Fear of Man: Psalm 56

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Psalm 56 Reading

For the director of music. To the tune of “A Dove on Distant Oaks.” Of David. A miktam. When the Philistines had seized him in Gath.

1 Be merciful to me, my God,
for my enemies are in hot pursuit;
all day long they press their attack.
2 My adversaries pursue me all day long;
in their pride many are attacking me.
3 When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
4 In God, whose word I praise—
in God I trust and am not afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?
5 All day long they twist my words;
all their schemes are for my ruin.
6 They conspire, they lurk,
they watch my steps,
hoping to take my life.
7 Because of their wickedness do not let them escape;
in your anger, God, bring the nations down.
8 Record my misery;
list my tears on your scroll —
are they not in your record?
9 Then my enemies will turn back
when I call for help.
By this I will know that God is for me.
10 In God, whose word I praise,
in the LORD, whose word I praise—
11 in God I trust and am not afraid.
What can man do to me?
12 I am under vows to you, my God;
I will present my thank offerings to you.
13 For you have delivered me from death
and my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before God
in the light of life.

Recapping the Series

I just wanted to start with a brief recap on two key ideas in our fearless series. Our first week was Fear God. There we:
1. Defined fear being a problem when it controls us.
2. Saw we’re free from fear as we learn to fear God.

That brings us to the Fear of Man today.

Crippling Fear of Man—A Young Ed Welch

I want to start with the experience of Ed Welch:¹

I had always been shy and self-conscious, controlled by what my peers thought (or might have thought), but I never considered it seriously until the day of the awards assembly.

I was up for an award, and I was scared to death I would get it!

The auditorium was bulging with over two thousand highschool juniors and seniors. From the back, where I liked to sit, it seemed a good mile or two up to the platform. All I could think of was what my classmates would think of me while I walked to the front. Would I walk funny? Would I trip going up the stairs? Would one person — I prayed it wouldn’t be a girl I liked — think I was a jerk? What about those who were also nominated or who thought they were deserving? What would they think of me if I won instead of them? What would I ever say for a brief acceptance speech?

God, please don’t let me get this! I prayed.

After a number of lesser awards were announced, the vice principal went to the podium to introduce the winner. He began with a short, somewhat cryptic biographical sketch. It didn’t sound exactly like me, but it was generic enough to fit. I was starting to sweat, but I sat motionless for fear that someone would think I was getting interested. Finally the announcement came: “And the winner of this year’s senior award is… Rick Wilson!”

Rick Wilson! I couldn’t believe it! Of all people. No one even thought he was a candidate!

You can imagine my reaction. Relief? No way. I felt like a total failure. Now what would people think of me? They knew I was up for the award, and someone else was chosen. What a loser I was.

Immediately my mind began spinning out justifications. If I had worked at all this year, I would have won. I certainly had the potential, I just didn’t want to win. I’m a late bloomer; when I get to college, I will show them. I was ashamed to go back to class.

Pitiful, isn’t it?

Later that day the events replayed in my mind. What a mess! I reflected. I live like a frightened kid. I am so controlled by what other people think or might possibly think…

I had no answers, but the events of the day certainly brought these issues to the front of my mind. It was, at least, an awakening.

Defining the Fear of Man

Welch’s example in many ways is the story of my own life. Perhaps you can relate to it too?

His life illustrates how our fear of man and fear of failure often go-hand in hand. That’s why we’ve grouped them together as the last two fears we’ll look at in this series: fear of man—today—and fear of failure—next week.

You might be thinking, “I’m not an approval person. I can’t relate to Welch at all.”

True. You may not have experienced that extreme self-consciousness that I know so well.

But I want to suggest that fear of man does impact us all at one point or another.

If we map it out on a spectrum on the left hand side you have approval (“I want you to like me”) and the other safety or physical threat (“You have the power to maim or kill me”).

