"The Lord is my light and salvation, who shall I fear?" Psalm 27:1a
When I consider fear, several things come immediately to mind. My earliest recollection of being afraid, maybe like yours, is fear of the dark. How fitting that David begins this Psalm with, The Lord is my light. How true! We never need to fear the dark, because He is the light.
I remember how much I loved the stars and moon, because they provided light at night. God created them for that purpose. How reassuring. One of my later fears was one that plagued me until my teen years. On the street where I lived there were very few street lights and our house was far away from any of them, and often the closet light to my house was burned out or not working. I remember thinking that something or someone was going to get me between the sidewalk and the front door; especially on dark, cloudy, moonless nights. My last episode of such fear came shortly after I was driving on my own (16 years old) and I came home late and it was darker than ever. I sat in my car and the fear came as I started to run toward my front doors…I tripped and fell in the yard and when I rolled over, certain that this was the beginning of the end, and that something or someone was about to get me. I looked up at that stupid streetlight and it flickered and then randomly came on, as it sometimes randomly did. I jumped up and made it to the front door and as soon as I touched the door knob that streetlight went out. I smiled, and then laughed, and never feared that again.
You see, it came to me then that indeed He is my light and my salvation and I had nothing to fear… no person, no thing, no situation, no problem, not anything. My light and my salvation are sufficient protection from whatever can or will happen. From the simplest of silly fears to profoundest of sinking fears, He is with me.
Later in this Psalm David shares some wonderful thoughts about "gazing on the beauty of the Lord" (vs. 46), about, "singing and making music to the Lord" (vs. 66). I am sure this Psalm helped him with his fears. He finishes so strongly moving from fear to confident in this, (vs. 13) "I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." I like this because it infers that blessings, joy, peace, and grace are real and experienced on this side of heaven. With that encouragement in mind, I close with Verse 14, “Wait for the Lord: He is strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” I hope when you do, that light will come on for you too.
His, Pastor Fred
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Thanks, Pastor Fred. I needed this today. Last night as I closed my eyes to pray, I asked God to give me the words I needed in a certain circumstance and when I opened my eyes, I literally couldn't see. It was as if I had been stricken almost completely blind. I could almost make out colors in the room, but as for everything else, words on my monitor screen especially, I couldn't make out anything. I'm not quite sure how long this near blindness lasted, less than a couple of minutes, but yet long enough to cause fear to well within me. "Is this the beginning of a stroke?" I even wondered. No, it certainly was not, and although I still don't know what caused it or why (I'm going to the doctor today) I know I have nothing to fear because God is with me, for me, and in me. Even knowing that, though, I am blessed by your devotional on fearing not. Thanks again.
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