Dealing with the fear of Man part 2.

Dear fellow countrymen. The Bible Book of Psalms is a very interesting Book indeed. It was written by David, a King of the nation of Israel, a God chosen people. He was a man of God and a man or war and a man of valor.He wrote psalms, he sang or had his musicians sing psalms and indeed found comfort in the psalms. DEFINITION: A psalm is a sacred song or poem, a hymn. A psalm is a collection of very intense thoughts that come out of the heart as a man Like David meditates on God and His word. Psalms constitute deep thougths of the heart as a man is faced with important and intriguing issues of this life. David wrote his psalms when he was surrounded by differing circumstances and situations in his life. He may have wrote some as a young shepherd, others as a young adult destined to be king. Most of them he obviously wrote when he became a King. Psalm 56:3,4 "What time I am afraid, I will have confidence in and put my trust and reliance in You. By [the help of] God I will praise His word; on God I lean, rely and confidently put my trust; I will not fear. What can man, who is flesh do to me?" Right now as I write, Zimbabweans in Johannesburg, South Africa are under heavy xenophobic attack. Some have been beaten to death, severely injured, displaced and robbed of their property.Now the above scripture surely gives hope to them and all of us who may be far from what is happening yet afraid and terrified. Whatever time, whatever moment you come into fear- whenever you are gripped by fear and you realise that you are in a state of fear, do not dwell on what is the source of that fear. For instance we are here dealing with fear of man. So whenever you are afraid of man, do not dwell on what they may do to you. Do not dwell on what they are doing to you or what they have done to you that causes you to be so afraid of them. Instead dwell on God, purpose it in your heart to look to Him, to look at the Throne of Grace. When you look, dwell on what you see concerning the man or the situation that may have caused you such fear. 1.You see David, when he was faced with Goliath, with King Saul, with all the men he fought against, he did not dwell on their might or what they were capable of doing to him. He chose to look to Heaven and when he did, he saw God's pinions and wings spread over him; he saw the armies of heaven ready to march in battle to his defence; he saw the right hand of righteousness and victory of God upon his life; he saw God as the one who is greater in him than the one who is in the world; he saw and found grace and mercy, he found strength; he received hope beyond comprehension. and when he did, he put his trust and confidence in God. He relied not in his weapons of war but rather relied on God, with the understanding that the battle was not his but that the battle belongs to the Lord. 2.David heared and knew the Word of God. He understood that the Word of God is true; that it contains promises made by God and that the One who has promised is faithful to fulfill those same promises because He is wathcing over His Word to perform it and has said that His Word which he has sent down will not return to Him void without achieving what He has sent it to; In this understanding, David praised the Word of God. He then went to do something that is profound and very important - He spoke the Word. He spoke what was different to the man he was faced with, he spoke what was different to the circumstances of life and the situations that had brought him fear. He defeated his enemies by the word of his testimony that came out of his meditations on the Word and on God. He declared his confident trust and reliance on God. He drove out the fear in him, and thereby was filled with faith and hope and courage. 3.In that same moment of declaration, David reduced his enemies to nothing by boldly saying, "what can man, who is flesh, do to me?" Surely what can man do to you if the armies of heaven are beside you. If God is for us surely who can be against us. Oh what a profound statement. What an encouraging word. 4.In these words I encourage you my fellow countrymen to behold the greatness of God, to come to the full knowledge of who God is and realise what provision He has made for us in His Word and His Son Jesus Christ.I challenge you to put in your heart the above scripture and speak with faith Psalm 56:3,4. I desire that you fill up your heart with the Word of God because the mouth speaks from the abundance of the heart. May God grant us peace, joy and comfort in our hearts through the Holy Spirit.