No Fear

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? 2 When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. 3 Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident.” (Psalm 27:1-3 NIV).

Jesus said that in the end times men’s hearts would give way to fear. (See Luke 21:26 KJV). I think we are seeing this today. (No, I am not setting dates or times. Theologically the “end times” is that period of time from the cross until Jesus comes again {see Hebrews 1:2} I am not stating dates or times, I am merely stating facts). Ours is an age of turmoil. Terrorism warnings have us in constant alert. Daily we read of home invasions–its not even safe to answer your door anymore. Danger on the highways, danger in the home, no wonder people are afraid today!

Fear is a terrible thing. It is debilitating. The Life Application Bible observes, “Fear is a dark shadow that envelops us and ultimately imprisons us withing ourselves. Each of us has been a prisoner of fear at one time or another. . . .” I do not think one has to be an astute observer of the current scene to recognize that ours is an age of extreme anxieties.

There is a solution to the problem. It is found in the Lord. The Bible tells us “perfect love casts out fear.” (1 John 4:18 NASB). The only place where perfect love is found is in the Lord. When “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?” Those of us who dwell in the secret place of the most High have nothing to dread. Our God promises to protect us in our present circumstances and to deliver us safely into His Holy Presence upon death. What do we have to fear? Nothing!

I am not here suggesting that Christians are oblivious to problems or pain. You cannot read the Bible and come away with such a foolish impression. God’s people suffer. Jesus Himself said, “In the world you will have trouble . . . .” (John 16:33). Many believers become discouraged and defeated when they face difficulties. Why? Because many, somewhere along the line came to faith under the illusion that “Jesus makes all things well,” and when troubles come, these deluded believers become quickly disillusioned, thinking that something is wrong either with them (a thought generally quickly dismissed by the deceitful human heart) or something is wrong with the promises of God (a thought quickly embraced by the deceitful human heart).

Here’s what I know. No matter how bad things get (The Message translates “though war break out against me,” as “when all hell breaks loose.”) God promises to be with us and deliver us. Here is the secret. We have got to rid ourselves of the silly notion that this deliverance will happen in this fallen world! We were created with eternity in mind, and everything God does He does from that perspective. The sooner we as believers learn to fix our eyes on things above and not things of this earth (Colossians 3:1-2), the sooner we too will discover the sweet peace and security that David talks about in these verses.