Fear

When the Enemy Surrounds Me – Psalm 57

/ Anthea Kotlan / Leave a comment

Rescuing our teddy bears topped the list of goals for my sister and me when water began to fill our car one Sunday afternoon years ago. We rapidly employed the screaming while holding our bears aloft technique. No doubt my father, the driver, really appreciated his children’s skills. Nevertheless, we were loudly lamenting the peril we had before us.

Gentle rain is a hallmark of the British countryside, but steady and persistent downpours created a flash flood that caught my father by surprise. Somehow, within a very few minutes of encountering the deep water, our car was pulled to safety by a helpful farmer and his tractor. Some very kind Gypsies or Travelers welcomed us into their camp, gave us hot cups of tea, and dried our clothes by open fires. As a five-year-old, I considered this all to be a grand adventure.

David spends a great deal of time trying to outrun the wrath of King Saul. Psalms of lament, like Psalm 57, express honestly and passionately feelings of being persecuted, isolated, and in actual peril.

Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings, I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth! I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me. He will send from heaven and save me; he will put to shame him who tramples on me. God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness! My soul is in the midst of lions; I lie down amid fiery beasts—the children of man, whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!  (Psalm 57:1-5 ESV)

When faced with an enemy, what does David do?

  • Asks for mercy and takes refuge in the shadow of God’s wings while the storm of destruction rages.
  • He stands in peace before the God Most High. He acknowledges that God will fulfill his own purposes with David’s life. Even when the outcome seems uncertain, God’s prevails.
  • He speaks confidently about God as one who will send and save, one who will bring justice, and one who will send out steadfast love. He speaks of it before it happens because he knows God’s character.
  • He laments by composing a list of the circumstances coming against him: storms of destruction, lions, fiery beasts, sharp-tongued swords, spears, and arrows.
  • He knows when to rest. Once the lament has been delivered, David lies down amidst the fiery beasts in full confidence of his rescue.
  • Finally, he prays for God to be glorified and exalted all over the earth. It is a prayer of confident surrender.

I have never been chased down by a murderous king. However, I do know about the enemy of my soul, who is described in scripture as a prowling lion (1 Peter 5:8). When the enemy marshals his forces against me, I can feel like David. The storms of destruction surround me, and all I can see are fiery beasts and sharp swords. My first inclination is not always to cry out to God for mercy. I might look a lot more like a child gripped by fear screaming in the backseat of a car.

I long to be like David, declaring faithfulness against the din of my fears. Shouting out the truth of God’s promises. He will rescue me, he will send help, and he will bring justice. There is power in declaring truths aloud so I can hear them. Finally, can I stop striving and pray a prayer of confident surrender. David lies down and so can I. I know God’s efforts and work provide all that I need even when I find myself surrounded by enemies.

Prayer

Lord, I cry out to you because you are the God Most High, and no one is above you. You, God, fulfill your purposes for me. You will send from heaven and save me. You will rescue me into your presence in Heaven or preserve my life on earth. You will put to shame him who tramples on me. God, you will send out your steadfast love and your faithfulness! My soul may be in the midst of lions; I may even lie down amid fiery beasts, but you will be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth! Let your will be done here and in Heaven, Amen.

Befriending Fear or Faith? Psalm 37:1-5

/ Anthea Kotlan / Leave a comment
A circa 1970 pic of my sister and I with atrocious bangs. (I’m the one on the left.)

Was she asleep?

My four-year-old brain struggled to process what had occurred. We were sitting outside the Tutbury* Police station when my mother slumped backward at an awkward angle while her sunflower yellow dress threatened to capsize over her head. I tried smoothing it down and calling to her as people rushed past us.

Earlier that day, she had lost her gold watch. A potent blend of fear of my father’s rage and regret over the loss overwhelmed her, causing the fainting spell. Eventually, a policeman came to our aid with smelling salts.
Fear and fretfulness were part of my daily life growing up.

What do I do when I feel fearful? 

Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb. Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act.
Psalm 37:1-5 ESV

As an adult, I have a tendency to fret. If there was a fretters’ anonymous group, I might be a member. But, instead, fretting is anxiously anticipating my own inabilities.

