Author: Freddy Armstrong

Rejecting Fear

Psalm 11 

Psalm 11 Is all about trusting in God when under pressure. As our lives unfold, each of us can point to a few, very short, but key moments, where we made a choice that changed the course of our lives. Many of those choices (while not always black and white) boil down to what is Godly, and what is not. But as shown in Psalm 11, some choices may appear good but are not. And it’s important to discern what is Godly and what is not. 

In the Lord I take refuge;

how can you say to my soul,

    “Flee like a bird to your mountain,

for behold, the wicked bend the bow;

    they have fitted their arrow to the string

    to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart;

if the foundations are destroyed,

    what can the righteous do?”

Scholars believe that this chapter could be a reflection of David’s time being persecuted by King Saul. During this time David’s men had come to him with genuine advice, basically saying: there is a gun to your head, and there’s nothing you can do about this situation but run. But David’s reaction at the start of the chapter shows his outrage with this kind of advice. David makes it clear that there is no reason that the Godly should ever fear the wicked and that he definitely won’t make any decision out of fear. Even if somebody as powerful and corrupt as King Saul was conspiring against him, David allowed God to carry out vengeance. 

The Lord tests the righteous,

    but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.

Let him rain coals on the wicked;

    fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.

Because David found solace in the righteousness of God, it saved him from making a choice that could alter the entire future of Israel. He rejected fear, while also rejecting malice against those who persecuted him, and instead stayed faithful, allowing God’s will to be done. This creates a great model for us because we can often cower in fear when faced with problems, or try and control everything ourselves. David shows us there’s a more disciplined and Godly option. 

Psalm 12 directly connects to this theme when David declares, “Everyone utters lies to his neighbor; with flattering lips and a double heart, they speak.” Scholars suggest that in Psalm 11, when David’s men urged him to flee, their words may have carried a manipulative undertone. This reflects the “double hearts” David encountered throughout his time as a soldier, having faced numerous conspiracies against him. In Psalm 12, David continues by emphasizing the reliability of God’s actions, further affirming his steadfast trust in Him.

John 9

John 9

This chapter contains the story of Jesus healing a blind man on the Sabbath. The chapter gives us big answers to two main questions in Christian life: the reason for our personal limitations and how to treat worldly authority.

The chapter starts with Jesus and His disciples passing by a blind man, and the disciples ask Jesus, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” They attempt to apply a worldly idea of fairness to the situation, which would help them rationalize why the man deserved to be born blind, maybe to save them from feeling some sort of sympathy. I often fall into this mental trap when passing by a homeless person, assuming it was their choices or mental handicap that led them to their position. 

But Jesus responds, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.” I don’t think anybody reading this is blind, but each of us is born with some sort of ailment that we may feel is unfair. While we recognize that’s just how life is, Jesus shows us that it’s much more than that. Every problem we have can be used by God for good, whether we realize it in the present moment or not. Even if you totally fail in fixing your problems, somebody could have been watching and learned from your failure. God’s plan is infinitely more robust than we can comprehend, and so are all the moving pieces in our day-to-day lives. One failure could save you from another, and one shortcoming could cause you to uproot another part of your life, without you realizing it. God created us to pull good out of bad. We don’t know why we have these problems, but we do know that they are meaningful.

After Jesus heals the man, the Pharisees begin to question him. When he plainly tells them, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see,” they leave. They come back later and ask him the same thing. He says, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?” The Pharisees then try to assert their authority by saying, “You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.” This perfectly illustrates the radical shift in authority when you enter the Christian life. The day you become a Christian, your obligations to men are now gone. You don’t answer to your job, business, friends or government. You now clearly see that the only authority is God. Does this scare you? It should. Because when you take up true Christian action in your life, it can produce a visceral response from anybody who doesn’t understand. Just like with the Pharisees here. At the end of the chapter, they proceed to cast the newly seeing man out of the synagogue. It’s not pretty. But we can have solace in knowing that we are on the right path.