Don’t you love free stuff? I do and especially when it comes to God’s Word. Feel free to download, print, or share this week’s graphic.
You’re welcome to join us at any time. For more on this month’s memory verse, go here:
Maybe.
Some run to the bottle, others to food.
A few of us run to blame or hide behind a wall of fear.
Others of us fall into a pit of dark, quiet emptiness, a place void of hope and, seemingly, help. (<— This plus the occassional freak out were my “go to’s.”)
But do we have to run, walk, or find ourselves in these cavities of protection? (Let’s call them cavities because they really aren’t protection. They simply eat away at that which is birthed to protect us – the enamel of Truth.)
No.
With Jesus, the past or the “norm” don’t form the future.
With God, something new forms. And we find a quiet peace amid the muck and mire of heavy times.
With a run to our Strong Tower, we find protection. And He, the Lord God Almighty, never ever ever EVER fails us.
But sometimes there’s a retraining necessary. When problems arise, we must purposefully choose a different reaction, a different path. After all, we serve a God of choice.
When our thoughts run straight to truth, it’s a run for the border of our Strong Tower.
Instead of sitting in a dark pit, thoughts of heaven spurred hope. Yes, I ran straight to heaven – at least my thoughts did.
Consider it “retraining” or training in spiritual maturity.
Because when life gets hard, we need all the heaven we can get.
Praise Jesus.
Thunderstorms cause it.
Rejection, too.
Physical harm spins its angle, death as well.
Not being enough or failing in life holds hands with this emotion.
Call it ugly.
Call it knee-knocking.
Call it FEAR.
Jot down several situations which bring rise to fear.
Got ’em?
Study your list. Note beside each situation or emotion what your automatic reaction tends to be. Here’s an example:
For instance, a fear of failure is one of mine. (Such as in this story on 2 Steps to Remember in the Face of Rejection.)
The reaction?
I typically turn from the situation, hiding or running away, hoping never to face it again.
Call it a solution, a poor one at best.
David fought fear well. I’m convinced God hand-picked our familiar king in order to offer us sound counsel and an example for beautiful, spiritual success.
The key?
David ran to trust in God.
When afraid, he chose to place his trust in our Father.
According to the Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Complete)¹, David found himself in imminent peril when Psalm 56 was penned. There’s nothing like fear for our physical well-being to bring rise to a little knee-knocking, is there? Yet, in the midst of arrows flaming his way, David chose to trust God.
I’m alongside you, asking this very question, especially lately. Because ultimately, we have freedom of choice as to where trust lands.
Flip through a few pages of The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible and land on the definition for trust. These words and phrases might dance in front of your face:
to hasten for refuge
bold (confident, secure, sure) ²
As David did with his simple turn in trust, placing our hope in the strength of the Lord opens a credible, strength-offering, secure pathway past fear.
Now, when fear of failure begins to blaze, and I know forward motion is God’s absolute will, I purposefully continue the journey ahead, praying and gathering strength from Scripture, trusting God. (And often even reassuring myself of that trust and saying it out loud. I figure if it’s good for David, it’s good for a girl in Oklahoma as well!)
We’re memorizing Psalm 56:3 this month. Previous September WORD17 posts can be found here and here. Trust well, my friend, and keep His Word deep within the heart.
¹ Bible Study Tools. 2017. “Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Complete).” www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/matthew-henry-complete/psalms/56.html
² Blue Letter Bible. 2017. “Strongs Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible.” https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H982&t=KJV