Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You.  

Psalm 56:3 

Why should we trust God? David made the categorical statement, ‘Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You.’ What foundation did he have for this trust? The remainder of the Psalm indicates why David trusted God. In the verse that follows our text he remarks, ‘I will not fear. What can flesh do to me?’ He could trust God because God controls what others do. He is the Guardian and Protector of His people. We find here a reference to Christ. Hebrews 13 says, ‘Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. So, we may boldly say: The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’  Speaking of the wicked, David goes on to say, ‘Shall they escape by iniquity? In anger cast down the peoples, O God.’ David, as Abraham did before him, recognizes that Christ is the Judge of all the earth. John describes the outpouring of Christ’s wrath upon those who do evil in his writings in Revelation. David also remarks that God is for him. The whole mission of Christ proves He is for His people. They are the focus of all He did in His incarnation and continues to do today. David says God has kept his feet from falling, which causes us to think of Jude’s reference to Christ as the One Who is able to keep us from falling. All these reasons bring us to conclude that we can trust God.   

Our Great and Gracious God, 
we rejoice that You are utterly trustworthy. 
We praise You that our faith in You is never misplaced. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You.  

Psalm 56: 3 

What shall we do when we are afraid? Fear is a genuinely human emotion we experience at a most elemental level. We experience it from our earliest days. We observe fear in a tiny infant in reaction to a loud noise or some other stimulus. As we grow older our fears become more sophisticated. Events or experiences from the past may continue to provoke fear in us through memories or triggers. We may face present fears because of peril or some situation which provokes the reaction because of a perceived threat. We may fear the future because of the unknown, or because we have a sense of foreboding about what may occur and the adverse effects of it. David had many occasions in his life which provoked fear. As a young person, he faced a lion and a bear. Later in his youth he faced the giant, Goliath of Gath. In the passage from which our text derives, he was in Goliath’s hometown and the citizens had recognized him as Goliath’s killer. David’s solution was to trust in God when he was afraid. The passage reveals his evangelical trust in Christ. We can learn much from David about how to deal with fear.  

Our Gracious Master and our God, 
we rejoice that You understand what makes us afraid. 
We praise You that we find in You, 
the answer for all our fears. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning