I Will Not Be Afraid!: God is My Rock and Protector, Part 1

If you and I knew each other a little bit better, and we were maybe in the corner of a coffee shop somewhere and we had a great conversation and you felt safe with me, and I said, “What are you most afraid of? I mean, where do your fears show up? What is it that when it comes to your mind or maybe it’s in your life right now, maybe it’s a person, a circumstance, something in the future – but what are you afraid of?”

I share that because fear is a very, very powerful emotion. It’s a response to a perceived threat or danger in which we feel like we are going to receive pain or hurt or maybe even death. And what I remind you is there’s good fear and there’s bad fear, right? I mean, the Scripture is really clear. Proverbs chapter 1, “The fear of the Lord,” the reverential awe, the sense of His power and omniscience, that He is God and infinite and un-finite. That’s a good fear.

It’s a good fear when, you know, a hurricane is coming; get out of town. It’s a good fear when there’s a dangerous situation and you’re in the room with someone that has a history of violence and it’s starting to heat up. Good fear; leave. It’s a good fear to teach your children don’t walk in the street, right? All those things we know.

But I want to talk about bad fear. I want to talk about the kind of emotions that paralyze you, that keep you from walking with God or taking risk or getting close to people. In fact, as we learn to be bold and courageous, here’s the declarative statement that I want you to just imprint in your mind: I will not fear. And we are going to talk about overcoming the power of negative emotions.

Negative fear paralyzes and immobilizes. It produces behaviors where people withdraw and don’t get connected to people and they isolate. Or they won’t take initiative, they don’t take risks. I have a neighbor that, I heard a lot of negative things about him, and as I have gotten to know him, what I realize is he’s a very fearful person. Then COVID hit, literally, we did not see him for almost three, three-and-a-half years. Maybe a quick thing from a window and maybe his wife would go out just to get groceries.

And then he got a disease that was pretty serious and he got so overwhelmed with his immunity, and what if someone… that he and his wife, literally, have not been out of the house for – I got to see her as she walked to get the mail – and that might happen once every few weeks. He has become a prisoner of his fear. Now, is some of that serious? Of course. But, I mean, fear has dominated his life.

And so, he ends up being controlling and being protective. And we love him. We have really gone out of our way and we have prayed for him and my wife has built a really good relationship with his wife and we have invited him over and he and I have had very deep spiritual talks and he actually, he understands the gospel. But he has this view of God, his words, and it just makes me so sad. He said, “Chip, if I woke up and I decided to go to church, I am telling you, they would all be in danger. I mean, God would have the roof cave in on everyone.” There’s just this fear.

Fear can paralyze you physically, emotionally, spiritually. You know, there are times, I don’t know about you, but I have been on a plane or I have met someone or I have built a bit of relationship and God has made it really clear, Chip, I want you to tell them about Me. I love them. I died for them. I really want you to share the message of the gospel, share your testimony with this person.

We all have done this. I have chickened out. I have just not done what I knew would help them because I was afraid of what they would think. Maybe they appear powerful or maybe important or maybe they were cool and hip and I felt like I didn’t measure up. For whatever reason, and even when I do, I often find myself facing this fear.

Proverbs 29:25 says, “The fear of man is a snare; but blessed or happy is he who trusts in the Lord.” I think that fear has had such a huge, huge impact in our world today. And I want you to know, to be bold and courageous, you need to declare in your heart and in your mind, in your words, and your behavior, “I will not fear. I will overcome the power of the negative emotions that can paralyze and isolate.

And so, the question is: How do you do that? Well, David, as you know, had very fearful situations. At one point, Saul is after him and he’s in a cave hiding. Another time he’s at dinner with Saul and he picks up a spear and throws it at him. At another time, other kings are trying to trap him. I mean, multiple times he’s got huge conflict, scary times, literally, surrounded by the enemy.

And David has this amazing, amazing perspective. We find it in Psalm 27. He says, “The Lord Yahweh,” personal name, “is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is,” the defense, or, “the refuge of my life. Whom shall I dread? When evildoers come upon me to devour my flesh, my adversaries and my enemies, they will stumble and fall. Though a host encamp around me, I’m surrounded, my heart will not fear. Though war rises up against me, in spite of this, I shall be confident.” And you say, “Well, no, wait, David. Where do you get that?” Listen to what he says. Here's his perspective. What I want you to see is he says: Yeah, there’s danger physically. There’s danger emotionally and relationally. There’s danger spiritually.