Ed Welch puts his finger on three basic three basic reasons why we fear other people. They all map on the spectrum:²
> 1. People can expose and humiliate us
> 2. People can reject, ridicule or despise us
> 3. People they can attack, oppress or threaten us

Think about the way we hide our true selves from others:³

• We’re uncomfortable with nudity.
• We’re terrified of of public speaking.
• In some of our worst dreams these fears come together when we’re speaking naked before a crowd!
• We don’t like people staring at us. “What’s wrong with them? Get a life!” Or, “What’s wrong with me? Have I got food on my face? Lipstick on my cheek? Is my fly undone?”
• We don’t like people invading our personal space. “You’re a little too close for comfort.” Or, on the flipside when people are keeping their distance, “Did I put deoderant on this morning? Is it my body odour? Is it my bad breath?”
• Think about the appeal of pornography: it offers us pleasure and escape from life’s pain while keeping others at a distance. Then we’re too ashamed to admit to using it.
• We’re self-conscious of dancing in public. The child in me was excited when my mate spoke of being in the mosh-pit at the P.O.D. concert. I was disappointed when we stood together at the edge without joinging in. I wanted to join in the mass of jumping. But I talked myself out of it. “I’d be abondoning my friend… What would he think? I don’t want to look a fool.”
• We can rely our social media where we can put our best face forward. We can show ourselves as the perfect spouse, boyfriend/girlfriend, Mum/Dad, son/daughter who publicly says just the right things on birthdays and anniversaries.

Think of our own personal ‘brands’. Some friends recently brought this to my attention:

• We all have a personal brand that we market.
• For me it’s typically, “Jeremy’s good at what he does. He’s thorough, dependable.” There was that word I lived for on school reports: conscientious. That really stroked my ego.
• But brands aren’t personal brands aren’t always about high standards.
• Consider the laid back brand “I’m cool. Nothing really phases me. Close enough is good enough. Hang out with me and you’ll have a good time.”
• What’s your personal brand? What’s the image you want to put forward? What’s the reputation you live for?

Beneath our brands is a fear of exposure. We work hard on our public relations. We want to avoid rejection. We want to be desirable, liked. We don’t want to feel shame before others.

Perhaps you’re able to get through most of your life without caring too much what others think. But who are the significant others? Perhaps those one or two whose opinion of you really does matter?

On the other side we fear the power of others to threaten us, physically harm or even kill us.

I think of Hayley’s parents in the eastern highlands of PNG. 3 weeks after we visited them in 2012 a local gang leader threatened to kill them. He had machete in hand but didn’t act then and there. They were able to evacuate.

Some time later Hayley’s parents returned to the highlands to test the waters and see if it was safe. A believing friend from church came at dusk to warn them of a gang’s plan to attack them. A helicopter was unable to come until the next morning.
As you can imagine it was a long night. They secured the house and tried to sleep. Would the gang come? Would they set fire to the house?

No attack came that night. We’re very thankful that the Lord did spare them.

But it illustrates the type of situation where our physcial safety seems at the mercy of people.

We feel it when we’re walking home in the dark. “Will I be the next to be mugged?”

Terrorist acts, mass shootings and drivers taking out pedestrians bring this into our focus as real possibilities in a dangerous world.

Redemptive History Leading to Psalm 56

As we’re about to dig into David’s words in Psalm 56 it’s worth asking where we are in the biblical story up to this point.

Fear has come to the fore as a human experience following the Fall. Adam and Eve defied God’s good rule over their lives. Ever since we’re born into the world out of harmony with God, our Maker. We have this deep fear of exposure before him.

It can show itself in times when we’re anxious without reason or underlying low self-esteem. Without God taking away our shame we have this deep-seated fear that if people saw us as we really are they’d reject us.

There’s tension in our relationships with others. The world is now a dangerous place. It’s chaotic and unpredictable.

A controlling fear of man is really rooted in our trust in ourselves and other people. It’s a symptom of our heart turning away from God. (See Jeremiah 17:5-6.)

The good news is that God has been working to restore us to himself. He’s working to overcome our controlling fears. He’s working to restore our confidence in him instead of trusting ourselves and others. (See Jeremiah 17:7-8.)

