“When I am afraid, I put my trust in You.” Psalm 56:3
This Psalm was written by King David when the Philistines had seized him in Gath. Sometime before this David had killed their champion – Goliath. He had then went on to lead the armies of King Saul against the Philistines, killing tens of thousands of their hardened soldiers. Now he was in the very capital city of the enemy, surrounded by their chief officers and army generals. David had serious cause to fear!
David shares with us the secret of his confidence in verse 4. “In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?” He repeats these lines in verse 10. David knew God’s Word and He praised God’s Word for he knew that God would always honour His Word.
As Christians we are in a far more privileged position than David. He had the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) and the scrolls containing the history of Israel to this point, but nothing else. He didn’t have the prophecies of Isaiah about the coming Saviour, he didn’t even have the book of Psalms to ponder – he was in the process of writing it! He had a fraction of the Scriptures that we now have, but what he had he learned and cherished and praised! David had part of the story of God’s plan for humanity. But what he knew he believed.
The Bible is where we will learn about God’s wonderful plan for mankind, and as we put into practise all that we learn, we will find that God is faithful and true and that we need not fear what men may say and do against us.
In the early years of church history, many Christians faced torture and death for their faith, but there are countless documents that record their confidence in the face of pain and death. This has been the testimony of countless men and women of faith down through the years to this present day. The more they learned about God, the more they loved and trusted in Him. This led to the confidence that no matter what circumstances they faced, God was the one who would sustain them and lead them through their trials, either to further service for Him on earth, or greater service to Him in Heaven. They knew that mere man could not thwart the purposes that God had for them.
Christians, we have the entirety of God’s Word. We have ancient documentation of the tremendous faith of the early believers. We have countless biographies of Christians throughout the ages who have faced the most harrowing trials and fearsome circumstances, who have overcome through their faith in God. We will have times of fear, and we will have times of fiery trial. But God has promised to sustain all those who put their trust in Him and in His everlasting Word. I encourage you today to read it, meditate on it, praise it and put your confidence in it. If God is for us, then nothing and no-one can stop His purposes for us.
