4 June , 2000

Facing your Fears

Psalm 34: 1-8

Last week our sermon was on the strength of weakness. Our verse was from 2 Corinthians 12:10, where the Apostle Paul tells us;
"Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong."
Becoming strong in Christ as we recognize and accept our own weakness.
I want to continue that thought today from the Old Testament; if you have your Bibles with you, and I hope you do, turn to 1 Samuel 21:10.

Before David became king over Israel, he was one of the servants of king Saul, and Saul was jealous of him, and on many occasions tried to kill him. This passage is about one of those occasions, and what David did.
1Sa 21:10 "And David arose and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath."
This king is called Achish, but that is a title, like Pharaoh, actually the king's name was Abimelech. Verse 11; "And the servants of Achish said unto him, Is not this David the king of the land? did they not sing one to another of him in dances, saying, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands?
1Sa 21:12 And David laid up these words in his heart, and was sore afraid of Achish the king of Gath.
1Sa 21:13 And he changed his behaviour before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon his beard.
1Sa 21:14 Then said Achish unto his servants, Lo, ye see the man is mad: wherefore then have ye brought him to me?
1Sa 21:15 Have I need of mad men, that ye have brought this fellow to play the mad man in my presence? shall this fellow come into my house?
1Sa 22:1 David therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave Adullam: and when his brethren and all his father's house heard it, they went down thither to him."

During this time in David's life, he was a very fearful man. Saul was determined to kill him, so he flees from Saul.
Unfortunately, the country where he is flees to is at war with Israel, and they recognize him. "It's David, an Israeli warrior."
That's not good. He probably didn't plan on that, and now David had a lot to be afraid of.
I have never been able to figure out why David fled out of Israel to the king of Gath, because Gath was the land that Goliath had come from.
Probably about that time, David was also starting to wonder why it had ever seemed like a good idea to go there.
Anybody here remember the movie, "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"?
There was this one scene, they jump off this stage coach or train or something and land in this cactus bush, and one of them asks the other;
"Why did you want us to do that? And the other one answers back; "It seemed like a good idea at the time."
That's probably what David was thinking about his idea of escaping to the country of Gath.

So what does he do? How does he survive? By making himself into such a useless, worthless, helpless person that they have no use for him, or as they would say in East Tennessee; "He wasn't even worth killin'."
"This guys crazy, get him outta' here." And David escapes death by becoming weaker than he had ever imagined possible. Acting the part of a helpless madman.
Later on, he writes a Psalm about his experience, and the Holy Spirit uses that to teach us about the strength of weakness. Turn to Psalm 34.
You probably have a little note in your Bibles just above where the Psalm starts, but just in case you don't, it reads; "A Psalm of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed."
Verse 1; "I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
Psa 34:2 My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.
Psa 34:3 O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.
Psa 34:4 I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.
Psa 34:5 They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.
Psa 34:6 This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.
Psa 34:7 The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.
Psa 34:8 O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
Psa 34:9 O fear the LORD, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him.
Psa 34:10 The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing.
Psa 34:11 Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
Psa 34:12 What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good?
Psa 34:13 Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.
Psa 34:14 Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.
Psa 34:15 The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.
Psa 34:16 The face of the LORD is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
Psa 34:17 The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.
Psa 34:18 The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
Psa 34:19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.
Psa 34:20 He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken.
Psa 34:21 Evil shall slay the wicked: and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate.
Psa 34:22 The LORD redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate."

David was probably one of the greatest warriors the world has ever known, but when he got in this terrible situation, he didn't use any of his strength, he didn't use any of his fighting skills, instead, he made himself totally weak, and he trusted in the Lord to get him out.
There are four spiritual principles behind what he did: first, he kept his perspective, he trusted that God was still God, God was still in control no matter how things went with him.
Second; he admitted his problem and his inability to fix it on his own.
Third; he prayed for God to get him out of his troubles.
And fourth; he practiced the presence of God.

We find all those things in the first eight verses of this Psalm; first, he kept his perspective.
"I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise will continually be in my mouth."
All the time? Praising even if things are going wrong? Even when things seem as bad as possible? How can that be?
Remember when Joseph's eleven brothers thought to kill him, and then sold him as a slave instead, and he was taken off to Egypt?
And the captain of the guard made him a servant in his house, and then the captains wife began to try and seduce him?
He ran away from the situation, but she framed him and he ended up in prison anyway.
So Joseph is a Hebrew slave in an Egyptian prison, but God works it out so that he ends up the second most important official in the Egyptian government.
When a great famine comes, God uses Joseph to stockpile huge amounts of food, and Joseph keeps the nation of Egypt from starving, and also keeps all his own family from starving.
Eventually Joseph is reunited with his brothers and his father, and years later, after his father dies of old age, and Joseph himself is old, listen to what he tells his brothers;
"You thought evil against me, but God meant it for good." (Gen 50:20)
God is still God, and God is in control, even if things are falling apart all around us, and even if the world is destroying us, God is still God, and God is still in control.
Old Noah Hutchings likes to say; "God is still on the throne, and prayer changes things." And that's true, wether we can see it at any particular moment or not.

