What Time I Am Afraid is a sermon that describes how David used God’s Word and his own experience to teach us what to do when we are afraid.

Key verses:
Psalm 56:1-13

When Darkness Falls

I am going to ask you to take your Bible and turn with me if you will, to Psalm 56, and Lord willing, we will be looking at the entire psalm this evening. Psalm 56, but to begin with, I just want us to read the third verse. It’s short and simple but it is the theme we are going to look at this evening. Psalm 56:3, David writes:

Psalm 56:3: “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.”

I want to look at that this evening and think about that concept – what time I am afraid.

This psalm was written when David was in a very dark and very dangerous place. The situation almost looked hopeless. Were it not for his faith he would have been hopeless. He was in the company of the Philistines, the enemy, the people he had fought many times.

Not only is he in the company of the Philistines, but he is also in the area of Gath. Now, if you think about your Bible, that means he was in Goliath’s hometown area. Goliath is gone. This is long after David killed Goliath. But think about being in Goliath’s hometown. His friends and his relatives are there, and they probably are not big fans of David.

So, why is he there? Well, he’s on the run. He’s on the run from his own father-in-law who wants to kill him. And, to make matters worse, his father-in-law is the king. Not only is he the king but he is the king that has been anointed to be the king over the people of Israel. He is the king who has been chosen to be the anointed, God’s anointed. David is in a very dark place. Some of his friends, and some of his extended family, have turned against him, not only the king but his wife has turned against him. David is in trouble. It’s not unusual in our lifetime to find ourselves in the dark.

I’m going to tell you the truth. I don’t like to talk about myself too much but sometimes I think it could help you. When I was a child growing up, I was terrified of the dark. I was. I’m not sure why but I was. I would not go into a dark room if I could help it. If I had to enter a dark room, and had to go in, I would reach around and feel for the light switch so I could turn it on before I went into the room. I did not want to be in the dark. I didn’t like to be in the dark at all.

Some of us still have trouble being in the dark. I got used to it as I got older. There were times I had to be in the dark. Many times, I had to work all night and in situations where it was quite dark. So, I had to get used to it. But that doesn’t mean that I like darkness. To be honest with you, I much prefer light to dark. I like brightness, I like light, I like being able to see. I’d like to know what’s going on. I don’t like stumbling around in the dark.

Dr. Bob Jones, Sr., founder of Bob Jones University, said this, “You think the most important light in the house is the big fancy chandelier that hangs in the living room. But you’re wrong. The most important light in the house is that little 60-watt lightbulb that keeps you from breaking your neck when you have to get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.” He was right about that. That is the most important light in the house.

Why Are We in a Dark Place?

So, why are we afraid when we are in a dark place? Well, it may be because we lost loved ones and that puts us in a dark place. It may be that we are the victim of other people’s sin and that puts us in a dark place also. It may be that our health is gone. It may be that we’ve grown weary in well-doing and we’ve been trying to do right. We’ve been trying to serve the Lord. We’ve been trying to carry out His will to the best of our ability, but we’re tired and things are not going well. And there’s opposition and there’s spiritual opposition, and there’s human opposition.

Maybe, we’ve made poor choices. We’ve made mistakes. We’ve gone the wrong way and we’ve gotten off course. It may be that like David, we find ourselves abandoned. At this point, David did not have his mighty men with him. At this point in his life, David didn’t have his friends and family with him as we’ve already said. At this point, it was just David and God. He did have the Lord.

Whatever the reason is that we find ourselves in the dark, there’s one very important thing we need to do. We have to make a decision not to stay there. That’s easier to say than it is to do. But that is exactly what we must do. We must make a decision that we’re not going to stay in that dark place. We’ve got to find ourselves in the light again.

I remember many years ago my family and I were supposed to meet at my family’s home down in Pompano Beach and we were to have dinner. I had gone to a meeting up in western West Palm Beach, way out on Okeechobee Blvd. The meeting got over and it was dark, it’s not as developed out there as it is now. I came out of the driveway of the place where the meeting was held, and I made a left turn. I should have made a right turn, but I made a left turn and that took me totally in the wrong direction. But I thought I was going east, so as I made that left turn, I was actually going west. I got down where I thought I should head south, and I turned right. But in turning right, I was actually heading north.

