Psalm 76:7-8 - July 31, 2009

Ps 76:7-8 "You alone are to be feared. Who can stand before you when you are angry? From heaven you pronounced judgement, and the Land feared and was quiet -..." NIV

What is it that you fear? Most everyone has struggled with fear of some kind or another at some point in their life’s journey. Some fear death, others fear lack, some fear sickness, some fear the rejection of people, and still others have fear concerning the potential for bad things happening in other areas of their lives. Fear can be a controlling force that paralyzes us and hinders us from making wise decisions or it can limit our ability to enjoy the good things that are available to us in this life. Fear can lead to depression, or isolation, fear can open the door for sickness or timidity. Each one of these fears has a tremendous potential to rob us of our ability to live a full life and to reach the purpose that we were created for.
It is with this understanding of the damaging power of an unhealthy fear that the psalmist identifies the only truly healthy fear, the fear of the Lord! “You alone are to be feared.” The pages of scripture provide much comfort concerning our tendency to struggle with all forms of fear. There are over 240 references to the word fear alone not including the use of other words that convey the same principles. And amongst this abundant variety of comforting thoughts a few passages stand out clearly to point us away from the wrong
kinds of fear.
Proverbs 29:25 warns us that the fear of man will prove to be a snare for us. When we fear man it causes us to yield to human desires without first respecting the desires of God. The book of Daniel is a tremendous manual for understanding biblical courage as both Daniel and his three friends had to make very public choices to fear God and not to fear man. Though each one was vindicated by a supernatural deliverance from God they were willing to align themselves with God and face the rejection and persecution of men regardless of the cost. Jesus spoke of this kind of courage in Lu. 12:4-5 where he said "I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. 5 But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.” This principle identifies a foundational truth that is the source of much overcoming faith. “Nothing can be done to you by the hand of man in this life that the goodness of God in the life to come cannot outweigh and overcome!” When we are armed with this understanding the need to fear what people can do or say to us is conquered by the assurance of God’s justice and reward in the eternal realms.
Once we have found victory over the fears associated with the mistreatments of man in all of their various forms the rest of the fears of life are much more readily conquered. Strengthened by the knowledge of God’s eternal vindication and focused on eternity as our true source of reward it is much easier to face the giant of fear in regard to other areas of life. Pr. 3:25-26 instructs us that we do not have to fear sudden disaster because God will be the source of our confidence in this life! Get happy! It is not your strength but God’s that gives confidence for living!
So how do we grow in this confidence in life? How do we overcome the enemy of fear and all of its troubling influence on our hearts and minds? Proverbs 1:32-33 gives us a powerful life contrast that, if we learn the wisdom of, will propel us on our way to victory, “the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; 33 but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm." This verse gives us two choices in life that provide the border between fear and peace. Each one of us has a choice between living a wayward life independent from submission to the direction of God and a life spent living under the guiding hand of God. So many people, believer and unbeliever alike have chosen independence from God in all or part of their life and so they are subjected to the fear that comes along with the responsibility of self-direction.
Jesus taught us to pray in Matt 6:13 with a focus of thought that is rooted in a submission to God’s guiding hand and a dependence upon Him for our life that many people have overlooked or taken for granted. This prayer is a yielding of the course of our lives into the hand of God by saying “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever, KJV” When taken in context with the preceding passage we have been looking at in Pr. 1:32-33 the wisdom of God is displayed very simply, “ask God to lead you away from temptation and evil and then listen to His voice!” Many of us pray the prayer but never take the time to listen to direction. Freedom from fear will come quickly when you are living in the assurance that comes from knowing that God has directed your steps. It is with this confidence that Jesus was able to stand before Pontius Pilot and say that the only power Pilot had over him was power granted by the Father. The source of Jesus’ confidence was the knowledge that even in this hour of great persecution He was right in the center of the Father’s will for his life. When we are armed with this confidence in life even the greatest challenges fall are met with a deep inner peace that
the Father provides.