“O God, have mercy on me, for people are hounding me. My foes attack me all day long. I am constantly hounded by those who slander me, and many are boldly attacking me. But when I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. I praise God for what he has promised. I trust in God, so why should I be afraid? What can mere mortals do to me? They are always twisting what I say; they spend their days plotting to harm me. They come together to spy on me— watching my every step, eager to kill me. Don’t let them get away with their wickedness; in your anger, O God, bring them down. You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book. My enemies will retreat when I call to you for help. This I know: God is on my side! I praise God for what he has promised; yes, I praise the Lord for what he has promised. I trust in God, so why should I be afraid? What can mere mortals do to me? I will fulfill my vows to you, O God, and will offer a sacrifice of thanks for your help. For you have rescued me from death; you have kept my feet from slipping. So now I can walk in your presence, O God, in your life-giving light.”
Psalms 56:1-13 NLT
Fear is an important survival response to negative stimulus. It helps us to stay alive. Yet, paranoia is unhealthy and actually brings us closer to death. When David speaks about his lack of being afraid, he is describing the latter of the two. Whereas fear is a response, paranoia is mindset. It is a mental ascent to the fear reaction. In counseling, one might call this a form of brooding. This type of rumination is a refusal to give proper context to the fear that one has. As a Christian, we know that the proper context to our fears is that they are ultimately overcome emotionally by God’s love, overcome mentally by God’s truth and overcome physically by God’s salvation and resurrection. This is why David’s repeated statement that he relies on God’s promises are the key tactic to overcoming fear. This doesn’t mean not having the fear impulse. It means not ruminating or brooding upon it when we encounter it. We need to remember to who God is, in the face of our fears, think upon those things, and all our fears will eventually subside.
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