Why didn’t I use my GPS? We didn’t have that in those days. Some of you won’t know where this is but some of you will, I found myself in the Corbett area. Now, that is a game reserve. It was dark and I was lost. It was so dark I could not find my way and didn’t know where to go. I ran into another fellow out there. He was in his vehicle, and I was in mine. He was lost too so we weren’t much help to each other.

Here’s what I did, and this is the point of the whole story. I looked off into the distance and I saw a light. I don’t know what is north, south, east, or west, and I don’t know where I am, but I know this. Where there’s light there’s going to be people and where there are people, I’ll figure out how to get where I need to be. And I just kept pushing toward the light until I came to the light. Again, to some of you who live around here, some of this won’t mean anything to you but some of you will get this. Where the light was, it was at Pratt & Whitney. That gives you an idea of how far off course I was. I know some of you are asking where that is. Just trust me, it’s a long way from here. Once I got there, I knew how to get home.

I’m saying to you, you can find yourself in a dark place, but you’ve got to look for the light, you have to. In this psalm, David uses God’s Word and his own experience to teach us what to do when we are afraid. And folks, to be honest with you, everybody is afraid from time to time. As I already said, we are afraid of different things. What scares me may not scare you. What scares you may not scare me.

I’ll give you an example. Some people are terrified of spiders. They are just terrified and I’m not making fun of you. I’m not. Some people are terrified of spiders and I’m not. It depends on the spider and the situation I suppose but I’m not afraid of spiders. I found a cure for arachnophobia, that’s the technical term for fear of spiders. I can give it to you in simple letters. I’ll spell it for you, S-Q-U-A-S-H, squash. That’s how you get rid of spiders. I’m not making fun of you because you are afraid of spiders. I get it.

I’m afraid of things that you probably wouldn’t be. I’m afraid of electricity. I’ve got an electrician or two in the house tonight. I do not work with electricity if I don’t have to. For me to change a light fixture is a big deal. I mean, a big deal. I don’t want to get shocked. I don’t want to get into that. Certain things scare me and may not scare you. But we all have our fears.

In Enemy Territory

I want you to look at verses one and two where David says:

Psalm 56:1: “(To the chief Musician upon Jonathelemrechokim, Michtam of David, when the Philistines took him in Gath.) Be merciful unto me, O God: for man would swallow me up; he fighting daily oppresseth me.”

Psalm 56:2: “Mine enemies would daily swallow me up: for they be many that fight against me, O thou most High.”

He is in enemy territory. He is in the home area of Goliath. He’s in Philistine territory. He actually teamed up with the Philistines for a short time, that was a mistake, but he did. Not only did the Philistines not like him or trust him, but many also wanted revenge and wanted to kill him.

How many of you remember the name, Yasser Arafat? Most of you do. You know, when he was leading the Palestine Liberation Organization, I heard him say many things. I listened to him from time to time. But one of the things I heard him say and this was amazing to me, he said one of the reasons he wanted to defeat Israel was that he wanted to avenge Goliath. Folks, it’s been thousands of years since David killed Goliath and this man wanted to avenge Goliath.

I only tell you that story to tell you, yes, some of the Philistines came along and they trusted David for a while, but in general, that was not the case, and it isn’t the case to this day. I am trying to help you understand that people are, mankind is, sinful by nature and people can be very cruel at times. They can hurt us, they can cheat us, and they can abandon us. People can be very cruel.

Trusting in God

Look at verses three and four. I encourage you to memorize verse three. It’s short and simple. You can memorize it. Memorize it easily, Psalm 56:3:

Psalm 56:3: “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.”

Psalm 56:4: “In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.”

