afraid?" David also sings the same song of hope in Psalm 56:11 (TNIV), "In God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere human beings do to me?"

We need to have the same attitude as David. When faced with fear and anxiety in his life, he trusted God to comfort him and to be with him, even in the darkest valleys of life. David's trust and faith were in God, not in himself. He relied on God's strength, not his own. Fear, anxiety, and despair will always be lurking around us. We cannot defeat them by ourselves. But when we rely on God's rod and God's staff, and His light and His salvation, then we will conquer them.