But he says, “The Lord,” the Creator, the personal God, the all-powerful One, “He is my light.” And light represents positive, goodness, truth. Everything in Scripture, right? Jesus is the light of the world. God, my relationship with my God, He is my light and my salvation.

Now, especially in the Old Testament the word for salvation, it means “deliverance.” He’s not talking about being justified or coming into a relationship. What he’s saying is: the Lord is my light and He is my deliverer. When I’m in a tough spot, when there’s enemies around me, my trust and my focus is: God is for me. He’s my refuge, He’s my safe place.

Here’s all this stuff out here and, wow, yeah, odds look very bad. If it’s just me this doesn’t look really good. And then it’s kind of like, but me and Yahweh, the all-powerful One, my refuge, the Light, the One who is committed to me, the One who gave me promises, the One who gives me power from His Word, the One whose presence is with me all the time, he goes: You know, I think the odds just changed.

And so, David did so many amazing things, you know, a little shepherd boy, and he takes on the lion and the bear. He’s young and all the soldiers are afraid and it wasn’t that he had it all together, but when he killed Goliath, do you remember what he said? “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine?” He was defending the character of God. He goes: There’s no way. You don’t treat God like that.

And so, he went out in the power of the Lord and he used what he had. But he was bold and he was courageous and he was not petrified or immobilized or powerless because of the emotions, very genuine emotions. Now, listen carefully, you can feel afraid – that’s just an emotion – and choose not to respond to that feeling, but to act instead in a way that makes a difference, that is brave. That word when we feel afraid and, yet, we act in the confidence of God, that’s called courage.

Joshua, I guarantee, was afraid. That’s why God said, “Do not fear.” David was afraid. Go through all the Scripture. Esther was afraid, right? The apostles were afraid. They were hiding! And God says, “Do not fear.” Why? Because the Lord is – notice it’s personal. It’s not God out there. It’s He is my light and my salvation.

Then he looks at it and he asks this rhetorical question: In light of who God is, in light of His commitment to me, in light of my past history with Him, whom shall I fear? Whom shall I dread? If it seems impossible, if it looks crazy, if I’m absolutely surrounded – notice what he says now. He says, “My heart will not fear.”

See, David knew that fears really are - the source of them is down deep in our heart, we all have kind of issues. And some people are afraid of a lot of different things, right? Some people are afraid of crowds and some people are afraid of spiders and some people are afraid of intimacy so it causes problems in their marriage.

Some people are afraid to take a risk, so it’s not only hard to share your faith but they really struggle with: I know the Bible talks about being all-in and my money, but I am afraid. I am afraid that if I give this money to the work of God there won’t be enough for me. Fear can absolutely derail your life with God, your life with people, and your life with yourself.

So, what is the source of David’s confidence, despite danger and war and overwhelming odds? Write these two words down: Focus and passion. When we fear, our perspective usually is out there with the big question: What if out there comes in in here, right? David’s focus was upward and he had a passion, he had a perspective about life and notice from verse 4 where he gets it.

Very focused. “One thing I have asked of the Lord, that I shall seek” – wow. Okay, you’re a king, you’re rich, you’re powerful, you have armies, and there’s just one thing you’re going to ask of God, there’s just one singular thing that you’re going to pursue with all your heart, your mind, and your strength. Apparently so.

“That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.” Well, why? “To behold the beauty,” or literally, “the delightfulness of the Lord and to meditate in His temple.” And this word meditate is to ponder God’s attributes, to pursue Him, to grasp what He is really like, to understand Him and your relationship to Him. “To meditate in His temple.”

And then he gives the reason why, “For the day in trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle; in the secret place of His tent He will hide me; He will lift me up on a rock. And now my head will be lifted above my enemies around me and I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to my God.”

He has a focus and a perspective and there’s a habit that David has. David is a worshipper. David spends time with God, not to get something from God. David spends time with God to just be with Him, to behold Him, His beauty or His delightfulness. David finds there are times where He just wants to hang out and He just wants to know God’s ways and begin to ponder. I, sometimes I, like you I’m sure, I lose perspective, I don’t feel very close to God, I want to pray but I can’t get going. Anybody like that, right? You’re like, “Okay, I can go through the Lord’s Prayer mechanically. I don’t think that’s it.”

