Declaring War On Worry

One thing I’m doing in my personal time with God in the morning is reading through the entire Bible this year, but I’m reading in Eugene Peterson’s translation, The Message. It’s been a blessing to me over and over this year to hear verses I’ve read hundreds of times, translated with fresh words. 

A few days ago I read Psalm 56:3-4. David writes,

“When I get really afraid I come to you in trust. I’m proud to praise God; fearless now, I trust in God. What can mere mortals do?”

David wrote this in a scary and unstable season of his life. He was on the run from Saul, a man he loved, but who wanted him dead. He fled to Gath for help but instead of protection he found further threat to his safety. In the middle of his fear he writes these words and I want you to just consider them sentence by sentence today. 

First, David says,

“When I get really afraid I come to you in trust.”

This is corrective for most of us because often what we do when we’re afraid is we try to fix it. Rather than come to God for help and trust Him, we seek control. The challenge about certain situations we go through, like the one we’re in right now, is that we can’t control it. What we can do is bring that fear to God and choose to trust Him. Each time we feel the familiar sting of fear creep in, we stop and pray acknowledging our fear and asking for help. 

Second David says,

“I’m proud to praise God; fearless now, I trust in God.”

I love this. At first it seems out of place. David is freaking out and on the run. He’s in the middle of a meditation on trusting God in the midst of fear and now he’s talking about worshipping and praise God. But the truth is, nothing could be more appropriate than praise in a season of fear. You know why? Because worship is a declaration of war on fear. It’s the choice to direction our attention and ascribe worth to God, over and against whatever is causing us fear. And notice how a transaction of sorts takes place when we worship in the face of worry. David moves from fearful to fearless and trusting. So practically speaking, put some worship music on. Let’s declare war on fear by declaring the worth of God especially in uncertain times. 

Lastly David says,

“What can mere mortals do?”

The unshakable comfort we have as followers of God is knowing that our security rests in His hands not our circumstances. Our comfort and security don’t exist in our circumstances. The source of our comfort and security is a sovereign God who loves and is with us. 

So, let’s bring our fear to Him today. Let’s declare war on our worry through worship and let’s seek God as the source of our comfort and security. 

Let me pray for you. 

Father, there’s lots we’re fearful of right now. But you stand above it all. Thank you for being big enough to handle our fear. We want to offload it in your lap today. We want to lift our voices and bring you praise as a declaration of war on our worry and we want to seek you as the source of our security. Draw us near in this time. Let this be a season where we go deeper with you than ever before. Amen.