Fear Relieved by Trust in God
Psalm lxvi, 3. At what time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.
Fear is that dread and horror of mind which arises from the apprehension of danger. It is often attended with anxiety and soKcitude; and sometimes with a dejection and melancholy which unfit men for those duties which seasons of danger demand.
A man may not be chargeable with superstition, merely because he has many painful remembrances of the past, or some melancholy forebodings of the future. They are not phantoms of horror, which make a wise man anxious for his personal safety. Idle fears outweigh the sober judgment, tyrannize over the imagination, and beset the path of life with evils which do not exist. They are real evils, which are to be feared; and one of the great preservatives from them, is to be afraid of them. Yet such fears are ever among the great disturbers of human tranquillity; and though there is no perfect security from them, it is a question of interest, if they may not be alleviated and relieved.
In answer to this question, we have the experience of one who had been- familiar with the dangers of the camp, and the field of battle, and the still more formidable dangers of the throne. He was a man of sober reflection and great firmness; too active and resolute, ever to be panic-struck, or impressed with false terrors; yet too wide awake to the dangers to which he was exposed, not to have sought a timely and effective relief even from fear. He was, moreover, under the guidance of the Spirit of God; and the truth he utters in the text is therefore one of those universal truths, which are alike adapted to all men, in all employments, and in all ages of the world. The answer he gives to this question is, ‘’ At what time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.” His fears were alleviated by his trust in God. Peace instead of perturbation, safety instead of danger, strength, confidence, and courage, instead of weakness, suspicion, and fear, were, with this holy man, the result of trusting in God.
I. Let us direct our thoughts, in the first place, to the constituent elements of this state of mind, and show what it is to trust in God.
There are natural elements of character which render men fearless. There are also employments and habits of life in which some persons are so accustomed to danger, that they scarcely know the strong emotions of fear. High stimulus and strong internal excitement often make men courageous. Anger, and revenge and the absorbing love of gold, not unfrequently so engross the mind, that it is heedless of danger, and rushes upon it as the horse rusheth into the battle, or the reckless soldier faces the mouth of the cannon. A keen sensitiveness to reproach, or a chivalric pride, or a morbid and false sense of honor, lead some to court scenes o i anger, and with a fool-hardy bravado, expose and throw away human life; when true courage would have been fearless of the obloquy, and a stainless honor would have shielded the sacred deposits which it had no right to throw away, or expose.
But this is a fearlessness which has no alliance with the tranquil state of mind spoken of in our text. There are moral elements in this state of mind, which distinguish it from natural fortitude, and from mere animal, or even intellectual courage, and which give it steadiness and vigor, as well as patience and perseverance, which are found only in the man who trusts in God.
Nowhere is there the broad basis for confidence — intelligent and enduring confidence — tranquil and joyful confidence, save in the character, care, wisdom, goodness, and power of that great and gracious Being, who is “God over all, blessed forever.” God must be known, his favor must be secured, his presence felt and enjoyed; else the changes we pass through, the trials we feel, and the evils which threaten us, will disturb our quietude. “The Lord liveth, and blessed be my Rock, and let the God of my salvation be exalted,” — this is the true expression of a trusting confidence. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble,” — this is the confidence which gives peace. “Whom have I in heaven but thee, and what is there on the earth that I desire beside thee?” — this is the trust in which the soul rises above every fear. Instead of being the enemy of God, such a man is his friend; instead of fleeing /rom God, such a man flees to him, and trusts in him. There is a confidence in the will, and way, and wisdom of God, which leads us to prefer his will to our own, to commit our way to him, and to seek and learn wisdom by sitting at his feet. And it is just in the measure in which these things are seen and felt, that we see and feel that there is no just and solid ground for confidence anywhere except in God.
There is one thing that never fails to weaken trust in God: I mean disobedience to his commands. A guilty conscience and a tranquil state of mind cannot exist together in the same bosom. Disobedience always opens the door to doubt and fear. It brings the soul into bondage and terror. It always did, and always will weaken confidence in God. It did in the fallen angels; it made them fear and tremble. So, when our first parents committed their first sin, their own minds were filled with suspicion and distrust. They ran away from God and “hid themselves among the trees of the garden.” And we all know from our own experience, that the more we sin against God, the more we are plunged into the same wakeful jealousy. Guilt is never confiding, and always suspicious. It poisons all the sources of confidence. “Who is he that will harm you, if ye he follower’s of that which is good V It is only then, that men trust in God to keep them. “The name of the Lord is a strong tower, into which the righteous runneth and is safe.”