"I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise will continually be in my mouth.
My soul shall make her boast in the Lord; the humble shall hear of it, and be glad."
David might have had reason to be proud, and boast about himself, but instead, he boasted in the Lord.
When a man or a woman boasts about themselves, what good does that do to anybody? Nothing.
But when a person boasts about the Lord, everyone can be encouraged. God is no respecter of persons, and we need to boast about what the Lord has done for us.
Psalm 107 and verse 2 says; "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so", and we should. Testimonies are important, God uses them.
Notice in verse 3, it is better when the Lord's people engage in corporate praise as a group; "Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together."
It's all well and good to have somebody preaching, and somebody else singing the songs, and somebody else playing an instrument, but it is best when all the Lord's people all rejoice and exalt His name together.
David kept his perspective in the midst of trouble.
We need to realize that every circumstance of our life has been filtered through the reality of God's love. Everything in our life.
Nothing surprises God. None of our troubles take Him by surprise. And others might mean our circumstances for evil, but God means them for our good.

The second thing that David did was to confess his weakness, his inability to fix his situation.
Verse 4; "I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears."
Is there something in your life that has you fearful? Health? Loneliness? Relationships that are not working? Destructive habits that seem too big to overcome? Finances? What are you afraid of?
"I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears."
Do you suppose that your current fears, the problems in your life, are as bad as David's fears were?
David was in a Philistine city, surrounded by Philistine warriors, and they had figured out who he was.
Probably most of us have never been as afraid as David was there. But his
testimony is; "I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.
They looked unto Him, and were lightened,-we would say radiant- and their faces were not ashamed."

Who is the "They" in this verse? The humble. The weak.
The proud and the strong miss out, they are too full of themselves and their own abilities to get much from God.
But those that are willing to admit that they do not have the strength, or
the ability, or the whatever, are the ones that God can step in and provide for.
Before God can save us, we have to admit that we are sinners in need of salvation.
Before God can help us in any situation, we have to admit that we are unable to fix the situation, and we have to have His help.
As long as we are hung up on our own abilities, our own strengths, who are we looking at? Ourselves.
Who do we have faith in to meet our needs? Ourselves.
Who are we trusting in to bail us out? Ourselves.
When we are trusting in ourselves, are we trusting in God? Some new age religions would say yes, but the Christian answer is no.
If we are trusting in our own self, in our own strengths, then I believe God will stand off to one side and wait for the world, the flesh, and the devil to turn the screws a little tighter.
If that's our attitude, then I believe God will wait, because we still need to learn something about ourselves, and Him..
Seems to me we would be better off admitting our weakness right up front, and let God use His strength for us all the time.
Admitting our weakness is the pathway to power. We need to admit it to our self, and we also need to admit it to God, and make it a request. Prayer.

Verse 6; "This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles."
Prayer is probably one of the most neglected resources that we have available. God is always able to hear us, he is able to answer us, he delights to meet our needs, but how often do we neglect to ask?
James says; "You have not, because you ask not." Why do you suppose that is? Why do we not ask?
Because we forget how weak we are, and how badly we need help.
We think that we can do it on our own, and we will just call on God when things get out of hand, and we need Him to send in reinforcements.
That's not the way it works, but sometimes that's the way that we think it works.

How much better we would do if we could just believe and trust in His constant presence around us, and His continuous care for us. Verse 7;
"The angel of the Lord encampeth around about those that fear Him, and delivereth them."
Do you fear the Lord? Do you put more stock in Him than in your own strength, or the strength of your enemies, or the strength of your problems?
Then just as a shepherd back then would build a stockade out of stones and keep the sheep inside at night, and sleep in the gate opening, that is what the angel of the Lord does for us. Encamps around about us, and delivers us.
We wish we could see Him, we can't, physically, but David tells us that He is there, and His job description is to deliver us from all our troubles.
We need to practice the presence of the Lord around us at all times. Verse 8 tells us; "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusteth in Him."
Taste and see. We can experience the personal awareness of God's power in our lives, and His blessing in times of trouble.
We can know Him personally, that's what that phrase "taste and see" means.

Years ago I knew an old Dutch preacher named August Van Ryn, he's dead now, but he told the story of this time when he was out preaching on a street corner.
Pretty soon this heckler came along and started giving him a bad time, asking him how he knew that there really was a God.
Well, August pulled out this orange, and started peeling it, and pulled off a big slice and ate it, and then he asked the heckler; "I got a question for you, how does this orange taste? Is it good or bad? Sweet or sour?"
The heckler told him that he didn't know, he wasn't the one eating the orange.
Old August answered him; "That's right, you don't know. The Bible says; "taste and see that the Lord is good", and you have never tasted anything, and you don't know anything. Now be quiet or else go away."
We need to taste and see that the Lord is good, but to do that, we need to do what it tells us in the second half of the verse; "blessed is the man that trusteth in Him."
Who are we trusting in? Ourselves? Our own strength? If David had trusted in his own strength, he would have died in fear and terror in the midst of a pack of Philistines.
He trusted in God, and God did the impossible, and David escaped what must have seemed to be a certain death.

The strength of weakness. We need to have a more realistic view of our strengths and abilities, and accept the fact that they don't count for much.
We also need to have a more realistic view of God's strengths and abilities, and realize that they count for everything.
We live in difficult times, and we are not exempt from any troubles just because we have been saved.
Verse 19 tells us; "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all."
Not us, not our strength, not our abilities, but the strength and mercy of God on our behalf, because we are weak, and when we are weak, then God is our strength.
Our needs are great, every day, and God is our supply.