Defeating the Doubt, worry and fear in your heart - Part Two

In this series of blogs that we began yesterday, we defined the triple weaponry of the enemy as doubt, worry and fear - and how we can defeat them with the Bible.  We also noted that all three are attitudes of unbelief towards who God is and what he has said.  Doubt is when I have belief about what God has said to me in the past, worry is unbelief about who He is to me in the present and fear is unbelief about what He will do or say in the future.  Will God come through?  That’s the question of fear.  Is God still with me?  That’s the question of worry.  Did God really say that? That’s the question of doubt. 

In today's blog we will be concerned about the place where these three issues arise - the heart.  David wrote Psalm 39, explaining all of the doubt, worries and fears he was grappling with in his situation.  You and I can’t tell what he is dealing with in this Psalm, however all of the emotions and stresses He is articulating are well known.  For instance He states in Psalm 39:3 – “My heart was hot within me; while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue.”  This certainly describes how I have felt lately.  How about you?  Do you ever feel like you’re going to explode?  The Hebrew phrase for “the fire burned” carries with it the meaning of feeling like we’re going to explode. 

What do you do when doubt about what God said, worry about the present or fear of whether or not He’ll come through threatens the very fabric of your faith?  In other words – How do you deal with doubt, worry and fear in your heart?  Let’s follow the Psalmist’s thoughts in this Psalm and into the next Psalm.  If you are going to defeat doubt, worry and fear in your heart, you need to….

1. Hand your self-sufficiency to God 39:1-6

At first David thought it would be best to keep his mouth shut.  In 39:1-2 he attempted to “bridle his tongue” and “be dumb with silence”.  Very often the reason why you and I choose not to tell those close to us our deepest struggles is because of our self-sufficiency.  We believe it is best to deal with it on our own.  However, God has a way of breaking that down.  Our own self-perceived strength is our greatest enemy.  God is trying to remind you as Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 12:9 – “His strength is made perfect in weakness”. 

David could no longer hold it in.  He cried out to God, asking God to give him an eternal perspective on his own frailty.  As painful as it was, he asked God to show him in verse 4: “make me know my end.”  As a desperate patient pleading with the surgeon: “Doc, do whatever you need to do to rid me of this disease”, so David appealed to the Great Physician.  David realized that his life truly is but the width of a man’s hand (verse 5) and that men at their very best are but vanity (also verse 5).  Self had to die.  Self-sufficiency is but a mirage in the life of the creature.  Only when we stop clinching our fists, hanging onto what is most dear – ourselves, and only when we open our hands towards heaven to that which is most precious – God alone – will we find true sufficiency. 

2. Hasten to see God as your sole desire 39:7-11

Psalm 39:7 indicates a major shift in this Psalm, note what it says: “And now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in thee.”  David shifts from reflecting on how bad things were to how hopeful He is now.  Did his circumstance change?  Not yet.  However his perspective did change.  How?  Having lost all hope in himself, He found all his hope in God.  I so identify with what he is writing here.  In the verse following the struggle is still taking place.  Clearly his inability to explain what He is going through is God’s doing (37:9).

 In fact, God illuminates to David that it is He who is testing David.  David actually refers to God as a moth who consumes whatever is beautiful in his life in 39:11.  It sounds so cruel at first- why would God take away what is “beautiful and desirable” in my life?”  The only answer is that God must be the object of my affections and desire above all things.  He alone endures.  All other goods and beauties deteriorate and fail after the passage of time, however, God is the fixed constant, the true Good, never changing nor varying (Malachi 3:6). All goods and beautiful things are given so that through them we can see God who is Good and beautiful.  It is all a matter of keeping everything in its proper order.  Only when God becomes the sole focus can we see the ability to overcome the doubt, worry and fear.  Thus…

3. Have confidence that God is hearing you 39:12-40:5

As we close this blog today, let’s see whether or not God came through for David.   In reading Psalm 39 and 40, it is my conviction that both Psalms are being written about the same event.  After all the struggle and tears of Psalm 39, we need to know: Did God show up for David?  Psalm 40:1 answers – “I waited patiently for the Lord, and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry.”  In fact the remaining verses detail David’s testimony of how God had indeed came through for Him. 

