Have you ever had a moment where a thought you’ve had, or something you’ve heard or read stops you in your tracks for a moment and makes you think?  This happened to me about a week ago while reading my Bible.  I was reading in Psalm 34 and came across verse 4, “I sought the Lord and he answered me, he delivered me from all my fears.”  Here’s where my mind went…

First of all, it dawned on me that the verse never said that David was delivered from his circumstances, it said he was delivered from his fear!  Too often we have this wrong notion that to be delivered from our fear we must be plucked out of the situation we are in and placed somewhere that is safe.  That’s not what God did for David.  He left him exactly where he was, with all the very really circumstances around him, but delivered him from his fear.

Confession time; I’ve struggled my entire life with a fear of failure. I know it comes out differently in different people. Most psychologist can see right through bullying or cockiness to see the insecurity that drives it.  It’s a fear of not living up to expectations. It’s a fear of not being good at something.  It’s a fear of not being pretty enough, or athletic enough, or smart enough.  All of this is a perception of how other perceive you.  A perception of a perception.  Just like copying a copy, the quality always diminishes.  So as you continue to perceive how others are perceiving you, we naturally fear that it’s worse than it is. It’s not just a cycle, it’s a spiral downward.

How does it stop? Just like David, seek the Lord. When He answers, His answer is truth not perception, therefore the spiral stops. He reminds us not about who we want to be or who we think others want us to be, but WHO WE ARE.

When we are reminded of that, fear dissipates. Not because the situation changes, but because we can be confident in who we are: Child of God, made in His image, over-comer, witness, more than a conqueror.