Psalm 56:3-4

Psalm 56:3-4

What can mere mortals do to me?

I have commented before about a period in my life when I was gripped by fear. I was in my early thirties and had broken down under the pressures of work and church and family and my own ridiculous lifestyle. After weeks of inertia, I knew that I had to try to pick up some of the reigns and move forward. And that is when the fear kicked in – fear of almost everything. Fear that cast an icy spell around my soul and made me want to hide away – forever. That fear remained with me for years and could be the subject of a book all on its own. That is why these verses are so precious, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in You. In God, whose word I praise – in God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?” It was trust in Him that brought about my deliverance.

For some of us faith is rooted in an awareness of our own inadequacies, life has taught us that we cannot do things in our own and that we are dependant. For others the journey is harder for they are not afraid, they are confident and self-assured and have few fears. If you are one of those people, these verses may have a completely different context, but the point is the same. We all have to learn to lay down self, to stop trusting in ourselves, to be free of self, to be wholly dependant on the Lord. For some that is a life’s journey of learning to let go,  for others, who feel like they are drowning and need to desperately reach out for the Father’s hand , the lesson is very brief and so liberating. However, all of us need to remember that if God is for us, who can be against us? As David puts it, “What can mere mortals do to me?”

 

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