God has chosen a people for himself. They are to be people who trust and fear him.

Fast forward some years and Saul is God’s first king over Israel. He starts well but turns his back on God. So God decides to replace him with David, a man after his own heart. This is the David featured in Psalm 56.

Fear & Faith Collide: Psalm 56

As we saw some weeks back in Psalm 34, David fled from his life to escape Saul.

Saul’s a Voldemort-type figure. Like many people in high power he’s terribly insecure. He fears threats to his power. He knows God has set David apart to replace him. So he’s out to destroy David.

So David’s a man who knows fear at the hands of what men can do to him.

And Psalm 56 shows us what happens when fear and faith collide. It focusses both on threat and trust, fear and faith.⁴

We get a unique window into how to address our fear of man in the present. And we’ll see David’s pattern of moving between protest and confidence. The attacks of others and God’s reliability are both realities we face.⁵

The heading of the Psalm tells us:

When the Philistines had seized him in Gath.

We don’t have an account of David being captured in Gath. Twice in 1 Samuel David is on the run from Saul and seeks safety in Gath. (See 1 Samuel 21:10-22:1 and 27:1-29:11). So it may have been on one of these occasions.⁶

It’s likely that this Psalm goes together with Psalm 34.⁷ Psalm 56 may well be an earlier experience. If so David’s thanks and praise is overflowing in Psalm 34 after being rescued by God again.⁸

1. Faith in God’s promise overcomes fear (verses 1-4)

The first unit of thought is verses 1-4 where we see Faith in God’s promise overcomes fear.

The psalm provides us with a template for how we might pray when we face a situation like David’s.⁹

Let’s re-read verses 1-2:

1 Be merciful to me, my God,
for my enemies are in hot pursuit;
all day long they press their attack.
2 My adversaries pursue me all day long;
in their pride many are attacking me.

David appeals to God’s mercy. Why?

Enemies are after him. They’re like hounds hot on his trail.

He’s brought it to God. He wants God to shorten their their chain, to pull tight on their leash, to stop them reaching him.¹⁰

This has been going on ‘all day long’. It’s going on and on. They’re not letting up their chase.¹¹

It’s the pressure of being squeezed like an orange.¹²

They’re closing in.¹³ They won’t rest until they swallow David up. Devouring him like a monster.¹⁴

But his prayer has reached the ears of his Father. God is a Father who acts quickly when his children are treated with contempt.¹⁵

We get a unique window into David’s relationship with God in verses 3-4. Notice the ‘I’, ‘you’ dynamic:

3 When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
4 In God, whose word I praise—
in God I trust and am not afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?

David’s well aware of his fear and makes the deliberate choice to trust in God in his threatening situation. He does it in spite of his emotional state.¹⁶

Fear is a natural rection to what he’s facing in v1-2.¹⁷ He acknowledges this as a real experience. He’s not Stoic, suppressing what he’s feeling.¹⁸

This is the balance between under-concern and over-concern. We can have both fear and faith at the same time. But he’s not controlled by fear.¹⁹

As we’ve seen through the series ‘threat-fear’ only sees God’s holiness and runs from him. If this is all we know then when we’re threatend by people—facing their rejection or physical harm—we won’t run to God.

But ‘worship-fear’—a confidence in God that sees both his holiness and his love—turns to him in trouble. Fear of man can drive us to him.²⁰

Notice the movement in v3-4: fear to trust (v3); trust to no fear (4b).

Look what’s sandwiched in between: ‘In God, whose words I praise’.

God’s word of promise is what makes all the difference to David. It may be a promise like we read in Psalm 55:22:²¹

Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.

Or it may be that David’s trust was in what God had said to him about being His chosen king of Israel.

Either way it is God’s promise that allows David to rest in Him.²² Such a promise brings into sharp focus who God is to David under such pressure.

