There is an amazing fearlessness expressed in many psalms, amazing because they were expressed in the face of the most terrifying threats. Let’s look at how the psalmists got to that place of fearlessness. One of the most important acts of prayer is the act of bringing all our negative feelings and experiences to God. We often don’t do this, however, because we feel bad about how we feel. This is often the case with fear. We get told all the time as Christians that we should not fear, when, in fact, we simply are fearful of many things. We tend to respond by feeling bad about our anxiety and fear and then we just suppress that anxiety and fear and try to overlay it with self-motivation. This will only make things worse. We should instead do what the psalmists do: express our fears before God. Psalm 3 contains a remarkable expression of confidence in the face of military threat: “I will not fear the tens of thousands drawn up against me on every side.” But this is not where the psalm begins. It begins with an expression of sheer terror: “O Lord, how many are my foes! How many rise-up against me!” We cannot gain peace unless we draw out and express our fears before God. You are quite probably far more anxious and fearful than you have allowed yourself to realise. God wants to bring this fear and anxiety to the surface and replace it with peace and confidence.
Ask God to bring your fears to the surface and speak to you about them.
Read Psalm 3
