Day 134: Psalm 3:6-7

"I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side. Arise, Lord! Deliver me, my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked." ~Psalm 3:6-7, NIV

The psalmist here is directly going straight to the point - and he exemplifies a three step process to cope with his fear.

STEP 1

"I will not fear". The psalmist declares from the beginning that he's not going to be afraid. Even if he's surrounded by a physical army thousands strong all out to kill him, he's not going to be afraid. For us, maybe it's an army of negative and oppressive classmates that's putting us down. We can start with a simple declaration: "I'm not going to be afraid."

STEP 2

"Arise Lord! Deliver me, my God!" The psalmist knows that he can't really defeat an army by himself, so he appeals to the only source in the world that can: God. We can ask for God to rise up and save us from our enemies, or simply from our fears. In fact, we have to ask Him because we really can' t do anything substantial on our own except get overwhelmed.

STEP 3

"Strike all of my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked." Ask God very specifically to do something. If you just say "help me!" it's hard to measure whether or not God's answered your prayer, and then you might miss seeing His blessings over your life. Besides, if you're in trouble and ask for help, He might help you but only if you're specific - ask to pass that test instead of overcome your fears. (Actually, I don't know that. But I do know that Jesus said "You have not because you ask not.")

These steps are relatively simple, and can be done in any order. So long as you do them all, you should have everything you need to fight fear: God's word, God's spirit, God's promise, and God's command. Bring it on!

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