Psalm 27 {Confidence}

The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall.

Though an army encamp against me, my  heart shall not fear; though a war arise against me, yet I will be confident. (1-3)

~

The entire Bible can be summed up in God’s two words: Trust Me.

And the entire world’s heart-cry can be summed up in two other words: Assure me. Assure me I am loved, assure me I am safe, assure me I’ll be taken care of, assure me I’m ok, assure me that all these plaguing fears will not come true. Somebody, please, assure me.

Our heart-hunger is for confidence.

We cry out for assurance and God answers our prayer. Answers by saying, “Trust Me.”

God wants us to be confident. Godly confidence is the fruit of faith. So when God urges us, “Trust Me,” it’s because He wants to bestow on us the greatest gift, a steadfast assurance that frees us to move through life with unshakable confidence. This is good news!

But first He must deliver us from fear.

Fear is what keeps us bound in insecurity, what keeps us from the freedom of true confidence and assurance. Which is why in Psalm 27, David begins his song of confidence by proclaiming,

“Whom shall I fear? … of whom shall I be afraid?” (v.1)

But of course in his resolve that there are none to fear he of course reveals that there are plenty to fear. If there were nothing to fear he wouldn’t need to tell his heart this truth. Which shows us David’s first step toward godly confidence:

1. David talks to himself instead of listening to himself.

He is trusting God in the present and resting in godly confidence because he talks to himself about who God is rather than listening to himself fret about who his enemies are.  Of course there is plenty to be afraid of. There always is. We’re always one breath away from death and disaster. This world is crazy. People are mean. Tragedy happens. Of course there are a million opportunities to fear!  That is why the most common command in Scripture is “Do not fear.”

But while God knows there are plenty of opportunities to fear, He is clear there is no reason to fear. So David reminds himself of this and we should too.

2. David remembers the frequent deliverance of the Lord.

God’s past faithfulness demands our present trust. David had a history with God, had walked with God long enough to have seen God show up on more than one occasion. In order to walk in godly confidence and assurance, we must keep track of our God-sightings and God-victories. Stones of remembrance or journals or blogs or videos or pictures — we must do whatever it takes to remember. Unless we are deliberate we will always forget. David had seen his share of enemies before, and he knows their end: God makes them stumble and fall. Where have you seen God show up on your behalf and topple the opposition?

3. David strategically prepares through “worst-case” thinking.

The “what-if” game is the killer of confidence. If you want to become a thoroughly insecure and tormented person, just sit around all day and think vague “what if” thoughts. But David employs a great exercise that fights fire with fire. When you start to think “what if…” then go ahead and carry it to the furthest possible conclusion. As if to say, “Yes, dear self, what if??”

IF a spouse was killed, then what? It would be horrific, but you would grieve and mourn and scream, and God would be with you in the midst. He would make your brokenness into beauty. You would survive.

IF financial disaster fell upon you, then what? It would be a trial, would be embarrassing, difficult, painful, but God would be with you. You would not starve, and eventually God would enable you to put the pieces back together. You would survive.

IF you were met with terminal illness. Yes, you might not survive in your earthly body, but you would spend eternity with our beautiful Savior and He would be faithful to care for those you left behind. They would survive.

Jesus said not to fear he who can kill the body … but only fear the one has the power over heaven and hell. If our souls are covered by the blood of the Lamb we have no need to fear.

David says even if an ARMY encamps against him, even if WAR arises against him (I’ve never even had to worry about waking up and finding an army outside my front door waiting to kill me), even if he faced certain doom and destruction, he maintains,

“Yet I will be confident.” (v.3)

Who needs be insecure when even death cannot touch them? With this perspective we can understand how David could say,

“whom shall I fear? … of whom shall I be afraid?”

Whom? Whom?

*crickets*

That’s right. Let’s remind ourselves today. Thank you for reading.