But I’m Afraid
YHWH is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? Psalm 27:1
Fear – Maybe it helps to be the king. I can see why David doesn’t fear anyone or anything. He has God on his side and he’s the king. That’s a big advantage. But what about the rest of us? We don’t command armies, order legislation or have the power of life and death in our hands. Does this verse really apply to us? I hope it does, but if I’m really honest, I’m still afraid. I’m afraid of public humiliation. I’m afraid of economic collapse. I’m afraid of betrayal. Or cancer. Or whatever is on the top of this list for today. Funny thing is that David could easily have all those fears too, plus some big ones that go with being the king. So, what makes it possible for David to say that he’s not afraid?
If we read very carefully, we discover that David doesn’t actually say he’s not afraid. He just says there is really no one to fear. That’s not the same as feeling afraid anyway. But David has a very good point. No person should make us quake because God is sovereign over every man. David says God is his light. David sees what life is like because he looks at life from God’s point of view. That clarifies a lot. All those things that I fear start to fade away when I see what the world looks like through God’s eyes. When God shines the light on the dark, I see the truth. He’s there. There’s no monster under my bed.
David also says that YHWH is his salvation. That’s not quite the evangelical word we use. For David, salvation is yishee, deliverance and rescue. It’s very here-and-now stuff, not pie-in-the-sky get-to-heaven thinking. I’m in danger. YHWH rescues me. That’s salvation. It’s tangible and temporal. Yes, I experience rescue from everlasting death (is that an oxymoron?) but the focus of my attention is right now because I live in the right now.
God’s point of view and His tangible rescue mean that I don’t fear anyone. The Hebrew verb yare has five different senses (see TWOT, Vol. 1, p. 399). The first is the emotion of fear. David’s claim doesn’t rule this out. The second is the intellectual anticipation of evil. God’s light and rescue eliminate this, if I stop to mediate on the truth. The third sense of fear shifts toward positive expressions. “Fear the Lord” is the equivalent of showing awe and reverence. Fourth comes fear as righteous behavior. Finally, there is a use of yare in the sense of formal religious worship. So, you see that David is occupied with the distinction between the first and second sense; both negative. But one is normal emotional reaction; the other results from a failure to recognize the goodness of God.
Yeshua employs these subtle distinctions in Matthew 10:28: “and do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy soul and body in hell.” Yeshua’s comment is a word play on the multiple uses of yare. There is only one to really fear – and what “fear” means before that one is the crux of the matter.
Maybe I don’t have so much to fear after all. Maybe my emotional reaction (fear) just leads me to settled confidence in the Lord of hosts (fear). One fear becomes grounds for another fear. Right?
Topical Index: fear, yare, Matthew 10:28, Psalm 27:1
Skip,
This is a good explanation of the word(s) “fear”. You have explained it so clearly, and I do appreciate that! I have heard through the years folks say that we should fear the Lord, meaning we should be afraid of Him. I have known that isn’t true, but had no explanation of my own belief on the subject. Now I do!!
Thank you!
God’s blessings,
Helen
You are more than welcome. There have been a lot of TWs about fear. You might want to search the tag for them.
Skip, I don’t know what a “tag” is, and of course don’t know how to search them. : (
Helen
Hi Helen,
Up in the right hand corner of this page is a search window.
Type “fear” in the window and click on the search icon.
The following url appears:
https://skipmoen.com/?s=fear&x=12&y=7
On the web site, at the bottom of the Today’s Word, is a set of tags. All you have to do is click on the tag you want to explore. Everything tagged to that word will appear.
Helen, I am so glad that you are keeping on reading, writing, AND ASKING QUESTIONS! Hooray for you. L.B.
Our next door neighbor, elderly (well only three years older than my husband, so she is 83) had a Living Estate Sale today. She is now in a nursing home, her husband died 40 years a ago, and she raised their four sons in that house. So it was a sad day for a lot of people, and I spent most of the day trying to help and bring love and kindness to as many as I could. It was a beautiful sunny day, so we could be outside in our lovely yard helping bring kindness.
It is a reminder of old age, & dying, that Carl Robers named below as being part of the five basic fears. How thankful to be able to know in whose hands my husband and I have committed our end times to, and have experienced repeatedly over and over in our later years “that He is able to keep what we have commintted to HIm.”—-
Your words in past few weeks on your own husband’s illness and death were a beautiful statement of our Lord’s love for us at that time of our lives! Thanks, L.B.
How coincidental Skip …. last evening after Shabbat Erev services a number of us were discussing the seemingly “Jekyl and Hide” push and pull going on within David as manifested in various Psalms.
I love the commentaries you bring to the table regarding David …. The Psalms, as beautiful as they are, really need to be understood in various contexts. Prophecy, Prayer, Teachings, Exhortations, etc. we can never exclude David himself or Israel his kingdom from the mix.
The Psalms … oh how beautiful …. tactical, abstract, esoteric …. 🙂
I have a small group on Tuesday’s. We are studying the Psalms. It took use nearly 2 years to do Proverbs, so I suppose this is a 10 year project. They are incredibly rich, if we just listen to them.
amen! just thinking of this, makes my mouth water! Any possiblity of an audio recording for downloading?
Oh! Wouldn’t that be wonderful? I too have loved reading the Psalms, but have never had a real study of them! Sure wish I could be a part of that Tuesday group, Skip. Although at my age would possibly not be here to finish the 10-years. : )
Because He lives!
Helen
I am w;ith Helen on this article. Thanks Skip, for the clarification of the word that gets translated as fear. It helps to understnad the distiction be tween the “Fear not for I am with you” and the “Fear the Lord.” I have been freed of another misunderstanding. At my current rate of reducing misunderstandings, though, I will still have to live a long time to get through them all. Maybe until I am 120 year old!
Shalom Roy …. LOL! 🙂 … sorry brother … I had to chuckle …. same boat!
I am there with you! There is no limit at all to the amount of what we do not know … But … our desire to know HIM and seek HIM in faith will also provide endless limits to what We can understand! Praise Adonai …. creator and giver of knowledge and wisdom!
Great article today brother Skip! “The five fears!!” “Fear” is such a large part of our existence here on this planet. Fear of aging, fear of dying, fear of failure.. and on and on we could go. Our lists of fears is about as varied as our (combined) active imaginations. I am so grateful to our compassionate Sovereign who has reminded us three hundred and sixty six times in His blessing book- “fear not”. When the angels appeared before the stunned shepherds, ..”fear not”. When the angel of the LORD spoke unto Mary, ..”fear not”. Why is it we have to be reminded over and over “fear not”? After the events of the previous week, I absotively, posolutely needed to hear once again, “fear not”. This was right on time for me.. Praise His name!
I had so many fears about starting back to school(IMS). I’ve been unable to sleep worrying about my email account, would I be able to understand the computer aspect of the class, can I do the work…all sorts of fears and doubts. But, I’m going to “fear not” and persevere your coursework and pray that my computer works, and my brain can keep up. Thank you for your teaching on this!
karen
grannieone
May the God of all glory fill you through and through as you pursue Him. Keep in mind, this stretching, challenging and “exercising” is oftentimes uncomfortable, but keep your eyes on the prize! You go sister!
There are several posts between Skip’s explanation to me of the tags, and this reply, but thank you, Skip for helping a newbie in this community of saints. I found the tags!
And thank you, Michael for your instructions on searching!
Helen