David’s fear up to this point has been based on what people can do to him. “They chase after me, watch me, trample on me, fight and opporess me. But they can’t overpower my God and his promise. They’re only flesh.”²³

The proportions have shifted. He was shaking in his boots at his foes. His enemies can still do much harm but they can’t destroy him.²⁴

He’s gaining the kind of perspective he had when he faced Goliath. Saul and the rest of the army only saw their fearful foe. He was too big for them to handle. But David rightly saw that no man could stand against God and his plans.

Jesus spoke of a similar perspective in Luke 12:

4 I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. 5 But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.
Luke 12:4-5

The fear of man gets a grip on us. It tries to strangle our faith. We think of all the harm people can do to us. We’re paralysed. These people have the power to end my life. To destroy my reputation.

Jesus says, “Yes. Men may kill your body. But their power ends there. Instead fix your eyes on the One who can throw us into hell. Fear him.”

God’s power is ultimate. We’re talking about the One who parted the sea and then closed it over Phaoroh and his army. He is the One to fear.

There are a couple of things for us to take to heart at this point:
1. David’s modelled a balance between protest and trust. He needed to face both facts²⁵ and so do we.
2. As we realise we’re feeling fear it’s an opportunity for us to place our trust in God; to put fear back into it’s proper persepctive; to realise that no human being can challenge his rule or care for us. We speak to God in this ‘I’, ‘you’ way David does. We speak to ourselves: “What can mere mortals do to me?”

2. Faith in God’s promise overcomes fear and leads to confidence (v5-11)

We move onto the next section: Faith in God’s promise overcomes fear and leads to confidence (verses 5-11).

It’s really an expanded version of verses 1-4 which shows us David’s increasing confidence in God’s care for him in the face of threat. Here’s the structure:

• Verses 5-6 repeat David’s protest from verses 1-2.²⁶ It focus on the details of the pressure applied ot him which just isn’t letting up.²⁷
• Verses 7-8 expands plea from the start of verse 1 (‘Be merificul to me my God’).²⁸
• Verses 9 is a confidence that follows.²⁹
  • Verses 10-11 restates Verses 3-4³⁰—the chorus of this song with slight differences.

Let’s re-read verses 7-8:

7 Because of their wickedness do not let them escape;
in your anger, God, bring the nations down.
8 Record my misery;
list my tears on your scroll —
are they not in your record?

In verse 7 David’s asking God to carry off his enemies like a lion with prey.³¹

“In your anger, God bring down the peoples. Bring down those who oppose me. Bring down those who oppose You.”

It’s a plea for justice bigger than just those who fight David.

David’s pouring out his soul to God in verse 8. He’s expressing the misery of his situation. There’s both an affectionate trust in God as well as restlessness and pain.³²

‘List my tears on your scroll’ is literally put my tears in your wineskin. It’s the picture of our Father catching our flood of tears in his bottle. He stores them up as winemakers store juice of the vine.³³ He keeps our misery in mind.

After Jesus’ confronting words about fearing God over men he says:

6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. 7 Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Luke 12:6-7

This is God’s attention to detail for his children.³⁴ He counts up the detail of our suffering as we might take stock of our most precious items for an insurance policy. Every ‘trial of our faith is precious in his sight.’³⁵

One author suggests David’s pouring out his heart here is more than words. He’s probably physically shaking in his anguish.³⁶

Again he’s appealing to God’s compassion. “Lord, take action!”³⁷ God is his Protector.

In this way David is a model for us pouring out our pain. This is what it looks like to cry out to our Protector, the One who numbers the very hairs of our head.

It’s not Stoic, cold and unfeeling by supressing pain. It’s not preoccupied either (“woe is me”) but moves contructively to God appealing for him to act where we’re helpless.

This is what leads him to his confidence in verse 9:

9 Then my enemies will turn back
when I call for help.
By this I will know that God is for me.

David is confident of God’s action for him though he’s not yet rescued.He looks forward anticpiating his rescue.

God has enabled him to cry out to him in great pain. God has heard. He will act. The enemy will be turned back.³⁸

The picture is like a battle. David has engaged this new powerful weapon surpassing his enemy’s defences. Report of what’s coming turns them running! ³⁹

God is his Protector and Deliverer.

