Psa 56:3 What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.

                                   

The title of this Psalm reads: A Psalm of David. Michtam; when the Philistines took him in Gath.

David, pursued by Saul, took refuge in Gath, a city belonging to the Philistines (1 Samuel 21:10-15). Goliath was from Gath (1 Samuel 17:4). The people of Gath remembered David for slaying their giant (1 Samuel 21:11). David had to feign madness to save his life (1 Samuel 21:13).

In the opening of this Psalm, David cried out: “Be merciful unto me, O God” (56:1). David could expect no mercy at the hands of the Gath people, whose hero, Goliath, he had slain, and whose sword he had now with him. Therefore, he implored the mercy of God.

David trusted in Jehovah God to deliver him: “In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me” (55:11).

Trust is a voluntary action for which we are responsible. We can choose either to trust God, other men, or ourselves. David was afraid; he put his life in the hands of the living God. He declared: “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee” (56:3).

What time I am afraid - David did not hesitate to admit that there were times when he was afraid. He saw himself to be in danger, and he had apprehensions as to the result.  

No one can say he has never been fearful. Christians experience fear too. It’s not wrong to be fearful; it’s part of our human nature. We fear failure, sickness, and the future. Perhaps, many also fear death. Indeed, believers have their times of fear. The question is: How should we overcome that fear?

I will trust in thee - Trust and confidence in the Lord is the best antidote against fear. Fear is one of these things, designed to make us feel that we “need” a God, and lead us to Him when we realize that we have no power to save ourselves from impending dangers.

The devil wants us to live in fear. He says: “Be afraid!” It is foolishness to say: “I will never be afraid!” The truth is, like David, there will be times we will experience fear. But true faith, by a mighty effort of the will, fixes its gaze on the divine Helper, and there finds it possible to lose its fears: “So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me” (Hebrews 13:6).

It is with this confidence in God that David asked: “What can flesh do unto me?” (56:4). “Nothing,” is the Apostle Paul’s emphatic answer: “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). Paul gives a list of things that we need not fear when we have God: “Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).

It is believed that every man will give away anything just to retain his life. Paul says “neither death”, that is, neither the fear of death, nor all the pains and tortures of the dying scene, even in the most painful trials of persecution, can separate us from the love of God.

The Psalmist says: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints” (Psalm 116:15). The Lord watches over their dying beds, sustains their hearts, and receives their souls. God sees to it that His saints do not die in vain. Those who are redeemed with the precious blood of Jesus Christ are so dear to God that even their deaths are precious to Him.

Are you afraid of death? Trust God. Think of the home over there (Revelations 21:1-4).

Jimmy Lau