When you love and trust God with all your heart, you become fearless.
Psalm 91:5–6 (ESV)
“You will not fear the terror of the night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.”
Here is one of the sweetest promises in Psalm 91, in fact in all of Scripture. “You will not fear…”
Fear is torment. Ask someone who has had panic attacks. Fear is slavery, for we will do, avoid, or pay almost anything to escape what we fear. Fear locks up people alone, in a cold sweat, in their homes.
Fear, baseless fear, drove King Saul insane. He feared the most loyal man in his kingdom: David. Saul feared he would lose his throne to David, and so he descended into an expensive, paranoid, demon-intensified determination to kill him that lasted for years. Saul was the King, but he was a slave—to fear.
Fear of anything can drive you insane.
Fearless in four ways
If you live in the truths of Psalm 91:1–4, “you will not fear.”
Psalm 91:5–6 lists four categories of things we will not fear.
- “The terror of the night”: This is out-of-control fear, middle-of-the-night panic attacks. Fear is worst in the middle of the night. Singer Frank Sinatra said, “Basically, I’m for anything that gets you through the night—be it prayer, tranquilizers or a bottle of Jack Daniels.”
You don’t need drugs or whiskey to get you through the night; you need the conviction that God is the Most High, the Almighty, your fortress and refuge, your God in whom you trust.
- “The arrow that flies by day”: This is violence. This is the fear of people with guns, knives, explosives, nuclear weapons and the like. Here in Chicago people fear bullets and those who shoot them. Every week the news media report how many dozens of people were shot and killed over the weekend. I know people who have an app on their phone that shows where crimes have recently happened in the neighborhoods around them, and they check those apps regularly. But if a person believes that God’s faithfulness is a shield and buckler, he will not fear the arrow—or bullet—that flies by day.
- “The pestilence that stalks in darkness”: This is killer disease. This is the fear of coronavirus, or any of a hundred other diseases or cancers that could snuff out your candle or mangle your life. How do newspapers, magazines, and TV shows get readers and viewers? They write headlines that tell us there is some disease to fear, and they are sure to have an audience. We live in a fear-driven society of people seeking safety, and most people are looking in the wrong place. If you believe God will deliver you from the deadly pestilence, you will take reasonable precautions but you will not fear.
- “The destruction that wastes at noonday”: This is calamity and disaster, such as fire, earthquakes, floods, tornados. When God sent a flood big enough to wipe out all life on earth, he was able to preserve Noah and his family on the ark. No matter what the destructive force or its cause, when you truly believe your God is almighty and Most High, you will not fear even calamities as big as a hurricane.
The four fears in this verse are all extreme. Which means that dwelling in the shelter of the Most High dispels not just things you fear, but things that terrify. Faith in Almighty God can handle the worst.
Nothing is too big or small, from hurricanes to viruses, for our God to handle. You can get complete victory over fear. The secret is knowing and believing in God as he is described in Psalm 91.
Misplaced faith
Fear is the symptom of misplaced faith. Fear is strong faith in what can harm you, and little faith in God. The way to overcome fear is to reverse your faith and put it in God and his Word.
Correct knowledge of God vanquishes fear. If you are full of fear, it reveals that you do not know God as he is or fully believe God is who he says he is in Scripture. The key to fearless living is to believe the truths in Psalm 91:1–2. If you have fears, you need to memorize and meditate on verses 1 and 2 until you believe them without wavering. You need to read the Bible until all fear is gone. Whenever fear returns, read the Bible more. It sounds simplistic, but it is true.
Fear and focus
Psalm 91 conveys another way that knowing God rightly dispels fear. Fear becomes a problem when we are overly self-focused and deficiently God-focused. When my life is all about me, I will struggle with fear. When my life is all about God and his glory, I will not.
Psalm 91 describes a relationship with God that is the focus of your life: Dwelling in his shelter (Psalm 91:1), abiding in his shadow (Psalm 91:1), trusting in him (Psalm 91:2), holding fast to him in love (Psalm 91:14), knowing his name (Psalm 91:14), calling on him (Psalm 91:15).
Thus when you dedicate your life to obeying the first commandment of Jesus, to loving the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30) , you will have far less fears as an indirect result. The goal of your life becomes glorifying and knowing God rather than protecting yourself. Of course we want to have protection; we should have that natural desire, for God gives it to us for our welfare. But when you love God preeminently, self is no longer your obsession.
Adam and Eve had no fears prior to eating the forbidden fruit. The first thing that happened after they disobeyed God was they experienced fear. When God came to the garden for fellowship with Adam and Eve as usual, he called out for Adam, “Where are you?” Adam replied, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself” (Genesis 3:10).
Sin always leads to fear. Not just the grosser sins that come to mind when we think of sin, but the socially acceptable sins like self-centeredness and pride and the failure to worship and thank God in all things and for all things.
Love and courage
On the other hand, holiness brings health. A right relationship with God brings peace.
It was because David passionately loved God that he unhesitatingly stepped forward to fight Goliath.
It was because Mary Magdalene passionately loved Jesus that she courageously went to Golgotha when Jesus was crucified, and to his tomb on Sunday morning to embalm his body.
It was because the apostle Paul passionately loved Jesus that he courageously traveled from place to place boldly preaching the gospel even though he knew persecution awaited him wherever he went.
It was because the prophet Deborah knew and loved the God of Israel that she courageously accompanied Barak to Mount Tabor to battle the hordes of the Canaanites.
Live in God’s tent always (Psalm 91:1), and you will not fear.
Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)