When You Are Afraid, Pray

Scripture Passage

^{Psalm 27:1, 4-9}

¹ The Lord is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?

⁴ One thing I ask from the Lord,
this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
and to seek him in his temple.

⁵ For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent
and set me high upon a rock.

⁶ Then my head will be exalted
above the enemies who surround me;
at his sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make music to the Lord.

⁷ Hear my voice when I call, Lord;
be merciful to me and answer me.
⁸ My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”
Your face, Lord, I will seek.
⁹ Do not hide your face from me,
do not turn your servant away in anger;
you have been my helper.
Do not reject me or forsake me,
God my Savior.

 

Sermon Script

There are 150 psalms in the Book of Psalms. 73 of those psalms are written by David. He also wrote the one we just read.

David was many things. He was the greatest king of Israel. He was a brilliant military commander. He was also a gifted harp player and poet.

But most importantly, he was a man after God’s own heart. This was how Samuel described David to King Saul:

But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command. (1 Samuel 13:14)

David loved God and lived for God. He trusted God with all his heart.

He found his confidence not in his status or power, but in God. He confessed at the start of today’s psalm in this way:

The Lord is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid? (Psalm 27:1)

You hear his confidence in what he says. It sounds like there is nothing that can shake him.

But even a man like David was deeply afraid at times. Just like us. He felt scared, uncertain, and helpless to do anything. We see it in Psalm 27.

In the first half of the psalm, we see David’s unwavering trust in God. That’s from verses 1 to 6. Then suddenly from verse 7, the overall tone of the psalm changes.

We see David crying out to God, seemingly out of desperation—

Hear my voice when I call, Lord;
be merciful to me and answer me.
My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”
Your face, Lord, I will seek.
Do not hide your face from me,
do not turn your servant away in anger;
you have been my helper.
Do not reject me or forsake me,
God my Saviour. (Psalm 27:7-9)

How can someone who trusts so firmly in God be so fearful? Shouldn’t they be strong and firm, no matter what? It might be hard for us to see the two together.

Even though it may not make logical sense, that is what our faith journey is really like. We may love and trust God, but we will still get scared.

Our eyes may turn to our circumstances rather than God. Even if it is for only a moment. We will get rattled and feel vulnerable. That is where all our fear springs from.

That was David’s experience. The moment he noticed the presence of his enemies surrounding him, he became afraid.

Yet even when he was afraid, David did not cave into his fear. He did not give into it completely.

What did he do instead? He PRAYED.

Isn’t that what verses 7 to 9 are about? David crying out to God is David’s prayer.

He was totally honest and transparent before God. He brought to God what was on his heart, just as it is. He prayed because he listened to his heart!

My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”
Your face, Lord, I will seek. (Psalm 27:8)

In that sense, David never lost his trust in God. Even though he was distracted and shaken up by his fear, he set his eyes again on God.

When David was afraid, he prayed. His prayer became an expression of his confidence in God.

That is what spiritual confidence looks like.

Confidence is not necessarily what I ‘feel’ inside. That kind of feeling always comes and goes. It is also dependent on how well or badly we do something.

Real, genuine confidence shows itself, even when we are afraid. It shows up in how we live and relate to God.

The fact that we pray shows that we trust in God’s goodness and mercy to carry us through what we cannot handle ourselves. Our faith reveals itself more in our actions than our words.

Being afraid is not abnormal. Being afraid is what it means to be human.

People are afraid of doing poorly in school; Afraid of being judged by others; Afraid of being rejected and abandoned; Afraid of being sick and ill.

It is what we experience even multiple times in a single day. In fact, I would say not being afraid of anything is abnormal.

No matter how old you get, fear will always be a part of your life. So do not be afraid to be afraid.

But whenever you are afraid, pray. Don’t try to handle it all on your own.

Go to God. Seek his face. Pour out whatever is on your heart. Even if your fear seems irrational, give it to God.

Too often we are worried about our image before God. We want to look good and presentable to God. So our prayers can also become polished and nice-sounding. We can easily hide behind our words.

Our prayers need to be raw and honest.

Look at David’s prayers. He does not sugarcoat things. He does not worry about whether what he says makes sense or not.

God can handle anything. God sees what is in our hearts, not what’s on the outside.

In another psalm, David wrote these words:

You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me. (Psalm 139:1)

So when you are afraid, learn to pray as you are. The things that rattled you will lose their power over you. God will strengthen you with his peace.

Through prayer, you will find your footing in God. You will find your inner balance.

This was what David said right after he asked God not to reject him or forsake him:

Though my father and mother forsake me,
the Lord will receive me. (Psalm 27:10)

That kind of boldness does not come from our willpower. It can only come through prayer.

Prayer makes our hope in God real. Even when you are afraid, you can be bold in the Spirit.

And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:5)