~By Sharon Czerwien
In December, I posted about my family’s Nutcracker week and some of the fears that came with it. I promised then that I would do a longer post about fear.
When I was bracing for that Nutcracker show week, I was reminded of a Tween Conference I did with the girls at my church.
I wanted to share some of those Iessons on fear.
There are several examples in Psalms about King David’s pattern when he was fearful. Here is a sneak peak—he PRAISED. If you want to see many examples, check out these Psalms:
Psalm 42
Psalm 43
Psalm 56
Psalm 57
The Back & Forth
There is a profound “back & forth” in David’s heart in all these passages, and that is completely human and okay!
He was afraid on many occasions, but he turned the fear to praise. He went back and forth time and time again. These were David’s honest thoughts. Yet, no matter how much he vacillated toward fear, he would still turn his fear to praise once again.
I love this pattern!
Fear to Praise
Fear to Praise
Fear to Praise
Psalm 56
Psalm 56:1-2
David’s scary “woes”
Psalm 56:3-4
David praised God through his fear.
Psalm 56:5-8
David’s scary “woes”
Psalm 56:10-11
David praised God through his fear.
These verses show us that though we may be in a state of worry, we have the ability to change gears in our heart and mind to look UP to God and praise Him—even through our fears and worries.
Psalm 57
Psalm 57:4
David’s scary “woes”
Psalm 57:5
David praises God.
Psalm 57:6
David’s “woes”
Psalm 57:7-11
David praises God.
There’s that back & forth again! We will experience this back & forth in our emotions and fears, too. We must remember to replace that fearful thought with a truth about God that we learn in the Bible.
We can praise God through our fear.
The below verses are also great to read, as they deal with thanksgiving in our prayers.
Philippians 4:4-7
Colossians 3:16-17; 4:2
Hebrews 13:15
~Let’s keep our praise on,
Sharon