Or, “I could go through that Acts acronym, you know, adoration, confession, thanksgiving and that still feels a little mechanical.” And then I think of a little tiny book that I read a chapter of, like, every day for about ten years and then I read the book once a month for about the next ten years called The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer. Now, that may sound really good but, I mean, the chapters are, like, two or three pages. They are very short and they are very deep, but they’re on the attributes of God.

And when I get kind of stuck, and I think we all do, what I realize is my problems are getting bigger and bigger, my focus is getting more and more inward, and my God is getting smaller and smaller.

And so, I will just begin as I think through what I learned from that book, Oh Lord, thank You that You are good, that You find happiness in blessing me. You are for me. I live under a sky that is friendly. You long to do good in my life and through my life. Lord, I thank You, at this moment, You are all powerful. You can do anything You want. And when you exert power, when You speak stars into existence, You don’t lose any power whatsoever. Lord, I thank You that You see everything, that You’re all-knowing. Lord, I thank You. I just want to praise You that You’re compassionate. Lord, when I see the life of Jesus, I see who You are.

And I will just start to walk through attributes of God. Lord, today I am in awe that You are holy, that You live in unapproachable light, that You are absolutely pure. And in light of how great and powerful and awesome and holy and just and no one gets a raw deal and sovereign You are in all the world and Creator, and then I’ll think, And You’ve committed Yourself to me. Your steadfast, loyal love.

It’s a covenant of love. It’s: Chip, I’m for you. See, what David did was he spent time beholding God for who He was, not to get something: Lord, I’ll do this if You do that. Not to manipulate or attempt to manipulate God. He wanted Jesus for Jesus, if you will. In our day, that would be our language.

He just wanted to love Him and enjoy Him and be in His presence and, you know, Jesus at the very end talking to His disciples, I have always been, I don’t know if it’s challenged or just encouraged beyond almost emotion. When Jesus said to the disciples, “No longer do I call you slaves, for a slave does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends. For all things the Father has revealed to Me, I have made known unto you.”

And I don’t know where you’re at in your life, I don’t know what you fear, I don’t know what your struggles are, I know there’s a lot of issues out in this world that we are living in. But isn’t it, like, mind bogglingly wonderful to think Jesus, the One who spoke the world into existence, the One who created everything visible and invisible in heaven and on earth, the One who is the head of the Church, He is your friend if you’re a follower of Him.

And what we get is the Old Testament version of this. He says, “To behold the beauty of the Lord, to meditate in His temple.” And then the reason this intimate knowledge of God’s character and concern for David flows from His personal worship. What it does, it transforms His perspective. Verse 5, I read it, but notice the little word at the beginning of verse 5. Because after he has been with God, after he steps back and sees, Oh! These are little battles and I’m a little person and You are over it all. And then he says, “For in the day of trouble, He will conceal me in His tabernacle.” It’s talking about a place of worship. “In the secret place of His tent, He’ll hide me.”

In other words, when he refers to the tent or the tabernacle, I mean, David, this is a metaphor. He is running for his life most of his life. And the temple wasn’t even built in this time. He raised money for it, but his son Solomon builds it. So, these are metaphors to say the way God is going to hide me is in His presence. He’s my shelter; I’m running to Him. I don’t know what to do.

Yes, I am afraid. I don’t really get it. I look out there; fear grips me. I am going to run to Him and when I run to Him, His presence gives me perspective. It doesn’t mean He takes all my problems away. But notice what He does do. He says, “I know He’ll lift me up and He'll hide me. He will lift my head above my enemies.”

And then, he’s even projecting into the future. He goes: When God delivers, I want Him to know, here’s what I’m going to do, I am going to get back to worshipping. I am going to offer praise, I am going to give Him the credit, I am going to sing.

And here’s what I can tell you, and this is hard because your emotions won’t want to do this. But when you’re afraid, if you can shift, like David does, your focus to Him and with passion come into His presence, and whether you feel like it or not begin to worship Him, His attributes. And there’s something about singing and worship that takes the truth of God from your head into your heart and He manifests His presence.

I can’t tell you how many times, it’s usually on Saturday mornings, because my weeks are pretty packed and I pray every morning and I read my Bible, but Saturday mornings and often Sunday mornings, it’s like Lord, I’m not a singer. But I privately, I come and I, I find a spot, and I put on worship music and I turn off all the lights and I just put one little candle on and I sing to God. I just sing to Him. It will completely change your perspective.