When You Are Afraid
1 Samuel 21:10-15, Psalm 56, 02/28/2021, Remsen Bible Fellowship
Introduction
What do you do when you’re afraid? Is there a more practical question we could ask? How many of you have felt fear, dread, uneasiness, or anxiety in the past year? Month? Day? Hour? Maybe the fact that we’re talking it about brings those feelings to mind even as we speak. If we have those feelings, and to some degree, we all do--we need to do what to do with them. We need to know how to respond. Because one of the most dangerous things you can do with fear is to just passively marinate in it.
You’ve likely read or heard that Jesus was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Well, we might say that David was a man of troubles, acquainted with fear. Last week we saw him running from Saul into the presence of the priest, Ahimilech. God provides for David, despite David misleading the priest, and he is given both the bread he needs for the journey, and the sword of Goliath, the Philistine whom he killed.
But David knows it isn’t safe to stay there (we’ll see why in a couple of weeks), and so he books it for--of all places--Gath. It seems that in escaping there he’s hoping for some measure of safety. So let’s read the text.
And David rose and fled that day from Saul and went to Achish the king of Gath. And the servants of Achish said to him, “Is not this David the king of the land? Did they not sing to one another of him in dances, ‘Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands’?” And David took these words to heart and was much afraid of Achish the king of Gath. So he changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and made marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard. Then Achish said to his servants, “Behold, you see the man is mad. Why then have you brought him to me? Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to behave as a madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?”
First we should note that we can see why David’s running, right? Saul is out for his life. That’s a good reason to head to the next town, in fact we even see Jesus doing this on occasion (see John 4). However, if we look at verse 11, we see there is an issue: David has been recognized! And so while he thinks he’s fleeing to safety, instead it seems he has jumped out of the proverbial frying pan and into the fire.
And if we are reading carefully, we can see why this particular town knows who he is. He fled to Achish, king of the city of Gath. Who else was from Gath? Only the most famous of those ten thousands whom David had killed, Goliath himself (17:4)! So David flees into the arms of the city whose hero he had killed--carrying the dead hero’s sword. Maybe not the best move. Hindsight is, as they say, 20/20.
When David realizes the mess he is in, he panics, and in his fear decides his only recourse for escaping this situation alive is to act like a madman. So he begins scratching up the walls like a cat and slobbering like a rabid dog. The ruse seems to disgust his host/captor, who then asks his servants why it matters who he is if he’s crazy. Why bring me yet another madman into my court, who has time for this nonsense?
Transition
This is a strange text. We read this the other night and Andie asked me, “you’re going to preach that on Sunday?” And it’s a fair question. What are we to learn? What can we gain from a story of fear, fake insanity, and a king with no time for crazy?
But we need to pause and put ourselves in the shoes of the original audience. As I said back when we started in first Samuel, we don’t know the exact author or date of composition for this book, but it was likely written near to, perhaps even during the Babylonian captivity. And if it were written during the captivity, and then becoming more widespread during that time and afterward, a time when the word of God is beginning to take a central place in the lives of the Jewish people (after the destruction of Solomon’s temple), then many of the readers would perhaps be familiar with another book in our Bible: the Psalms. In particular Psalms 34 and 56.
Both of these Psalms are psalms of David, and interestingly, both have headings that suggest he penned them during or shortly after this terrifying experience before Achish, where David likely thinks he will be executed. And so what I want to do these next two weeks is to look at these Psalms, first Psalm 56 and then next week Psalm 34, and see what lessons we can draw from them that will inform how we view this story. David is obviously afraid before Achish, verse 12 makes that clear. But what did he do with that fear? Let’s read Psalm 56.
TO THE CHOIRMASTER: ACCORDING TO THE DOVE ON FAR-OFF TEREBINTHS. A MIKTAM OF DAVID, WHEN THE PHILISTINES SEIZED HIM IN GATH.
Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me;
all day long an attacker oppresses me;
my enemies trample on me all day long, for many attack me proudly.
When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust;
I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?
All day long they injure my cause; all their thoughts are against me for evil.
They stir up strife, they lurk; they watch my steps, as they have waited for my life. For their crime will they escape? In wrath cast down the peoples, O God!
You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle.
Are they not in your book?
Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call. This I know, that God is for me. In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise, in God I trust;
I shall not be afraid.
What can man do to me?
I must perform my vows to you, O God; I will render thank offerings to you.
For you have delivered my soul from death,
yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.
In these 13 verses, we find four aspects of a godly response to fear. Let’s look at them in turn.
Aspect 1: Don’t Minimize Your Fears
Our first response to fear, if we’re Christians, can be to remember a verse like Joshua 1:9, Be strong and courageous, do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. And we tend to interpret that as “God doesn’t think this is a big deal, I shouldn’t be afraid, I’m stupid for feeling this way, what’s wrong with me? God says don’t fear, so why do these circumstances feel like such a big deal to me? Why do they make me afraid? We’ll come back in a moment to what is happening there in Joshua 1, but note David’s example in Psalm 56. He clearly does not minimize his struggles or fears in any way.
Verses 1 & 2, Be gracious to me, oh God, for man tramples on me, all day long an attacker oppresses me; my enemies tramples on me all day long, for many attack me proudly. David feels like all day every day all he experiences is oppression. He’s trampled on by those who are proud and mighty. So what does he do? He cries, help me God! This is more than I can take!
Verse 5, All day long they injure my cause [could also be translated, twist my words]; all their thoughts are against me for evil. They stir up strife, they lurk; they watch my steps, as they have waited for my life. David feels like his every step is watched, as if he can’t do anything that isn’t part of his enemies plan to destroy him and send him to the grave. God, no matter where I go, Israel, Gath, it doesn’t matter, my enemies are waiting for me! What can I do?
Are you this frank with God about your fears? I will confess I struggle to pray in this way. Prayer in general can be hard for me, but especially this sort of raw, here is my soul and it’s troubles please help me Lord, kind of prayer. I want to minimize. I want to convince myself that whatever it is I’m worried or fearful of just isn’t a big deal. But you know what, if you’re worried about it you do think it’s a big deal. And the first aspect of a godly response is taking that to the Lord in prayer. Do you know he’s glad to hear that prayer? If I might offer a practical tip that helps me, when my brain feels fried to a million shreds and I don’t ever know what’s causing my grief or anxiety, sitting down and writing that prayer out can be really helpful.
As the hymn exhorts, oh what peace we often forfeit, oh what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. Or in the words of 1 Peter 5:6-7, Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties upon him, because he cares for you. Don’t minimize your troubles, cast them on him. Take them to the Lord in prayer. Which takes us to the second aspect of a godly response to fear.
Aspect 2: Remember that He Cares
It’s all well and good to say, “take it to God,” but what will actually drive us to do so? Only a settled conviction that he actually cares about what happens in my life. And this is where verses 8 & 9 are so helpful to us. You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call. This I know, that God is for me.
Do you ever lay awake at night, unable to sleep because of your troubles? Or perhaps it’s the daytime that bothers you, and you feel like you can’t get your mind off of this problem or that, and it’s like you’re tossing and turning inside your head. Do you know that God sees each and every one of those tossings, be they physical or mental, emotional or spiritual? He knows. And not just in some vague, God knows everything, sort of sense. He’s counting them. Not because he’s interested in the number. But because he’s interested in the state of your soul. God sees your anxieties. He sees your fears. And his caring eye is upon you.
Do you ever cry? Do you ever feel like you have been piling up tears upon tears and there is no hope of things ever getting better, no one cares, no one else knows. Perhaps you resonate deeply with the words of Proverbs 14:10, the soul knows its own bitterness. No one can understand, and worse still, no one is trying. But friend, God does know. And he does care. Those tears you cried last night: they’re in his bottle. That tear you cried when your spouse spoke harshly: they’re in his bottle. Those tears you cried when your father hurt you: they’re in his bottle. Those tears you cried when you lost a child: they’re in his bottle. Those tears you cried as a little child when you had a bad dream: they’re in his bottle. Those tears you cried when you felt like God himself had abandoned you: they, too, are in his bottle. Every. Single. One. He knows, and he cares. They’re in his book, carefully recorded. This truth is what gives David the confidence to say at the end of verse 9, this I know, that God is for me.
