A Daily Devotional And Reading From The Psalms
Psalm 56:1–5
To the chief Musician upon Jonath-elem-recho-kim, Michtam of David, when the Philistines took him in Gath.
1 Be merciful unto me, O God: for man would swallow me up;
He fighting daily oppresseth me.
2 Mine enemies would daily swallow me up:
For they be many that fight against me, O thou most High.
3 What time I am afraid,
I will trust in thee.
4 In God I will praise his word,
In God I have put my trust; I will not fear
What flesh can do unto me.
5 Every day they wrest my words:
All their thoughts are against me for evil.
I am reminded of a story that I heard about the old evangelist John Rice. A man pulled out a pistol, pointed it at the preacher and said, “I’m going to blow your brains out”. The reply was classic, “son, you can’t scare me with Heaven”. Wow, what faith and courage! We need some of that don’t we? I know I do. This Psalm is a courage building Psalm.
If ever there is a time that the world around me needs this Psalm it is now. There are so many dangers around us that I cannot list or count them. Disease, drunk drivers, and deranged shooters in public places are just a few of the many dangers. I now know young people scared to go to school. Yes, it has been on media for a while, but I didn’t personally know any until now. Is the fear justified? The threat is real. What can we do to remove the threat? That question keeps the folks in Washington employed but I am afraid that it is not possible to legislate a change of heart into men and women. So, what can we do?
The header of today’s Psalm provides the setting. David had run from Saul in 1 Samuel 21. One might say that he ran from the frying pan into the fire, because he found himself in the hands of the Philistines. Do I need to remind you what David had done to their great national hero? You do remember Goliath? I’m sure the Philistines did. Running from one threat into another, David is inspired to write these wonderful words,
Psalm 56:3–4
3 What time I am afraid,
I will trust in thee.
4 In God I will praise his word,
In God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.
A belief in God and saving faith in his Son can supply you with courage in this life. Remember, the threat can take many things from you in this life, but nothing that Jesus can’t restore in the next. Take courage, Jesus has taken the sting out of death when he defeated it that first Easter morning. When fear strikes at our soul we must rely on our Lord and say like Paul in
Philippians 1:21 “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
You can also just say, “you can’t scare me with Heaven”