Yet all these things are but preliminaries to the act itself of trusting in God. That act consists in the exerercise of faith in God’s goodness, and power to protect you. A trusting heart is the very opposite of a distrustful and unbelieving heart-. It never gives way to an overweening anxiety and solicitude. It does not yield to dejection. Whenever it is exercised, the soul is supported and comforted by a view of the fulness, all-sufficiency, and presence of God. It trusts the providence of God; it trusts his word; it trusts in the grace in Jesus Christ. It fears nothing; it sees nothing to be afraid
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of, because God is its “refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” “Fear not them,” says the Saviour, “that can kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do; but fear him, vho, after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell.”. The fear of God casts out every other fear. “He that keepeth Israel, shall neither slumber nor sleep; the Lord is thy keeper, the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.” “I will both lay me down in peace and sleep; for thou Lord makest me to dwell in safety.”
There are “exceeding great and precious promises” to those who thus trust in God. “Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; but he that trusteth in the Lord mercy shall compass him about.” “The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants, and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.” Blessed is the man that maketh the Lord his trust; surely he shall not be moved forever. He shall not be afraid of evil tidings, his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord.” They that “trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion which cannot be removed, but abideth forever.” “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee.”
Precious indeed are such declarations. “Oh how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee: which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!” Thou shalt “keep them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man; thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.” It is a privilege the world cannot give, thus to hide ourselves within these chambers of his protecting power and love. From his own high and holy habitation he says to us, “Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers; and shut thy doors about thee; hide thyself as it were for a Uttle moment, until the indignation be overpast.”
With this brief view of what it is to trust in God, we proceed,
II. To show, in the second place, when we should trust in God, and on what occasions our confidence in him is specially called for.
Our confidence should be just as extensive as our fears, or our occasions for fear. “At what time / am afraid, I will trust in thee!”
There are two general sources of fear with all men; they are afraid on account of others, and they are afraid on their own account. And at what time they are afraid, either for themselves, or others, they may trust in God.
1. They may trust in God at those seasons when they are afraid on account of others. We are more apt to be afraid for others, than we are for ourselves. The parent is alarmed for the safety of his child; the husband is alarmed for the safety of his wife, or the wife for her far distant husband; and at what time they are afraid, they ought to trust in God. The Christian statesman trembles for his country; and after he has done all he can for her security, should implore for her the protection of the God of nations, and quietly leave her in his hands. Every good man sees causes of apprehension in the condition of vital piety, and often trembles for the ark of God. But he ought to have confidence in God that he will take care of his Church. “God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, and that right early.”” No weapon that is formed against her shall prosper. Dominion is with
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him; and though the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing,” his “counsel shall stand, and he will do all his pleasure.” Do we fear for this apostate and dying world, with all its guilt and woe; we maytrust in God that he will fill it with his glory. Do we fear for the spiritual interests of those we most love; do we see them dead in sin, and after all that we have done, and all that has been by others to turn them from the error of their ways, does our courage wither and our hearts sink and die within us; we may hope in God for them still. As the clay is in the potter’s hands so are they in his hands; nor is the most hopeless of them all beyond the reach of his sovereign and abounding grace. We naturally fear for persons and interests that are dear to us; sometimes they are great interests, and we feel deep solicitude for them; but our solicitude and fears may always be relieved by committing them to God’s care, and trusting them with him. It would be a hopeless resort, if we had none but created helpers to go to for them; if we must ‘’ put our trust in princes, and in the son of man in whom there is no help;” but if God is a refuge for us, and we can, and do trust in him, we may bid our solicitude be gone, and give our fears to the winds.
2. In the second place, at those seasons when omfears are excited on our own account, we may also trust in God. Every Christian man has direct and confidential transactions with the God of Heaven, in relation to everything which -concerns his well-being for the life that now is, and that which is to come. All that he is, and all that he has for both worlds is committed to his hands, to whom he daily looks up and says, “My Father, who art in heaven!” This is the sheet-anchor of his hopes; he has no need to fear for body, or for soul, nor does he fear, so long as he trusts in God.
Of all the causes of fear to which man is subjected, those are the most serious which relate to his spiritual well-being. It is no marvel, that a man who is by nature “dead in trespasses and sins,” should have a painful sense of his lost condition. He sees that he is justly condemned by the law of God, and that the punishment to which he is exposed is everlasting destruction of body and soul in hell. He knows not that he shall live another day, or another hour. And he trembles at the thought of enduring the wrath of God in that world where the “worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” He does not know but his present convictions of sin and danger may all forsake him, and that the Spirit of God, which does not always strive with man, may abandon him to more than his former obduracy. He sees that he can do nothing to recommend himself to God, and that he has no excuse for not repenting and believing the Gospel. He may be listening to the last calls of the divine mercy, and like hundreds and thousands of others, tremble lest,” after all, he should be a castaway.” Now these affecting apprehensions are always relieved when such persons are brought to trust in God, and commit themselves to him, on the infinite merits of the great redemption. When the weary and heavy-laden sinner goes for rest to Jesus Christ, he is no longer like the troubled sea, but finds rest to his soul.