  • What if I make a mistake?
  • What if I don’t have enough time?
  • What if I forget?
  • What if I fail in some way that cannot be redeemed?

Fretting is to worry, and it can also mean to wear away at something by rubbing or gnawing. Obsessively fretting can certainly wear a groove in my mind that is all too easy to find and get back to over and over.

Reviewing a past event on repeat leads to a cycle of unending questions.

  • Did I say the right thing? What if I offended her?
  • Did he misunderstand me?
  • Do I need to go back and explain?
  • Often fretting is self-focused, but sometimes it lends itself to comparison.

Fretting about other people’s actions that I simply can’t control is a sign of a lack of boundaries on my part. How often have I worried about other people’s feelings that I could do nothing to fix? (Can you tell I’m reading the bestseller Boundaries?)

In Psalm 37, the psalmist offers an antidote for fretting.

Dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.

Psalm 37:3 ESV

Dwell

This word means to remain, stay, linger, and be still. When fear takes the upper hand in my life and triggers a cycle of fretfulness, dwelling in God’s presence brings a needed pause.

Befriending faithfulness

How do I make friends with faithfulness? Spending time focused on my faith and, in so doing, building it up like a muscle. For me, that might mean making a list of blessings. It is all too easy for me to see the glass of my life as half full when it is, in fact, overflowing in ways that I might overlook right away. Reading and reviewing God’s word and seeking his promises can also change my perspective. The next few verses of Psalm 37 are rich with promises of how God will champion me as I choose to focus on faith and let go of fretfulness. 

4 Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act.
Psalm 37: 4-5 ESV

Prayer

Lord, will you help me to delight in you and commit to your ways of doing life? Give me the ability to trust more and be fretless. Rewire my default setting. May I be found to be befriending faithfulness at every opportunity you kindly lay before me? Amen.

How about you, how do you friend faithfulness in the face of fear?

Do you ever feel like fear is being thrown around like confetti at a New Year’s Eve party?

/ Anthea Kotlan / Leave a comment

Maybe it’s just me, but I have seen more conspiracy theories, dire warnings and messages of hopelessness shared by believers recently. Some of these items (photos, quotes, stories) were created by trolls. I’m not sure if these trolls actually live under a bridge, but they certainly enjoy taking up real estate on social media. These troll posts are created with a very destructive agenda. The words and the images are woven together to specifically gain an emotional reaction because that causes them to be shared and commented on. Posts that make us feel fearful are much more likely to gain social media traction.

However, “fear not” is commanded over 300 hundred times in the Bible. We are commanded to, “fear not.” God does not merely suggest to me that I “fear not.” He requires it.

God tells Isaiah the following regarding fear in a time of war.

This is what the Lord says to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people:

12 “Do not call conspiracy everything this people calls a conspiracy; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it.
13 The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear,
  he is the one you are to dread.
14 He will be a holy place; for both Israel and Judah he will be a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. And for the people of Jerusalem he will be a trap and a snare.
15 Many of them will stumble; they will fall and be broken, they will be snared and captured.”

16 Bind up this testimony of warning and seal up God’s instruction among my disciples.
17 I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the descendants of Jacob.
I will put my trust in him.

(Isaiah 8:11-17 NIV)

What does God think about conspiracy theories? Evidently, I am to practice discernment, and avoid herd mentality by rejecting trolls and their agenda.

Who or what am I to fear (respect)? I am to focus on God alone not my assessment of the situation or any insight I might think I have. Only God…can rescue, restore and create a true place of safety for me.

What if I spent as many minutes in God’s word as I do on social media posts?

How might that change my outlook? What if I prayed before I hit that share button or commented on that negative post? What if I committed to sharing a Bible verse on social media on a weekly basis?

The New Living Translation says, “Preserve the teaching of God; entrust his instructions to those who follow me.” (Isaiah 8:16) How can I be part of preserving the teachings of God and sharing them with other believers? Pray with me this week that we take this challenge seriously. We all have influence. How will we use it?