What a tremendous statement David makes. “I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.” Why? I’m trusting in God. “In God I will praise his word.” We need to know that His Word is more powerful than Satan. When Satan came and tempted Jesus, what did Jesus do? He quoted scripture to Satan. We need to know that God means what He says, and says what He means, and we can trust His Word. David says, “In God I have put my trust.”

So, we’ll give you a little history of this. Maybe you knew this, maybe you didn’t. It wasn’t until 1956 – now that’s in my lifetime, it may not be in some of your lifetimes, but it was in mine. It wasn’t until 1956 that there was an act of Congress that made “In God We Trust” our official national motto. Really? That recent? Yes, that recent.

But don’t be misled by that because some people are going to tell you that and it’s true. That was when Congress acted to make it the official national motto. But I’m going to tell you that it was the unofficial motto of the United States long before that. “Do you have any proof of that?” Yes, I have proof. Thank you for asking.

The slogan, the idea of “In God We Trust” dates back to the beginning of this nation. As a matter of fact, in the War of 1812, Francis Scott Key sat watching the bombardment of Fort McHenry from a British ship and he wrote a poem that became the national anthem. We all know, we all memorized the first verse of that poem. We can all stand and sing it without any trouble at all. There’s another verse we’ve actually sung here. I heard somebody say that we’ve never sung that verse. We’ve sung it here before and God willing, we will sing it again. But it says this. This is from the “Star-Spangled Banner”:

O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation.
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the Heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust.’
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

That’s from the War of 1812. So, if anyone says to you that it only became the official legal motto of the United States in ’56, it was the unofficial motto long before that. It was commonly accepted as such.

What does David say here? Look again at verses three and four:

Psalm 56:3: “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.”

Psalm 56:4: “In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.”

Twisted Words and Plots

Go to verse five:

Psalm 56:5: “Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts are against me for evil.”

Psalm 56:6: “They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps, when they wait for my soul.”

I have experienced what David is talking about in verse five, “Every day they wrest my words.” What does that mean? It means people will take something that you have said and twist it around and make it something you never said. They’ll take your words and turn them into something not only you didn’t say, you never would say and use it against you.

You know you heard it when reading Miranda Rights. I read that here a few weeks ago. I think it was. But you know it if you can watch television, you know it from that. “Anything you say can and will be used against you” and that’s true and that’s perfectly legal. If you are being arrested anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.

I’m going to tell you this. If you are talking to the press or the news media and I speak by experience on this, talking to the news or the press, or if you are talking to somebody who just doesn’t like you. I’m not saying the news media doesn’t like you. It’s not what I’m saying. If you just talk to somebody who doesn’t like you, you’ve got to modify that “Anything you say can and will be misquoted and used against you.”

And that is what David is saying here. He’s saying, “Every day they wrest my words.” They take my words, and they twist my words and make them into something that I never said. And they do that to make you sound like you are as evil as they actually are. There is a trend in America today, it’s not something that happened in the last couple of years, it’s been something that’s been around for a while and probably as old as Satan himself, to be honest with you.

But there is a trend in America of taking things that people said, taking things that people have done, and making something out of it that never was intended to be. Because the people who are doing that are themselves evil and they’re going to project their evil upon you and make it look like you are doing what they are doing if they had the opportunity. That happens all the time. It happens all the time.

What am I talking about? Alright, suppose somebody is a thief. They may accuse you of stealing. You haven’t stolen anything but they accuse you of stealing. Why? Because it is what they would do. Somebody is a liar, and they accuse you of lying. You haven’t lied but they’ll accuse you of lying because it is what they would do. Somebody is a cheat. They accuse you of cheating and you haven’t cheated but they accuse you of cheating because it is what they would do. That’s the kind of thing David is talking about.

Psalm 56:5: “Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts are against me for evil.”

Notice something else, in verse six:

Psalm 56:6: “They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps, when they wait for my soul.”