As an added bonus, David will write a prophecy Psalm 40 about the coming of Christ into this world, as spoken by the writer of Hebrews in Hebrews 10:4-5.  It truly was worth it.  Christ was seen more clearly in the end than at the beginning.  So what about you?  Are you and I going to make it?  Is God going to come through?  Have confidence, dear friend.  If you truly know Christ as Savior, Lord and Treasure, place you hand in His, for His other hand is connected to God the Father (1 Timothy 2:5; 1 John 2:20).  Know this:  God hears the cries of his saints.   He is greater than your doubt, worry and fear. 

Defeating Doubt, Worry and Fear with the Bible: Part One

What is the difference between doubt, worry and fear?  These three emotional and spiritual states are weaponry used by the enemy to plague the people of God.  They all correspond to destroying our clear line of vision of God and His character.  Doubt has to do with how I respond to God and His Word spoken to me in the past.  Fear is the same exact weapon, only this deals with how I respond to God in the present.  If doubt has to do with what God said in the past, and fear has to do with how I’m relating to Him in the present, then worry deals with my perceptions of what He will do in the future - all three of course are species of unbelief. 

All of those reading this blog can relate to all three of these deadly weapons.  Thankfully God has given us the scriptures to combat these and other devices used by the enemy of our souls.  Romans 15:4 tells us: “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.”  Thus we will considering some key passages from one of my favorite sections of the Bible – The Psalms.

So where are you finding yourself doubting, worrying or fearing?  I would encourage you as we begin looking at the scriptures today, and in the next several blogs on this particular topic, that you actually read the scriptures out loud.  What Paul writes in Romans 10:17 concerning the beginnings of saving faith also applies to how one is kept in saving faith: “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”  The first scripture we will be looking at is Psalm 37.  I would encourage you to turn to that text and note some incredible verses that gives the believer the arsenal needed to defeat doubt, worry and fear.  Consider the following thoughts from Psalm 37:

1. Warnings that can guard you from going down the road of doubt, worry and fear

Psalm 37:8 states: “Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.”  Notice that underlined word “fret”?  At least three times we find it mentioned in this Psalm.  In the Hebrew language this word “fret” is translated for the term “chara”.  Chara refers to literally getting oneself all hot and bothered or stirring up oneself into a heated frenzy.  Does that describe how you are feeling and dealing with life?  Do you feel pressure building in your gut, like you are going to explode?  That’s exactly what the Psalmist is warning you and I about here.  Thankfully He gives us this warning.  So what is the solution offered by the Psalmist?  Consider the next thought.

2. Walk in the rest of God

Psalm 37:1-8 acts as a series of bullets that you can use when that disturbing, troubling notion grips your heart.  Note how God gives a series of commands.  Commands are particularly important, since for every command in scripture there is always a provision of grace to carry them out.  God’s commands are not given because I’m simply able to do them.  Many people get discouraged when trying to carry out God’s commands.  They will say: “They are just too hard”.  Dear friend, the commands of God are not hard, they are impossible – that is, if you are not taking advantage of God’s provision of grace. 

Note how we are given instruction on resting is God in the following verses: “Fret not” in 37:1; “Trust” in verse 3; “Delight in the Lord” in verse 4; “Commit your way” in verse 5.  With these commands we see the provision of grace in verse 6: “And He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.”  So if you are in the midst of darkness, note that God’s word gives you provision to enjoy an open heaven, a noonday sun despite the midnight of your circumstance.  Psalm 37:7 tells us to “rest in the Lord” and in verse 8 to “cease from anger”.  We are not promised immunity from trouble, however we are given the “rest of God” whereby we can rise above doubt, worry and fear. 

3. Win the battle knowing that God is fighting for you

Psalm 37:40 states: “And the Lord shall help them, and deliver them: he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him.”  What is remarkable about this Psalm is that it begins with the command not to fret, and it ends with the confidence of victorious faith.  This is not a “pie in the sky, sweet by and by” theology, this is real life doctrine.  Knowing that God will never leave me, not forsake me, is more than enough to overcome doubt, worry and fear.

