Fear...

A woman in Arkansas was sitting in her car in a parking lot last year when she heard a loud bang and then felt a sharp pain in the back of her head. She was holding her hands behind her head when someone walked by and asked, "Are you OK?" The woman answered, "I’ve been shot in the head, and I’m holding my brains in." Well, it wasn’t her brains. It was dough. A Pillsbury biscuit canister had exploded in the back seat, apparently from the heat, making a loud explosion and shooting the dough into the back of the woman’s head.Sometimes our fears are like that ladies. They are unfounded and irrational but more often our fears are based on rational and well-founded reasons.

Today we will lok at Psalm 27 which deals with the subject of fear and how a focus on God can give as victory over all of our fears weather rational or irrational.

Life can be risky and it is therefore filled with opportunities or reasons to fear or have anxiety. When I use the word fear tonight I mean all levels of fear from general apprehension and worry to dread and terror. Fear starts out when we are very young with fears of things like darkness, monsters, etc. and it continues into our teenage years with fears of things like rejection, humiliation and failure. Adulthood is also filled with possible fears such as fear of disease, death, financial problems, broken relationships, loved ones being hurt, storms, failure, aging, crime, etc. I personally know what it is like to be filled with anxiety.

I began a few years year ago to have some strange symptoms which according to the medical literature and the doctors I was seeing was most likely that was either multiple sclerosis or Lou Gehrig’s disease. Neither one of these options is a very good one and Satan certainly tried to instill fear into my life at this time. I became very apprehensive and concerned about things such as my family, the church, even the opinions of others and how they would view this disease. My anxiety made it difficult to sleep at night, to think straight during the day, and to worship. It was only when I took my mind off of the problems and future I faced and put my focus on the Lord who is my God that my fears disappeared.

We are anxiety-laden society as the sales of many books on dealing anxiety and the sales of calming drugs indicate. Fear is very unpleasant and it is very harmful physically, mentally, and even spiritually for as the Bible tells us in Matthew 13:22, fear or anxiety chokes out the word of God. Fear can be very displeasing and dishonoring God if we do not respond to it with faith in him. As the Bible says we will have anxieties but we are to "cast all of our anxieties on him." We all want solutions to the fear problem. We all want answers to anxiety. We are looking for something to relieve us from our fears, something to reassure us. We’re looking for some source of security that will instill a perfect confidence and peace within our hearts

Some people look for that security in their bank account. Some seek that reassurance in a relationship. Others placed their trust in the government, latest drug, etc. None of these are real solutions because none of them offer total security or absolute reassurance. No amount of money, success, or any position in life can truly give you peace in every situation. So the question becomes, "How can we have victory over fear?" That answer to this important question is given in Psalm 27 which says in effect "Focus on God and your fears will disappear!"

This is the consistent message of the Bible regarding fear. For example when Peter Walked on the water Peter’s fear got the victory only when he lost his focus on Jesus. In Isaiah 26: 3 God has said "I will keep in perfect peace all who trust in me, who thoughts are fixed on me!" We also see the same idea and Philippians 4: 6-7 which says "do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. Then the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."There will be times when anxiety and fear will come into our lives it is then that we have a choice to make - we can choose to focus on the problem and be overcome with fear or we can choose to focus on God and are fear will disappea