Simple Vow to Overcome

“What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.” (Ps 56:3 AV)

Much easier said than done.  Trust me!  I know!  All it takes is a diagnosis and all of a sudden, we find just how much our faith needs to grow.  This verse is one to memorize and repeat as often as needed.  This verse is not hard to understand.  David speaks this in a deep time of duress.  His father-in-law wants him dead and his wife abandoned him for his best friend.  He now embarks on a seven-year run to avoid the sword of Saul.  Life is not how he scripted it.  He was a humble servant doing nothing but serving his nation and his king.  His motives were pure.  He was anointed to be king in Saul’s stead but had no intention of ending Saul’s reign early.  He was content to serve the LORD and his king, waiting on God’s plan.  He was no threat to Saul or the throne.  Interestingly, the man who killed a lion and bear with his bare hands and faced down Goliath is still weak enough to feel fear.  That is because fear is circumstantially driven.  We all fear. We just don’t all fear the same things.

If David had spoken this at the beginning of his flight from Saul, It would be years until he learned the importance of this vow.  He fled to Nob where all the priests were killed.  Toward the end of his seven-year flight, he ended up with a Philistine king and almost had to go to war against Saul and his own countrymen.  David showed fear when his newborn son from his affair with Bathsheba lay sick and dying. David showed fear when Absalom rebelled against him.  David showed fear toward the end of his life when he numbered the people causing tens of thousands to lose their lives.  Just because he was afraid did not mean he failed in this vow.  David trusted God with his whole heart.  This did not prevent fear.  This overcame fear.

The vow is one of overcoming, not preventing.  Fear is a natural emotion.  It is given by God to motivate us toward self-preservation.  Fear is a good thing.  As long as fear is not stronger than faith, we are pleasing God.  When we feel fear, we make decisions that should lessen it.  If we feel threatened, we will fight or flee.  Whatever it takes to overcome that fear, we will change our circumstances to do just that.  One thing, however, should be automatic.  We should trust the LORD.  This is the first step to take.  David fled many threatening circumstances.  Sometimes it worked out.  Sometimes it did not.  The difference was faith.  When he fled to the Philistines, he was burned out and thought, for the first time, that Saul was going to win.  But when he fled from Absalom, he was not convinced Absalom would gain the upper hand.  He did so to save the nation undue harm in the rebellion.  He resigned himself to the hand of God and fully trusted in Him.  In short, our actions are not necessarily an obvious indication of our faith.  It is how we respond within those actions that determine if we have faith or if we do not.  David made a vow.  He promised that when he felt fear, he would trust the LORD.  Trust came first.  Then came a choice.  This is the vow we should all take.