There are seasons, too, when after he has made his peace with God, he has great fears on account of his remaining sins. He feels the bondage of sin still; “the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh;” he is assailed by the powers of darkness, and is called to encounter the solicitations and the frowns of a world that lieth in wickedness. And his only refuge is to trust in God. He himself is a poor unworthy sinner — poor, blind, miserable sinner. He must go out of himself to One whose “grace is sufficient for him.” He has a heart ‘’deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked;” and when he trusts in God who knows his wants, who requires him to trust in him, who has all power and grace, who has ever been gracious to those who have trusted in him, and who has promised to be so still — his discouragement ceases, his fears subside. Though he is perfect weakness, if he has Omnipotence to rest upon, his resources are infinite.
There are seasons too, when, as he goes on his way, he cannot always rejoice as he goes. He mourns the hidings of God’s face, and he fears that he has a “name that he liveth and is dead.” The spirit of adoption is not always given to him, and he cannot say with boldness, “Abba, Father!” Yet does that spirit always return, and his consolations are made to abound by Jesus Christ, when he can cast himself upon Omnipotent love and mercy, and say, “Though he slay me, yet W I trust in him!”
There are temporal evils, too, the apprehension of which is relieved only by trust in God. Trials may be appointed to us; poverty may stare us in the face; enemies may beset our path, and we may tremble at their resentment and rage. The rod of God may be upon our habitations, and he may “bend his bow, and set us as a mark for the arrow.” Difficulties and dangers may lie across the path of duty, and we may be called to sacrifices and toil, from which we reluctate.
Yet is trust in God a sovereign remedy for all these evils. We are safe when they are close upon us; and even when they are only apprehended, and they exist only in our own alarmed minds, we are “quiet from the fear of evil.” He that “dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my Rock; my God, in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the pestilence that w*lketh in darkness, nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.”
Not a few are “all their lifetime subject to bondage, through the fear of death.” It is, indeed, a solemn thing to die. None of us can tell how fearful the struggle is with this “last enemy.” Go to that chamber of mourning. See that pallid, lifeless form, once glowing with animation and beauty, but now motionless, cold as marble, and already beginning to be a loathsome, putrescent carcass. This is death. Descend into yonder cemetery; walk around it, and listen while these once-living men seem to “say to corruption, thou art my father, and to the worm, thou art my mother and my sister.” This is death. Yet men are exposed to it every day, every hour, every moment. Our lives are forfeited to justice; and no living man can tell how soon the penalty, in his own case, may be executed. A very little matter, the slightest circumstance in the world, may call us from time to eternity. A loosened bolt or nail, a breaking rope, a mistaken and heedless step, a single wave, and no human power or skill can save us. Our companions and friends, alas! how many of them have passed from the land of the living, and sunk into the bosom of the treacherous deep I Many a stately merchantman, and still more gallant warrior of the seas, have gone down in’^ moment, and carried with them brave and noble hearts, over whom the old ocean rolls, and whose funeral dirge is sung only by the moaning, howling winds. We cannot always anticipate the dying strife, the desperate struggle, with composure. Courage, sailors! “At what time I am afraid, I will trust in thee!” It is a fierce foe you have to grapple with; but to those who trust in God, he is a vanquished foe — vanquished on the cross. We look not on death alone, but on him who “has abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light.” Sin “hath reigned unto death; but grace reigns unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ, our Lord.” Those who trust in God die but once. Death is their “last enemy.” Pain invades their couch no more. Griefs and fears no more oppress them.
“Their languishing head is at rest,
Its thinking and aching are o’er;
That quiet, immovable breast
Is heaved by affliction no more.”
Shame on the seaman who has no confidence in God! He may not give dying grace for a living hour; yet as ‘’ thy day is, so shall thy strength be.” Trust him. And then when you come to the dark valley, it shall be illumined by the light of his countenance.
What losers are they who cast away their confidence in God! Whence is it that you cannot feel safe in the hands of God? O lift up your eyes beyond the everlasting hills and the foaming ocean, whence cometh your help. Fear God, and love his Son. Then you viill be safe and happy. That brooding anxiety will pass away. It is no mystery that you sometimes find yourselves friendless and forlorn, if you have no trust in God.
“How are thy servants blessed, O Lord,
How sure is their defence!
Eternal wisdom is their guide,
Their help Omnipotence.
“In foreign realms, and lands remote,
Supported by thy care,
Through burning climes they pass unhurt,
And breathe in tainted air.
When by the dreadful tempest borne,
High on the broken wave,
They know thou art not slow to hear,
Nor impotent to save.
“In ‘midst of danger, fear, and death,
Thy goodness we ’11 adore;
We ’11 praise thee for thy mercies past,
And humbly hope for more.
“Our life, while thou preserv’st that life,
Thy sacrifice shall be;
And death, when death shall be our lot,
Shall give our souls to thee.”