Fear and Trust

Psalm 56:3 – 4 showed up on my reading list today.  I have this passage memorized, many years ago, memorized.  So I focused on what I could see there with different eyes.

The original is here

In the past months I have been in countries that are depicted as hostile to Christianity on the map above.  It occurs to me that putting my trust in God to get over the fear of sharing the gospel with a neighbor, is orders of magnitude different from trusting God when someone is threatening to remove my head from my shoulders if I do not choose to renounce Christ.

The sequence here is intriguing to me.  David says that he moves from fear, to trust, to no fear.  The response to fear is to choose to trust.  To put one’s trust in God.  That led me to wonder the source of fear.  It would seem to be trust in the wrong thing, not God.  These are some possible things I may be trusting in if I am in fear…

Fear of	Trust in
Illness	Doctors or Medicine
Rejection	In those who reject or my ability to engage with them in a manner that does not result in rejection
Jail	My jailer, my ability to avoid jail, or my ability to get out through my efforts or my friends’ efforts
Death	the one who has threatened, or that I can reason or talk my way out, or my innocence

One thing became clear.  Regardless of the issue, I must be ready to trust God.  That does not mean that the event I initially feared will not occur.  Hebrews 11:6 becomes operative in the experience.  My trusting in Him makes the experience a reward.

I read or heard in a message some time ago that one of the things that leaders of those who are undergoing persecution have said is that they should have prepared their people to suffer more effectively than they did.

In this country, we are incredibly sheltered.  That may not last.  Preparation may be a good idea.