Thinking back to Joshua 1:9, do you realize that this is precisely the message God is communicating to Joshua there? Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you. The presence of God is what is supposed to give him comfort. God never downplays his circumstances, but he does give him the encouragement, the strengthening gift, of his personal presence. He knows, he cares: and if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, he is right there with you. Jesus tells the disciples in John 16:7, I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. The Holy Spirit is sent by the Father and the Son to every believer in Jesus Christ, and he is Helper, the strengthener, the encourager we need in our hour of fear. He enables us to move to aspect 3.
Aspect 3: Trust God To Be Your Safety
Oh how easy it is to look at our circumstances as if they are the ultimate indicators and arbiters of reality! We look at our external circumstances and think that simply because we can’t see a way out, there must not be a way out. But the framing truth of this psalm is that we don’t look to circumstances, or our own cleverness, or what other people can do as the final source of reality and truth. We look to God. Verse 1 opened, Be gracious to me, oh God. And in verse 4 we read of where David’s trust ultimately lies, In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust, I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?
Note David begins that sentence: In God, whose word I praise. Commenting on this passage, Old Testament scholar Alec Motyer gives us a biblical definition of trust: “Whose word. Trust is not a ‘feeling’ that all will work out for the best. It is a conviction arising from what God has himself said, a confidence in promises.”
An important part of trusting God lies in simply knowing his word--knowing promises like we find here in Psalm 56--and then banking on those promises. Acting in trust that God, not my bank account is in control. God, not my spouse or my child, is the most important person in the universe. God, not the president or my boss, is the all authoritative ruler of my life.
David asks an interesting question here: what can flesh do to me? Well, the obvious answer is, kill you! David is on the run for his life. And yet we find his refrain repeated down in verses 10 and 11, In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me? Through this process of casting his anxiety upon God, of taking his fears to God in prayer, of remembering that God cares about his circumstance, he is then able to get this perspective of “okay. God, the all powerful God, is in control. He knows my tossings and tears. And I can trust in him in the midst of those tossings and tears. No matter what. I can trust him.”
Even the punishment of his enemies falls under the category of those things which David entrusts to God. For their crime will they escape? In wrath cast down the peoples, O God!” David wants justice to be done. But again, he trusts God with those results. He prays with Abraham in Genesis 18:25, shall not the judge of all the earth do what is right?
David is able to endure this fearful time only because his confidence is in the Lord. Is your confidence in him? One of the biggest struggles many people have is trusting God, and oftentimes what that comes down to is an unwillingness to actually trust him to be God and to do right. Maybe you disagree with his assessment of you that you’re a sinner. Or maybe you know you’re a sinner, but you just can’t believe that he loves you. But as pastor and author Tim Keller often puts it, the Gospel tells you that you are far worse than you ever could imagine: so bad that the Son of God had to come die to bear the weight of your sins. But that same Gospel also tells you that you are far more loved than you ever dared to hope: the Son of God did come, while you were still in your sins, and Jesus died for you. That’s a God you can trust. That’s a God, verse 9, that is for you. And as Paul says in Romans 8:31-32, What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
What then shall we say? David helps us there, as well.
Aspect 4: Praise Him at All Times
Our fourth and concluding aspect of a godly response to fear is found in verses 12 & 13. I must perform my vows to you, O God; I will render thank offerings to you. For you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.
David recognizes that God delivers us for a purpose. Obedience and praise. Have you experienced God’s salvation? Then give him thanks! Has he saved your soul from the pit and given you life, then walk in obedience to him! What David seems to be encouraging, both as a help in our fears and a response to them is not a denial that they exist (see point 1), but a reorientation of our thoughts. Cast those worries upon Christ , be open with him about your struggles, and then meditate not on those fears, but on his glories. Meditate on his power and how he has delivered you in the past. Trust that he who has delivered your soul from death will keep your feet from falling.
I want to close by reading a comment on Psalm 56 from Matthew Henry, “It seems by this, and many other psalms, that even in times of the greatest trouble and distress David never hung his harp upon the willow-trees, never unstrung it or laid it by; but that when his dangers and fears were greatest he was still in tune for singing God’s praises. He was in imminent peril when he penned this psalm, at least when he meditated it; yet even then his meditation of God was sweet...How pleasantly may a good Christian, in singing this psalm, rejoice in God, and praise him for what he will do, as well as for what he has done.”