David’s fear of these men and what they might do has turned to confidence in God.⁴⁰ God is for him. The Maker of the world knows him and is for him.

We’ve seen that is faith in God’s promise that overcomes fear and leads to this confidence David has.

What’s God’s promise to us? What is it that we can rest in we our fear of man flairs up? When we’re fearing other’s disapproval or physical threat at their hands?

Can we have the same confidence for physical rescue? Could Hayley’s parents be guaranteed safety in the situation they faced?

While they can speak of the Lord’s mercy in sparing their lives now they had no such promise to rely on for physical safety. That’s why it was a restless night!

But they did have the promise of safety and approval that really matters. The same promise that is for you and I if we trust in Jesus.

I want us to zero on where Paul echoes David’s thoughts in Romans 8:31:

If God is for us, who can be against us?

We don’t have a promise for physcial safety but we do have the same assurance David had. God is for us when we’re under threat.

What does this mean for God to be for us?

Paul has just explained that God works all situations for the good of his people (Romans 8:28).

How? He uses everything to form the character of Jesus in us (Romans 8:29).

How can we be sure? God has secured the outcome beforehand. He chose to adopt us into his family before he made the world. Then in history he calls us to himself. He puts us back in good standing with him. Then he finishes his work clothing us in splendour of his restored world beyond the grave (Romans 8:30).

It’s as certain as if it’s already happened.

It’s that picture of being married to Jesus we discussed some week’s back (Romans 8:1-4). He’s exchanged our shame and sin for his approval in God’s sight. Now we’re safe before God.

‘In Christ’ we share his innocent status. We have God’s full stamp of approval. We have eternal security. We have the safety and approval that really matters.

The Bible shows us human enemies are part and parcel of life. David, God’s chosen king wasn’t spared enemies and neither was Jesus.

There’s no doubt about it. We’ll face people who don’t like us. We’ll face people who will mistreat and wrong us. We’ll face people who’s twist our words and use them against us. We may face those who threaten our physical safety.

God hasn’t promised that they won’t be able to harm us. But he does show us here he is our protective Father who records our misery and tears. He acts in our interests when we cry for help. He is greater than people.

Jesus has our back in the big picture:

28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.
John 10:28-29

God is on our side. He will deliver us: possibly now, but definitely then.

He’s acted for our good in joining us to Jesus such that we’ll never be the same again. No man can snatch us from the hand of Jesus. God gives us the safety and approval that really matters.

We’ve come to David’s chorus in verses 10-11:

10 In God, whose word I praise,
in the LORD, whose word I praise—
11 in God I trust and am not afraid.
What can man do to me?

These are nearly the same as verses 3-4. The variations he uses serve to underline his confidence in God.⁴¹

On the screen you can see what’s the same and what’s different:

3 When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
4 In God, whose word I praise—
in God I trust and am not afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?

10 In God, whose word I praise,
in the LORD, whose word I praise—
11 in God I trust and am not afraid.
What can man do to me?

Second time round he starts with God’s word, his promise, what David trusts in.

He uses God’s personal name Yahweh (LORD). This highlights God as the faithful one who keeps his promises to his people.

He starts with trust this time and not fear. Trust means he’s not afraid.

Much of what the Philistines may threaten they can’t do. God restrains them. The possibility of what God might will not cripple David in fear.⁴²

In David we have an imperfect model of facing the fear of man. But in Jesus we have a perfect model.

Jesus faced a barrage of human opposition. He was fiercely opposed (e.g. Luke 11:53-54). People tried to catch him out and twist his words against them. He stood resolute.

As He faced the reality of death at the hands of men He prayed, ‘Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done’ (Luke 22:42). He felt anguish, prayed more earnestly and sweat drops of blood (Luke 22:44). He entrusted his spirit to His Father as His body breathed his last (Luke 23:46). He died at an excruciating and shameful death at the hands of men.

In doing so he defeated sin’s power of us. Fear of man no longer needs to control us.

