Psalm 56

Order of Service

• Scripture Reading — Psalm 56
• Sermon
• Pastoral Prayer

---

Sermon Title: Fear That Leads to Fearlessness

Scripture: Psalm 56

I. The Nature of David's Predicament

A. Context: David surrounded by enemies on every side — the setting of Psalm 56 is David's flight to Gath, recorded in 1 Samuel 21:10–15

1. David is desperate — he seeks refuge in the land of his chief enemy, the Philistines
2. David is clearly afraid — 1 Samuel 21:12 says he was "much afraid of Achish"
3. David is out of options — he feigns madness to escape

B. The arc of Psalms 52–56 shows David surrounded in every direction

1. Psalm 52 — Doeg the Edomite, a descendant of Esau, betrays David's location at Nob, leading to the slaughter of the priests
2. Psalm 54 — The Ziphites, of David's own tribe of Judah, betray him to Saul
3. Psalm 55 — A close friend (possibly Ahithophel) abandons David and joins Absalom's rebellion
4. Psalm 56 — The Philistines, chief enemy of Israel, now threaten him

C. The repetition of "all day long" (vv. 1, 2, 5) conveys the unrelenting duration and intensity of David's enemies

D. David's enemies do not only pursue him physically — they twist his words (v. 5), slandering and misrepresenting him

1. This is deeply relatable, especially in a social media age where words are taken out of context

E. The musical superscription "according to the Dove on Far-off Terebinths" connects back to Psalm 55:6 — "Oh, that I had wings like a dove!" — where David reached his lowest point; now in Psalm 56 he finds his rest not in literal wings but in God himself

II. Fear That Leads to Fearlessness

A. The key movement of the Psalm: "When I am afraid, I put my trust in you" (v. 3) → "In God I trust; I shall not be afraid" (v. 4)

1. Verses 4 and 10–11 function as the repeated chorus of the Psalm
2. Fear is not presented here as a defect of faith but as an instrument that drives us into God's arms

B. Fear in dangerous situations is not inherently sinful

1. God often uses fear to drive his people to himself, in both Old and New Testaments
2. A helpful illustration: a child frightened by a nightmare is driven into the arms of a parent — an opportunity to experience God's protection in a real and practical way

C. Persistent, unrelenting fear in a believer's life can be a sign of spiritual immaturity — the wicked flee when no one pursues (cf. Proverbs)

D. However, the Reformed tradition rightly resists the notion that sanctification is merely "getting used to justification"

1. Scripture uses fear, threats, and warnings to incentivize growth in holiness
2. Examples: Matthew 5 and Matthew 6 — warnings about hell are meant for the people of God as well
3. Jonathan Edwards's Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God illustrates how the fear of God drives people to his grace

E. Mark Jones: "Those who take our Father the most seriously are those who run to him most quickly and experience his love most powerfully"

1. The fear of man produces dread; the fear of God produces comfort, peace, and love

III. Confidence in God

A. David is confident in the Word of God (vv. 4, 10)

1. True confidence is not rooted in an esoteric or self-generated notion of a "higher being" — a common form of modern spirituality
2. It is rooted in the God who has revealed himself as good and dependable in his Word
3. A Christian living in constant fear is likely either not reading God's Word, or reading it without purposefully meditating on it and applying it
4. Trusting God's Word is not meant to produce mere psychological tranquility — it is meant to produce obedient worship and service (v. 12: "I must perform my vows to you, O God")

B. David is confident in God's personal care (v. 8)

1. "You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle — are they not in your book?"
2. The loudest voice in despair says "God is not for me" — yet David, even while drooling before Achish, declares: "This I know, that God is for me" (v. 9)
3. William Cowper — 18th-century hymn writer (There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood), friend of John Newton, who battled severe depression his entire life — wrote even in his darkest days: "Man may dismiss compassion from his heart, but God never will"
4. His life looked like failure by outward appearances, yet he clung to the goodness of God

C. David is confident that his darkness will be turned to light (vv. 8, 13)

1. The image of tears in a bottle is like an accountant's ledger — God is not merely sympathizing, he is taking account in order to make good on it
2. He intends to overturn these tears with joy
3. "For you have delivered my soul from death, yes my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life" (v. 13)
4. This verse is picked up by Jesus in John 8:12: "I am the light of the world; whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life"
5. To follow Christ is to follow him into the darkness of the cross — yet it is precisely there that the light of life is found
6. David's path to the throne through suffering is a type of Christ's path through crucifixion to resurrection and exaltation
7. We sing this Psalm through Christ — perhaps Jesus himself sang or prayed it on the cross — and we follow him into dark places as "more than conquerors through him who loved us" (Romans 8:37)