Welcome to Growing Christian Resources

A quick note about the author of this blogsite
         Welcome to Christian growth resources. My name is Mahlon Smith and I am Pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Idabel, Oklahoma.  I have been happily married for 15 years and have four children, ages 14, 11, 5 and 2.  I was called and convicted to trust in Christ by faith at age ten and baptized at age 12.  At 17 I was called into ministry, and by God's grace graduated both Bible College and Seminary. 

WHAT THE CHRISTIAN LIFE IS ALL ABOUT
         For the first several years of my Christian life, I simply didn't understand what it meant to be a Christian beyond the fact that I didn't have to worry about going to hell.  Even after God had dealt with me about where I was with him in my Christianity, through the scriptures I began to realize there is more to being a Christian than just "getting saved to go to heaven".  Conversion, whereby a person becomes a Christian through faith alone, in Christ alone, is the starting point.  In conversion a person, by God's grace, acknowledges their inability to please God through their own efforts.  (Romans 3:23; Titus 3:5)  The Bible teaches that through faith salvation is received by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ and what He did for them by dying on the cross and rising from the dead. (John 3:16;1 Corinthians 15:1-4)  Heaven's joy, Jesus Christ, comes down into the believer to live out His life through their daily walk (Galatians 2:20).  The term "walk" is another way of describing what it means to live for Jesus Christ.  The Christian life is three things all at the same time: it is practical, supernatural and theological.

1. THE CHRISTIAN LIFE IS THEOLOGICAL

         It is theological in the sense that when I become a Christian, that doesn't mean I click off my mind nor abandon reason.  Theology is a word that simply means "the study of God".  2 Timothy 2:15 states: "Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."  Another Bible passage, Romans 12:1-2, tells us that we are "to be transformed by the renewing of our minds".  Jesus Himself, in Matthew 22:37, states that as a Christian, I am to "love the Lord with all my heart, soul, mind and strength".  Thus a Christian, by nature, should want to study scripture, and pursue the things of God that build them in the area of their thoughtlife. (2 Corinthians 10:4-5; Philippians 4:8-9)

2. THE CHRISTIAN LIFE IS SUPERNATURAL

         The Christian life is not only theological, but supernatural.  I discover as a Christian that from the moment of saving faith I have the God-given ability to hear God.  In fact, no one can get saved unless the Lord calls and convicts them to forsake reliance upon their sin and to start following Jesus Christ by faith (John 5:24-25; John 10:1-11).  Hearing God on a daily basis improves in proportion to how much one takes in the scriptures, obeys the Lord's will and spends the time prayer (2 Timothy 3:15-17; Philippians 4:6-7; John 14:21).  Christians have an entire angelic host whom God uses to give protection and aid at various times. (Psalm 91 and Hebrews 1:14).  The Holy Spirit, God Himself, comes inside to live, guide and encourage (John 14:21-23).  The body of Christ, the church, is gifted by the Spirit of God in various ways to communicate and validate the living reality and person of the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 6:1-11; Romans 8). Truly the Christian walk is supernatural. 

3. THE CHRISTIAN LIFE IS PRACTICAL

         So then, the Christian walk is supernatural, it is theological, but notice finally, it is practical.  When you read all of the Bible books in the New Testament, you discover they speak on theological matters and supernatural matters, which spell out practical principles to live by.  Jesus tells me I need to love my enemies. (Matthew 5:44)  I'm told to not worry or be anxious. (Philippians 4:6-7)  When I see someone struggling in an area, I need to check on them, encourage them, or if need be, lovingly challenge them to grow in their faith. (Galatians 6; Jude 20-25)  The book of James tells me that faith without accompanying practice is dead. (James 2:17)  Indeed there needs to be practice in the Christian life if I am to have proof that I have been saved supernaturally and am thinking theologically.

        That in a nutshell, is what this site is all about.  I pray that you will find it helpful as you strive to grow in your Christian walk.