When I Am Afraid
Isaiah 26:3 · Acts 16:25 (NIV)
David knew what it was to be afraid. Psalm 56 holds that fear beside his trust in GOD.
He was running from King Saul. He fled to Gath, a Philistine city, the city Goliath came from. He carried Goliath's own sword (1 Samuel 21:9). The king's servants recognized him. "David took these words to heart and was very much afraid" (1 Samuel 21:12). So he pretended to be insane. He made marks on the doors of the gate and let saliva run down his beard.
Psalm 56’s heading connects it to that danger: "When the Philistines had seized him in Gath." The heading gives us the setting, not the moment he wrote it. Its center is honest. "When I am afraid, I put my trust in you" (Psalm 56:3).
David names the fear first. Then he trusts. The two stand side by side in one sentence. A verse later he declares, "in God I trust and am not afraid" (Psalm 56:4). Trust gives him somewhere to stand. It does not require us to pretend the fear was never there.
Then comes one of the tenderest lines in Scripture. "Record my misery; list my tears on your scroll" (Psalm 56:8). GOD counts every one. HE wastes none.
Psalm 57’s heading connects it to David hiding from Saul in a cave. "I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed" (Psalm 57:1). The danger is real. David seeks GOD’s shelter in the middle of it.
First Samuel tells us that David escaped from Gath to the cave of Adullam. "All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him" (1 Samuel 22:2). About four hundred men joined him. His own trouble did not leave him alone in the world.
Against that background of danger, Psalm 57 turns toward song. "My heart, O God, is steadfast... Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn" (Psalm 57:7-8). The song looks toward morning before the darkness is gone.
A thousand years later the same pattern shows up again. Paul and Silas were beaten and locked in stocks in a jail in the city of Philippi. "About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them" (Acts 16:25).
Years later Paul wrote back to that same city. He was in chains again (Philippians 1:13). "The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:5-7).
Guard is a soldier's word. It pictures a garrison posted at the gate. Paul knew fear from the inside. He pointed the Philippians to the One standing watch.
Isaiah says it in a song. "You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you" (Isaiah 26:3). A mind at peace rests its weight on GOD.
Paul’s witness also belonged to a wider fellowship. Irenaeus, the second-century bishop of Lyon, emphasized this in Against Heresies III.13.1. Drawing on Galatians 2:8, he argued that the same GOD worked through Peter and Paul. Peter, who once denied JESUS, and Paul, who sang in chains, served one Lord. Their different stories belonged to the same good news.
A story reported this week fits beside these songs. On October 7, MIT News reported that Margaret Hamilton had died on September 30 at age 90. She led the MIT team that developed onboard flight software for the Apollo program. As Apollo 11 approached the moon’s surface, the computer raised an overload alarm. The software’s priority system let it set aside less urgent tasks and continue the work needed for landing. Mission control gave the go-ahead.
Fear can sound like that alarm. Faith is not a program for switching fear off. But the story leaves me asking what deserves our attention when everything demands it at once. In the systems we build and the families we serve, the person who needs care must stay in view. David turns toward the One he trusts.
On this Friday morning, Hurricane Isaias is approaching the northern Gulf Coast. The National Hurricane Center has warned of a dangerous hurricane, and The Pour Over’s October 9 news brief offered this prayer: "Shelter them as they brace for the worst, O God Our Refuge." Psalm 57 gives us words to pray alongside them. Under HIS wings, until the disaster has passed.
It does leave me thinking about how often my own prayers have started with a shaking voice.
GOD has never asked us to hide the shaking. HE counts the tears. HIS peace stands guard. And the song can start before the dawn does.
I am not here to prove myself. I am here to make HIM visible.
🙏 To the one who is afraid this morning, you can name the fear and trust HIM in the same breath. David did.
🙏 To the one whose tears no one else has seen, GOD has counted every one.
🙏 To the families in the path of the storm, may HE be your shelter until the disaster has passed.
🙏 To the one singing in a dark place, HE hears the song before the dawn comes.
Grace and Peace.
Sources: MIT News, October 7, 2026; National Hurricane Center advisory, October 8; The Pour Over, October 9; Psalms 56–57, NIV; 1 Samuel 21–22, NIV; Isaiah 26:3, NIV; Acts 16 and Philippians 4, NIV; Galatians 2:8, NIV; Irenaeus, Against Heresies III.13. Scripture quotations: New International Version (NIV).