They plan and plot against you and seek to trap you. There are so many examples I could give you for that. But I think the best one in the history of the planet is this. The religious leaders in Jerusalem in Jesus’ time tried to trap Him in His words, they plotted against Him, they set traps for Him, and they were out to get Him. Why? They didn’t like Him. They didn’t like the fact that He upset their business. They didn’t like the fact that He said God’s Word was more important than their tradition. They didn’t like the fact that He was Messiah, but He wasn’t going to drive the Romans out. They didn’t like Jesus. They came to know that He was the Messiah but they didn’t want Him and so they plotted to get rid of Him.

Do you know what Jesus said about that? He said, “If they have done this to me, they’ll do it to you.” So, people are afraid. Sometimes we have good reason to be afraid. We’ll read five and six again and then go to seven:

Psalm 56:5: “Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts are against me for evil.”

Psalm 56:6: “They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps, when they wait for my soul.”

Psalm 56:7: “Shall they escape by iniquity? in thine anger cast down the people, O God.”

Are they going to get away with this? Are they going to get away with their sin by more sin? Are they going to lie their way out of it? Are they going to cheat their way out of it? Are they going to falsify their way out of it? “Shall they escape by iniquity?”

David says, “In thine anger cast down the people, O God.” That’s really something. David prayed for God to take them down to take them out. People fool themselves when they think they can sin and not face the penalty. People fool themselves when they think they can do wrong and get away with it.

God Knows What You Are Going Through

God knows where you are. He knows what you’re going through. He knows what you are feeling. He knows your wanderings. He knows every need that you have. He knows the pain that you feel. He knows the loneliness you feel. He knows the fear that you feel. God seeks to save us.

Psalm 56:8: “Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?”

There are a couple of interesting phrases there. Remember, David writes this hundreds of years before Jesus came. We read about Mary who came and washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. It was a custom in Bible times that when someone was in mourning and weeping, they would actually take a bottle and weep into the bottle and they would save their tears in the bottle.

And then, in another part of scripture, in Revelation, we’re told two times in the Revelation, God saves our prayers, not our tears but our prayers. He saves our prayers in a golden vial. They are precious to Him. And they are like a sweet-smelling savor coming up before the throne.

So, David is using the analogy here of a tear bottle. And yes, he says, “Put thou my tears into thy bottle.” – Save my tears Lord, you know what I’m going through. You know the fears that I have. You know the heartbreak that I have. Save my tears. But I also think David might have in mind to “save my prayers.” It’s not what he says. I don’t mean to change scripture, that’s not my intent. But I think he might have had that in mind, “save my prayers.” The Lord does because He cares about you.

And it says again in verse eight, “Are they not in thy book?” We are not going to turn there but you can do it later. Turn over to Revelation 20. You’ll find at the end of the chapter, the Great White Throne Judgment. It’s going to say there, that the books will be opened. And another book was opened, and men were judged out of the books that were opened – books, plural.

I think the main book that men are judged out of is the Bible, the Word of God. We’re judged by God’s standards. But I think God keeps a record of our life. I think He has a record of our sins. I think He has a record of our entire life. And then there is the Book of Life. David says in another place, “Don’t blot my name out of your book.” God has your name in the Book of Life if you know Him. But He can blot that name out, it’s not there. And then in Revelation 20, it says that those who are cast into the Lake of Fire include whosoever’s name is not included in the book. Why? Because it was blotted out.

What does David say here? “Put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?” That’s not the Book of Life but it is the Book of Man’s Life, not light but life. Honestly, David is saying, “I want to keep my record. I want you to keep my record. You know what I’m going through. You know what I’m dealing with.”

God Is For Me

And then in verse nine, he says:

Psalm 56:9: “When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me.”

You hang on to that. You hang on to that thought. When I cry out to God, all my enemies turn back. The enemies turn away. “This I know; for God is for me.” I know God is with me. And Paul will later say, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” Where did he get that idea? David says, “I know God is for me.” He is greater than any attack that can come against you.

