Unquestionably, this is the second verse of Scripture my children memorized (right after John 3:16). I doubt they could give you chapter and verse, but the words will pour out with the push of a fear button. They heard it often enough from their mother, as she put them to bed, and prayed "happy" over them through the night-watches.
At different times, all three kids struggled with night-time fears, bad dreams, unreasonable problems with no solutions. They got this from their mom.
After all, who was the one that had trouble sleeping, because of the certainty that some mama spider had woven a nest filled with spider eggs under her bed, and in the darkness of night, those babies would hatch, and millions of tiny spider-babies would come creepy-crawling into her bed?
This girl!!!
I knew about night-time fears.
baby spiders being born - the fear is real, people!
I also knew about day-time fears, too.
I was also the girl who went home sick from school more often than I stayed in school, because of very real tummy issues...all because I just knew that my parents would die from some unexplainable cause while I was away during the day.
As if being at home would prevent their death?
Seriously?!!
🙅
That also came from night-time dreams that reoccurred over and over with me waking up to find that everyone in my world had died, except for me, and I was left all alone...generally, it had to do with a nuclear attack (too many "shorts" on World War 2 at my dad's local theater).
So, when I discovered Psalm 56:3, it became for me a teaspoon of medicine to take that would solve all the fear-issues of my life.
If I quoted it enough to myself and my kiddos, we'd all be cured of our fear.
Psalm 56:3 was the solution to fear.
In the times I was most fearful, I just had to trust the Lord, and if I trusted Him enough, the fear would go away...for good...forever...and I would live #bebrave.
This isn't a profound thought this week...
It's just that when I turned in the Scriptures to the next verse on my "fear list" of passages to read, I read it this time completely differently.
I read it with new eyes.
Psalm 56:3 isn't an answer to the fear-problems of my life.
Not a pill to swallow.
Psalm 56:3 isn't a solution.
It is, however, an OPPORTUNITY.
It is (very much) a GIFT.
God has gift wrapped a package that He wants me to receive with joy: an opportunity to go deeper with my Heavenly Father.
The greatest gift He can give me is deeper faith.
Fears that pop up in my life are blessings, if I am able to reconcile myself to them. They allow me to cling to my Lord a little tighter, to seek His word a little more fervently, to be still and to watch as God does His Best Work on my behalf.
And, this is one reason, fear will never be eliminated entirely.
The Lord doesn't want me to become self-reliant.
Instead, He lets those fears beckon me to come closer - to draw near - to sit in His Presence - to let His words wash over me - and in the place of the current fear, to give comfort, contentment, and courage.
Psalm 56:3 isn't a remedy; it is an invitation.
An invitation to "be still and watch" what God can do in me, for me, and all around me.
Fear is an invitation to #bebrave, while being held in His lap.
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