Jesus’ resurrection shows us what’s unclear in Psalm 56. It gives us the new life of Jesus’ Spirit who renews us from the inside. And Jesus has secured our eternal safety. His Spirit will raise us too.

Faith in God’s promise overcomes fear and leads to praise (verses 12-13)

We now turn to the final verses of Psalm 56: Faith in God’s promise overcomes fear and leads to praise (verses 12-13).

Let’s read them together:

12 I am under vows to you, my God;
I will present my thank offerings to you.
13 For you have delivered me from death
and my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before God
in the light of life.

It closes with David’s confidence and commitment.⁴³

He’s already offering to mark his rescue by God as if it’s already happened.⁴⁴ Verse 12 is waiting for the the fulfilment of what God has promised. Verse 13 is looking back on as if he’s already rescued.⁴⁵

David’s thanks and praise here is a model for the great rescue we’ve already received in Jesus. Like David we look forward with eyes of faith anticipating the final stage of rescue beyond death. But we know we have much to celebrate now.

David knew God’s sparing of his life meant walking before God as one of God’s people. It meant enjoy God’s light shining on him and giving him fullness of life.⁴⁶

God is our light of life!

Imagery of light and darkness is throughout the Bible. To be in the dark is to stumble around in ingorance. God’s word sheds light of our path so we can see clearly (Psalm 119:105). We walk in the light as he is in the light (1 John 1:7). We walk in brightness of life in him. We walk in God’s process of changing our character, of making us holy. Growing up in him.

While we’re not sure we’ll be rescued from every instance of disapproval or threat we’re guarenteed that such experience will serve God’s purpose of changing us.

We’ve journeyed with David from ‘the ravenous jaws of the enemy into the light of God’s presence.’ We can only walk this path by faith in God’s promises.⁴⁷

David has modelled what this looks like for us:

• It’s having the humility to go to God for help.
• It’s knowing he provides the help we really need when fear threatens to take control.
• It’s turning to God’s promises to us as the basis to move from fear of people to trust in Him.⁴⁸
• And it’s walking in gratitude.

So What?

So what are we do with this Psalm? How are we to respond to the way God has addressed our fear of man?

1. Fear of Man as Opportunity

Sometimes when our failures are exposed we can think, “Man, I’m so messed up.” We feel undone rather than being aware of how God meets us in our brokeness. So we feel overwhelmed.

I want to suggest that seeing fear of man in your heart is not cause for despair.

This Psalm shows us that sometimes fear is necessary to form faith. Fear can be God’s trigger to turn us to turn toward Him so we’re not controlled by it.⁴⁹ Fear can lead us to hope. A hope we wouldn’t have if we just experienced peace and ease.⁵⁰

So let me encourage you. Places where you’ve seen your own fear of man—whether fear of disapproval or safety—start to think opportunity.

If you’ve never trusted the safety and approval that really matters in Christ it just may be that God is bringing you to the end of yourself.

If you already trust Jesus then this fear may be an opportunity for God to drive home his provision of safety and approval at a deeper level than what you’ve known before.

It’s an opportunity to reach the kind of confidence in God that David knew.

2. Scrapbook Images

As we think of our scrapbook images how is it that God meets us as we pinpoint our fear of man?

He met’s us as:

1. Ultimate Ruler: His power extends over any human threat.
2. Protective Father: He stores our tears in his bottle; numbers each hair on our head; He gives us the safety and approval that really matters.
3. Light of Life: His light shines on us, He gives us fullness of life as we grow up in Him.

Prayer

Let’s pray:

Heavenly Father,

Your rule extends far beyond what fellow people can do. You are far bigger than any human threat. May You grow us in our fear of You.

You know the points where each of us has been controlled by the fear of man whether we’ve been overly self-conscious, feared disapproval of significant others or feared for our physicial life. We plead for Your grace to forgive us in Jesus.

By Your Spirit enable us to handle threats facing their reality and our emotional responses while also moving forward in confident trust in You. You are the Ultimate Ruler. You are our Protective Father. You are our Light of Life. Be those to us when we’re prone to over-concern, to crippling fear.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.