Thought for the Week - 19th July

Pastor Gareth Watkins

Psalm 34: 3-5

“I sought the Lord, and He heard me, And delivered me from all my fears.
They looked to Him and were radiant,
And their faces were not ashamed.”

We live in a world full of fear. We are constantly reminded of the terrible atrocities that have and are taking place all around the world. The fear of people in the middle of these sufferings can be felt as we hear, watch, and read of all the awful things taking place. Fear in itself can be terribly binding, and in the midst of it all how do we as Christians respond? Do we walk around pretending it’s not happening? Panic, hide, and self-preserve? Or do we turn to God in our time of need?   When David wrote “I sought the Lord….” He did so in fear. He was being hunted down by Saul with an army of men and he was afraid. David had learnt to seek God in his time of desperation, to hear his direction and be led in His will. There was no other help on which David could lean, and though afraid, he continued to turn his eyes towards God; he knew he would be delivered.   Our God is faithful in all His ways and David knew this deeply, yet he also knew that he had a choice in it. To seek God, or not to. To hide, run, blame, rely on his own strength, or to seek God the only One who knew his difficulty and fear, who knew his heart and the plans He had for him, and who was for him and not against him.   Finding God in the centre of our fears and trusting Him in all that would come against us is a learnt position. Finding our way into it starts with a choice. As we continue in our walk our position should become fixed as our faith strengthens, but we have to make the choice to press into God again and again. As we do, we come to know His mighty and unfailing power in all the fears this world can provoke. God hears our cries, delivers us from our fear, and will not allow us to be ashamed as we put Him first. In Him we will overcome and stand radiant whilst darkness would surround.
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