Anxiety and Fear

“How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever?
How long will You hide Your face from me?
How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
Having sorrow in my heart daily?
How long will my enemy be exalted over me?
Consider and hear me, O LORD my God;
Enlighten my eyes,
Lest I sleep the sleep of death;
Lest my enemy say,
“I have prevailed against him”;
Lest those who trouble me rejoice when I am moved.
Psalm 13:1-4

David lived a difficult life and seldom enjoyed long periods of peace and prosperity. It was left to his son Solomon to enjoy such things while he himself was a man of war.

Because he was a man of war, he routinely found himself in tight spots: mocked by his brothers, harrassed by Saul, scorned by his wife, pursued by his son Absalom. David often found himself facing enemies – some outside his house and some, tragically, inside.

The psalm today was composed in just such a circumstance. David was in trouble, his enemies were surrounding him, his defeat at their hands was nigh at hand.

Imagine, if you will, the turmoil that struck David in each of these circumstances. The pain and fear that must have confronted him. Well – we need not imagine. For we find his fears, pains, and anxieties expressed in the psalm before us today.

How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever?
How long will You hide Your face from me?
How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
Having sorrow in my heart daily?
How long will my enemy be exalted over me?

Now consider your own circumstances. What troubles are you facing? Which enemies are surrounding you? What fears, pains, and anxieties are troubling you?

One last question: what are you doing with those fears? Notice David’s response – he brings his anxious longings to the presence of God. He does not suppress them; he does not fester over them; he does not wallow in them. He gathers them together and puts them in the best hands possible – the Lord’s.

Consider and hear me, O LORD my God;
Enlighten my eyes,
Lest I sleep the sleep of death;

Our Lord Jesus counseled us:

Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

Today is Father’s Day and the Father to whom all our eyes should first and foremost be turned is our Heavenly Father. Jesus taught us to pray, “Our Father who art in heaven,” and the Spirit causes us to cry out, “Abba, Father.” As we come into the presence of our Heavenly Father this morning, we are reminded of our failure to entrust our worries into His hands. So let us kneel and confess our sins in Christ’s name, seeking the forgiveness of our Heavenly Father.