I told this story here more than once and I think not too long ago. But I’m going to tell you again because I think it will help you in this situation. I was in college studying for the ministry up in Chattanooga, Tennessee. There was a fellow student there. I have long since forgotten his name. His real name is Jerry, but I’d forgotten his last name long ago. He was a good man, and everybody liked him. But he was always praising the Lord. There was nothing wrong with that, understand, nothing wrong with that. He was always praising the Lord, so we just called him “Praise the Lord Jerry,” because he was always praising the Lord.

One day, Praise the Lord Jerry was in a supermarket in the town there. I don’t know what started this but a man in the supermarket got angry with him. I don’t know what he got angry about but he got angry with him. The man said to Jerry, “I’m going to beat you up.” That’s not how he exactly said it, but you get the idea. Jerry looked at the man and said, “That’s just fine.” But before you do, let’s pray. He just knelt down in the supermarket and started praying out loud. The man just looked at him, turned around, and walked away.

You know what? I’m not sure I would have done that. I’m not sure I would have handled it that way. But that was the best way to handle it. He did quite well. Do you know what happened there? I’ll tell you what happened. Verse nine:

Psalm 56:9: “When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me.”

Jerry called out for the Lord and his enemy turned away. That’s why I’m telling you that story again now. “This I know; for God is for me.” Verse ten:

Psalm 56:10: “In God will I praise his word: in the LORD will I praise his word.”

He said that before and he’s saying it again. Praise His Word and put your faith and trust in Him.

Psalm 56:11: “In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me.”

Well, that’s another way of saying what he said earlier, isn’t it? Sure, it is.

Psalm 56:11: “In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me.”

Man can do things to you. Man can do a lot to you. David’s saying that they can, but he’s saying, “I trust God no matter what happens.” Verse 12:

Psalm 56:12: “Thy vows are upon me, O God: I will render praises unto thee.”

“Thy vows are upon me,” – God keeps all of His promises.” He does. We have a book back there in the library. I’m not sure it’s still there. It was written by Herbert Lockyer and titled, “All the Promises of the Bible.” Do you know what was in that book? All the promises of the Bible. You can read it and get all the promises in the Bible.

Psalm 56:12: “Thy vows are upon me, O God: I will render praises unto thee.”

We ought to pray, and I do, and I suspect many of you do too. “I’m asking you Lord to do this so that we may praise you. I want to praise you for what I believe you are going to do.” That’s what David is saying here.

Psalm 56:12: “Thy vows are upon me, O God: I will render praises unto thee.”

Walking Out of the Darkness

Psalm 56:13: “For thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?”

Folks, listen to me, get hold of this. If God has delivered your soul from death, or another way of saying that, if God has saved your soul and He cares about you enough to give himself for you and to save your soul; if God has saved your soul, He can certainly take care of your earthly problems. He most certainly can protect you.

Notice what he says here, in verse 13, “For thou hast delivered my soul from death.” David was saying that the Lord delivered his soul from death. “Wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling?” If you save me, I trust that you can protect me. “That I may walk before God in the light of the living.” He is coming out of the darkness. He is going to walk before God in the light. He’s going to walk in the light of the living.

I encourage you again as I said earlier to memorize verse three. It’s short, it’s simple, and it will help you. Maybe you want to memorize verses 4 and 11, maybe you want to memorize the entire psalm. But find verses that will help you and encourage you and help you remember that when you are afraid you can trust in Him. Memorize those verses. Take all your worry, all your trouble, all your loneliness, all your pain, and give it to Him. You can trust God in the dark. Peter wrote:

1 Peter 5:7: “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”

David put it this way:

Psalm 56:3: “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.”

~~~~~~~

Father, thank you so much for your blessings. Thank you, Lord, that when we are afraid, to realize we can trust in you. We can turn our hearts to you. We can give you everything, every aspect, every part of our heart, our mind, our life, and our being. Lord, when we’re afraid, let us trust in you. You loved us and you saved us. Will you not protect us? We know that you will.

Heads are bowed, and eyes are closed. If God has spoken to your heart this evening, there’s a spiritual need in your life, or you have a decision you need to make, or maybe you just need prayer, as we sing the hymn of invitation, we invite you to come.

Father, bless and move now in this invitation we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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