Psalm 56:3-4 What time I am afraid, I will trust in you.… Our nature is strangely compounded. Trembling and trust often co-exist in us. It was so in David, whose heart is laid bare to us in these psalms. Now, fearfulness, although it has some ill effects which are sure to appear unless it is kept under the control of faith, nevertheless it has its own appointed good results in the formation of Christian character. Some have no fear, they are utterly unconcerned as to God and His claims. They need that the alarm bell of fear should be rung in their hearts. And many Christians need more of it: their flippant talk about sacred things; their indifference as to the condition of the ungodly: their heedlessness of talk would cease and give place to a holy fear. Fear, then, is not to be indiscriminately condemned. But it is when fear paralyzes trust that it becomes a sin, and as such is condemned. I. OCCASIONS OF UNDUE FEAR ARE — 1. The Christian worker's sense of responsibility. 2. Experiences of affliction. 3. Constitutional nervous disorder. 4. Anxiety as to the future. II. ITS DISADVANTAGES: it hinders all success and misrepresents God. III. ITS CURE. Get more light and exercise more trust. (Alfred Rowland, B. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. |
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