#7. The removal of Fear (Psalm lvi. 3).


It is a far cry from the story of the men of valour of I Chron. v. 20, which formed the basis of the last article of this series, to the one we are now to consider, where the historic reference over Psalm lvi., “Michtam of David, when the Philistines took him in Gath”, sends us back to I Sam. xxi. 13, to find David feigning madness, scrabbling on the doors of the gate, and letting his spittle fall down his beard.

David was “sore afraid of Achish, the king of Gath” (I Sam. xxi. 12), and Psalm lvi. gives something of the hidden history of that period of David’s perilous life. The critics have not been backward in declaring that the title of the Psalm has nothing in it corresponding with history, but in this, as in many other judgments pronounced by them, their reading has been superficial.

De Wette alleges that in the record of I Samuel, it is not stated that the Philistines laid hold of David, but Hengstenberg draws attention to the words “in their hands” of I Sam. xxi. 13, and others have observed the “escape” of I Sam. xxii. 1. When we remember that David, in fleeing from Saul, had put himself into the hands of Goliath’s people, we may well understand his sense of peril, even though the historic account of I Sam. xxi. makes little or nothing of it. It is the Psalm written of that period that draws the veil aside, and where the words “sore afraid” (I Sam. xxi. 12) find an exposition:

“What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee” (Psa. lvi. 3).

This trust in God is also a trust in His Word. God had made promises to David, and, although they were separated from fulfillment by years of wandering and persecution, David knew that God would honour His word. So, in verse 3, we read of David’s trust in the Lord when he was afraid, but in verse 4, as he trusts in His word, his fear departs:

“In God I will praise His word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me” (Psa. lvi. 4).

The structure of the Psalm shows how these items are repeated:

Prayer offered.
A1 | 1, 2. The antagonism of the enemy: “Swallowed me up.”
B1 | 3, 4. Trust and praise: In God and His word.
Deliverance Expected.
A2 | 5, 6. The antagonism of the enemy: “My words”, “my steps”, “my soul”.
B2 | 7-11. Trust and praise: In God and His word.
Prayer answered.
A3 | 12, 13. Deliverance from death and falling.
B3 | 13. Walk before God in the light of the living.

How different do the same things appear when viewed from the standpoints of man and of God. The attitude of the Philistines and other enemies of David was alarming. The figures used are those of the “thirst for blood”; the “snuffing” of animals close on their prey. Fighting was “daily”; his words were “wrested”; his steps “marked”; they waited for his “soul”. Over and above these things David was an exile, “Thou tellest all my wanderings”. These were in the menacing things that inspired fear in David. Then, as his trust in God and in His Word took hold upon his heart and mind, these ferocious enemies were seen to be but “flesh” and “man”, and concerning both David said, “I will not fear”, “I will not be afraid”. As trust in God and in His faithfulness to His word increases, so fear of man and all that he can do decreases.

To us, as to David and the disciples of old, comes the cheering call:

“Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid” (Matt. xiv. 27).


(From The Berean Expositor Volume 34, page 213).

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