Daily Devotional – Friday, December 24, 2021
I sought the LORD, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.
Psalms 34:4 (NKJV)
In an article titled, ‘Common and Unique Fears Explained’, Healthline.com defines a phobia as “an irrational fear of something that’s unlikely to cause harm.” The website then lists some of the phobias – quite an exciting list, I must say.
They include the fear of being alone (autophobia), the fear of water (hydrophobia), fear of heights (acrophobia), the fear of being confined (claustrophobia), fear of lightning and thunder (astraphobia). You can even suffer from phobophobia, the fear of fears!
Other Manifestations of Phobophobia
Away from this fearful jargon, all of us have our fears. Some dread failure. They cannot imagine not achieving their goals and targets. Such individuals sometimes agonize so much that they end up failing!
Then there are those who fear disappointing other human beings. They spend all their time struggling to get the approval of fellow humans. If they do not get praise and gratitude from those they worship, they get depressed.
We cannot exhaust the list of human fears here. However, it is evident that human fear and God are not compatible. In a previous devotional (God Has Given Us A Spirit of Power And A Sound Mind, Not Fear), we learned that for every day of the year, the Bible has a verse where God says, “Do not fear.”
God delivered me from all my fears
King David, a man whose life was synonymous with trouble, knew what it meant to fear. Over time, though, and having experienced the saving Arm of God, David confessed, “I sought the LORD, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.” (Psalms 34:4).
The psalmist does not tell us whether God delivered him from autophobia, hydrophobia, acrophobia, claustrophobia and astraphobia. All we know is that David cried unto the Lord and all his phobias flew out of the window. I think David was phobophobic!
That is why he could shout confidently, “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalms 27:1). If God had delivered him from wild animals, Goliath, Saul and Absalom, what was there to fear?
Overcoming our phobias, gradually
We may not have attained David’s level of faith but we can start but trusting God in the little battles we face in life. When we decide to take a stand for Jesus in our workplaces, schools and other public spaces, we begin to experience fearlessness.
When we go against popular but ungodly practices, the world will notice that we serve the true God. Like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, we can turn the attention of the world to Jehovah by choosing fidelity to God and righteousness even when our reputations and lives are at stake.
As you learn to stand on the side of God, you will realize He is always by your side. Gradually, your testimony will be, “This poor man cried out, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.” (Psalms 34:6).
Loving Father, deliver me from all my fears.
To learn more about how to deal with fear, read this devotional: When False Evidence Appears Real
