Overcoming
Our Fear
Keith
McFarren
February
1, 2026
Psalm
27:1, 4-9
    One of the most pressing problems in our
society is depression.  Depression
affects 3.5% of the world’s population or nearly 300 million people.  It affects a person’s thoughts, behavior,
feelings, and overall sense of wellbeing.
Maybe some of you suffer from depression and can explain it much better
than I can.
    The prophet Isaiah ministered to the
nation of Israel, a nation gripped by depression, a nation filled with
hopelessness, simply because of their circumstances.  Gloom, anguish and contempt were the order of
the day.  A feeling of hopelessness seemed
to be the daily bread of the people of Israel who bore the brunt of the
Assyrian invasion of 733 BC.  These were
the people who came to be known as “the people who walked in darkness.”  
    These weren’t people who were walking
around in nighttime darkness because of the lack of sunlight…these were people
who were depressed, people living in a land of deep darkness…people living in
fear, people who had lost a sense of reality; people who had lost all sense of hope
for today and for tomorrow and for the future.
    Isaiah, in the 9th chapter,
describes a communal defeat and a feeling of despair; the type experience most
of us have never known.  
    Events such as famine, genocide, plague,
civil wars and even holocausts are all happenings so great and so tragic that
they leave those who experience it in a state of shock.
    These were the conditions the oppressed people
of Israel were living in while in exile following Syria’s invasion.  They were living in a state of constant fear,
in a state of numbness, like programed robots, they walked…but they had nowhere
to go.  They were living…but for what
purpose?  Anyone who has suffered from
depression or anyone who has lived in a constant state of fear knows the weight
of the darkness that rested on Israel’s shoulders.
    The psalmist in our scripture reading
knows all about trouble as well.  If the
writer is David, like many believe it is, then he knows all about trouble.  He was betrayed by his closest friends and
persecuted by his enemies.  He harbored
guilt and remorse deep within him after his affair with Bathsheba and having
her husband, Uriah, murdered.  He had a
child die as a consequence of his sinful nature.  And, like many of us he had family problems
and eventually suffered from illness and old age.
    David
was both loved and hated.  He was at
times filled with the love of God and at times seemingly abandoned by God
because of his arrogance and self-conceit and sinful nature.
    That’s what is so good about having
David’s life included in the bible because it gives us as Christians, a good
look at not only how hard life can be but it also teaches us how we should
respond to the problems we’re faced with.
    Jon Bloom, in an article called Desperate
is Normal writes that, “The normal Christian life is embattled.  It’s full of strange and difficult conflicts
with sin and weakness within, and strange and difficult conflicts subjected to
futility and frail brokenness.  
    These experiences typically feel anything
but normal.  Battles with our sin, our
frailty, other people, demons, and a broken world infected with evil can, at
times, feel surreal, making us feel desperate.
They trigger emotions connected to our practical fears, past hurts,
sinful pride, griefs, and hopes that are distracting and sometimes debilitating”
(Jon Bloom, Desperate is Normal, desiringgod.org, November 7, 2017).
    David knew what it was to live in fear and
to want to hide from the world around him.
Yet, he never seemed to worry about what was going to happen to
him.  He never worried because he didn’t
live by the ways of the world.  Oh, he
lived in the world and he embraced the world he lived in but he didn’t live by
the ways of the world.  
    David’s glory was that whenever he found
himself in trouble, he turned to repentance and humility.  When David felt the pressure of the world
around him, it was then that he sought redemption from the one and only source
that could calm his fears.  
     You
see, David lived life differently.  He
lived life with a high degree of confidence…a confidence brought upon him by
his trust in God, the bearer of the light, the light of faith, the light of
hope, the light of confidence and transformation.
    Fear is a dark shadow that envelops us and
ultimately imprisons us within ourselves.
We’ve all been a prisoner of fear within ourselves at some time or
another…fear of rejection, misunderstanding, uncertainty, sickness and even of
death.
    But David knew, and we should know, that
we can conquer fear by trusting in God, who brings about our salvation.  Isn’t that what we’ve heard throughout the
Bible…do not fear…do not be afraid.  The
angels said it every time they showed up.
God proclaimed it.  Jesus lived
it.  And Paul preached it.
    We talked last week about the Apostle John
being known as the Apostle of love.  That’s
because throughout his gospel he presents God as love…perfect love.  A perfect love that can be seen not only in
Jesus’ grace, but through his forgiveness and through his death.  
    Perfect love, the love that comes to us
through Jesus, is a love that causes us to cast out all our fear. Which means
then, that there is no room for fear in our lives when we are filled with the
love of God.
    Seek shelter in the tent of the Lord.  That’s what the psalmist is telling us.  That’s how we handle our fear.  Hide in God and be lifted up over and above
our fears.  Hide in God and we’ll find
ourselves solidly perched upon a rock surrounded with a good solid foundation.  
    And then worship God.  Worship God with shouts of joy and begin
making sacrifices.  Not sacrifices like
they did in the old days with animals and blood and all that.  That all ended when Jesus shed his blood and
sacrificed himself for you and me.
    Instead, sacrifice your pride.  Sacrifice your arrogance.  Get rid of your hatefulness.  Sacrifice your “me first” attitude and get
down off your holier – than – thou pedestal and offer a helping hand to someone
who needs it.  Don’t just talk about
it…do it.  Act like you have nothing to
fear but fear itself.  
    Sounds pretty good doesn’t it.  Living life without fear.  Especially when we’re living in a world that
gives us a lot to worry to begin with.  The
world around us causes us to want to act out of fear because that’s what seems
to be the right thing to do.  Especially
when we’re living in a world that seems to be falling apart.  So how do we get to where we can put our
fears behind us and live a life that is filled with love and of peace no matter
what’s going on in the world around us.
   “Come,” my heart says, “and seek his face.”  The Message puts it in more understandable
language.  The Message simply says, “Seek
God.”  Look for God.  To live a life that is filled with love and
peace look for God.  It’s a simply
solution that isn’t meant to be a cliché just to make you feel better.  It’s a program for ridding yourself from fear.  
    But don’t wait until the last minute.  Don’t wait until you’re having problems and
then look for God.  Seek God’s presence
before your troubles…seek out God’s presence and allow him to be a part of your
everyday life.  That way, when troubles
come you’re already in God’s presence and you are prepared to handle anything
the world throws at you.  
    If
you want to overcome fear in your life, any kind of fear, go looking for God
today, because he is the only one that can ultimately give you the safety and
the security that you need.
    We were made for God.  When we’re going through hard times, the one
thing we need – even more than a change of circumstances – is the only One who
can satisfy our souls.  If you have the
love and the presence of God in your life, you have everything you need.
    There is only one place to turn to when
you’re desperate, and that’s to the One who will never let us down.  David knew this long before the coming of
Jesus…and Jesus knew this as he made his way to the cross.  
    Since the beginning of time, God has shown
us his time tested, rock solid reliability.
This is the God that will never let you down.  Trust him.
Put your hope in him.  Make him
the first thing, make him the only thing, you seek when you go through
desperate times.
     Being desperate is normal.  But know that when you are desperate, you can
turn to God to find hope, a resurrection hope, even in the worst of times.  David did.
Jesus did.  And we can too.