Fear is an opportunity

Are there any of you who are in a fearful situation in these days?   If you are, why are you afraid?  The reason we are mostly afraid is that fear, anxiety, and worry cause fear in our hearts.  One of the bible passages that comes to my mind regarding "fear" is Isaiah 41:10 – “Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”  Also, when I think about “fear”, I personally like 1 John 4:18 – “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.”  Obviously the Bible says that there is no fear in love.  But why are we afraid?  The reason is lack of perfect love.  Although the Bible says that “perfect love casts out fear”, the reason we have fear is because God’s perfect love has not been made perfect in us.           

                According to the “Letters for Christian Business Leadership Development” (No. 64), unconscious fears within us can largely devastate our lives in four ways: (1) First, fear paralyzes our potential.  It ties us down and makes us reluctant to use the gift that God has given us, so that we cannot use it for the glory of God.  Like a man who received one talent in a talent parable.  (2) Second, fear destroys our relationship.  Fear prevents us from being honest with others.  Fear makes us to be afraid of being rejected, so it makes us to wear a mask, to pretend to be someone else and to deny our true feelings.  Fear never lets us make perfect love.  (3) Third, fear interferes with the happiness we enjoy.  Happiness and fear cannot coexist.  (4) Fourth, fear interferes with our success.  We often prepare for failures by focusing on what is going to happen, rather than focusing on what we want to happen.  Fear creates fear (Internet).

How should we overcome the fear that devastates our lives?  When we look at Psalms 27:1-6, we see David in a fearful situation.  I want to think about what David did in that fearful situation in three ways.  I hope and pray that we may be able to learn these three lessons and apply them in our lives.

                First, David was confident in his fearful situation.

                Look at Psalms 27:3 – “Though a host encamp against me, My heart will not fear; Though war arise against me, In spite of this I shall be confident.”  How could David be confident in the fearful situation?

(1)   The first reason is because David looked at God.  Therefore, we must look to God in our fearful situation in order for us to be confident.

David looked at God quietly, who is his light and his salvation, the defense of his life, in the fearful situation (v. 1).  The first way in which we can be confident in our fearful situation is to look at God, who is our light, our salvation, and the defense of our life.  David's situation was really dark.  Look at Psalms 27:2-3: “When evildoers came upon me to devour my flesh, My adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell.  Though a host encamp against me,  ….”  David was in trouble (v. 5).  In the day of trouble, David looked at God.  And he acknowledged that God is God, and he wasn’t afraid but was confident in the day of trouble.

It is not easy to be in a fearful situation like David.  We cannot help but be afraid at the moment when we encounter the fearful situation.  It is our weakness that we worry, be anxious and be afraid.  Like Jesus’ disciples who were afraid when they saw wave even though Jesus was with them inside the boat, we cannot help but be afraid when the sinful waves of life surges in our lives.  There are times when we are afraid of the inside but pretend to be casual on the outside.  The reason is that we don’t like to acknowledge our fears in front of others.  But we must remain quietly in the presence of God as we honestly acknowledge all our fears in our hearts.  As we do so, we must look to God who is the light.  Here, the "light" implies that it automatically drives away darkness.  Here "darkness" refers to David's enemy.  David said his enemies in a war situation are darkness.  David was confident that this darkness would be driven away by the light of God.  Like the darker the darkness is the brighter the light is, the more fearful the situation is, the more glowing God causes the darkness to go away.  David, who looked at the God of salvation and of light, was confident that God would save him by giving him victory in the battle against his enemies.  It was because he completely relied on God who was able to give him victory.  And he looked at God, the defense of his life and his refuge and his stronghold.  In other words, David was confident that God would protect him in any battle situation.  We must look to God, who is the Light, no matter how dark the situation we are in.  Like the darker the situation is the brighter the light of God's salvation is, we must rely on the power of God’s salvation more.  Then the power of God that enables us to win will guard our minds, emotions, thoughts and our whole personalities in Christ Jesus.  Therefore, we will not be afraid, but we will be confident in the Lord.

(2)     The second reason is because David looked back at the past grace of God’s salvation. Therefore, we also need to remember the experience of victory (salvation) of the past in order for us to be confident in the fearful situation.

Look at Psalms 27:2 – “When evildoers came upon me to devour my flesh, My adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell.”  As David looked back at the past of the dark situation that he faced and remembered how God made his enemies to stumbled and fell, he was confident in his fearful situation.  Like David, in order for us to be confident in our fearful situation, we should reflect back and remember God’s salvation in the past instead of thinking about our present dark situation and worry about our future.  By doing so, we must have conviction of God’s salvation and victory.

(3)     The third reason is that David relied entirely on God.  Therefore, we must leave our future to God in order for us to be confident in our fearful situation. 

David said that “Though a host encamp against me, My heart will not fear” (v. 3).  The reason is because he trusted God completely, who is the light, the savior, and the defense of his life.  Like David, we must be confident in our fearful situation.  I have confidence in my heart.  It is Philippians 1:6 – “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”  Also, I am confident in the Lord’s promise that He gave to our church, ‘I will build my church’ (Mt. 16:18).  I am sure that the faithful Lord will surely accomplish His promise to us.  It is my prayer and hope that whatever dreadful situation that I may face, the Lord leads me with His promise word that is in my heart so that I may stand firm and be courageous in participating His ministry in building up His church.

                Second, David sought God in his fearful situation.

                Look at Psalms 27:4 – “One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD And to meditate in His temple.”  In his fearful situation, David asked God for one thing.  And that one thing was that he may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life and to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord.  Why should we seek the house of the Lord in our fearful situation?

(1)   We should seek the house of the Lord in our fearful situation because when we look at the face of our Heavenly Father, the fear of our hearts will fade away and there will be peace in our hearts.

David meditated on the beauty of the Lord in all his days of life, even in fearful circumstances.  Those who meditate on the beauty of God's revelation, who is full of grace, experience the peace of God in their hearts in fearful circumstances (Park, Yun-sun).

(2)   We should seek the house of the Lord in our fearful situation because we long for God’s protection.

Look at Psalms 27:5 – “For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle; In the secret place of His tent He will hide me; He will lift me up on a rock.”  The reason why David sought to dwell in the house of the Lord and to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord was because he longed for the protection of Heavenly Father.  The reason why David wanted to have fellowship with the Lord in the temple of God (v. 4) was because he believed that it was the way to be saved in all its dangers (Park Yun-sun).

When my first baby Charis was suffering from her diseases and slowly dying, I enjoyed listening to the gospel song “Under the Shadow of Your Wings”.  This is the text of the song: “Under the shadow of your wings Here in the secret place of your holiness I will wait on You, O Lord, my God and King Here in the Holiest of All You draw me near with love To abandon all for the sake of knowing You, my God and King Hide me in the shelter of your love Deep in the centre of your heart, my Lord How I want to know You more And keep me in the shadow of your wings Safe in the secret place of Holiness How I need You more and more.”  Every night when I came out of the hospital intensive care unit after I saw Charis, I heard this song and sang along as I looked at the sky.  This was my earnestly prayers to God that when I and my wife couldn’t be with her I hoped that God protected her under the shadow of His wings, “Here in the secret place of your holiness”.   

(3)     We should seek the house of the Lord in our fearful situation because we hope God to bring victory to us by defeating our enemies.

David sought the house of the Lord in his fearful situation because he hoped the Lord to bring victory to him by defeating his enemies.  Look at Psalms 27:6 – “And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me, ….”  This is what Dr. Park Yun-sun said about his verse: ‘This means that he will not fall down before many enemies, but rather live in perfectly calm life in hope.’  We cannot live in a dark environment without hope.  But we have the Lord who is our hope.  Therefore, we must lift our heads and look to Him in hope.

Like David, we must ask God in fearful situation.  We must seek God in the hope of dwelling in the house of the Lord and looking at the beauty of God.  Especially, we should pray to God in our fearful situation as we remain quietly before God and earnestly seek the glory of God.  The more sinful waves hit us, the more we cannot help but seek God and his house.  I remember the words in hymn that say “My heart has no desire to stay  Where doubts arise and fears dismay; Tho’ some may dwell where these abound, My prayer, my aim, is higher ground.”  In this world there are many troubles and death.  How can we not ask God for His beauty and glory?  We must ask God in fearful circumstances like David.

Third and last, David praised God in his fearful situation.

              Look at Psalms 27:6 – “…  And I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD.”  David, in fearful circumstances, longed for the temple of God and desired his protection and victory (v.5).  And by faith he vowed thanks and praise for the fulfillment of his future wishes (v. 6, Park Yun-sun).  This was the act of offering sacrifice of thanksgiving to God by the victors (Park, Yun-sun).  How was this possible?  How could David vow to give praise to God in thanksgiving as the victor in the midst of dark afflictions because of his enemies of evildoers?  It was because David was confident that God who saved him before was able to save him and to give him victory not only in his present fearful situation of darkness but also in his future fearful situation.  Isn’t it amazing?  The situation has not changed, but David's heart has changed.  The fear in his heart has changed to confidence.  This is the attitude of the true believer who seeks God.

                Here we must think of Acts 16:25 – “But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.”  Paul and Silas were able to pray and praise God even when there were imprisoned because they believed in God of salvation rather than being dominated by their fearful situation.  David in Psalms 27 believed in God who controlled the situation rather than dominated by it.  David praised God in faith even in the dark circumstance he faced because he had absolute faith in God.  Likewise, those who pray to God in faith can praise Him.  Those who pray can praise God.  Therefore, we must also praise God in faith even we are in fearful situation.

                God said to us, “Do not fear, for I am with you …” (Isa.41:10).  Whatever fearful situation that we may be in or we will be in in the future, let us pray to God in faith and be confident in Him.  And let us praise and worship God by faith.  May God raise us to be His true worshipers.

Pray that the Lord builds me up as a bold, prayerful, and praising worshiper even in fearful circumstances.

Pastor James Kim