Overcoming Fear

Good morning, everyone. If I move all kind of spacey,
it’s because I’m literally under whatever they call it. Well,
I feel more like under a swarm. But I was in bed all day yesterday. So if I move kind of spacey,
it’ll hit me upside the head. We are going to be looking at
Psalm 16 this morning. Psalm 16. Now it is said that Psalm 16 was
written by David during the time of when he was fleeing from Saul. and when he was running away.
So, from David’s perspective, it was perhaps one of those times
that he greatly, well, that fear came over him. Fear because his
life was pending, or he felt that probably his death was near.
As you know, Saul had a few encounters with David And it is perhaps
during that time that he wrote this song, because he was fearful.
He was fearful. Now, what we’re going to see
this morning, though, is really from David’s song here, we can
pull some principles for us. This song really has to do with
life, life matters, and death. Life and death. So, even as a child of God, we
experience fear. Fear of death. Fear of dying. The fear of someone, one of our
loved ones, dying. The fear of what’s immoral. It is this sense of fear that
we don’t know what’s in the future. Perhaps we have lost everything. our jobs or our homes, maybe
we have an enemy in our midst. I know our persecuted church,
they face that constantly in all parts of the world. So fear
for us is a common theme, we can say. But as a redeemed child
of God, we experience fear. And sometimes, if it is not dealt
properly, this fear tends to grab us. This fear tends to take
the best of us. This fear tends to, somehow,
we become more panicky, constantly worrying about everything. And
so, my prayer is that this morning we’ll be able to see some principles
here from the life of David, and the way he expressed himself
towards God, that we’ll be able to pull some of these principles
out. from here help us deal with some of the fears and grow in
our trust in the Lord. Help us with that. So it’s really
how can we grow in our trust in the Lord and at the same time
overcome fears. When you grow in the Lord, you
grow in the trust in the Lord, obviously you can’t have fears. It’s just that both do not exist
together. So this poem to him deals with
the matters of life and death. Our lives might not be endangered
by enemies, right? But we know that we have a great
enemy. A lot of times we underestimate
Satan, but he is our great enemy. This poem will help us grow in
our trust in the Lord. It will help us see beyond the
grave as well. And that’s what it aims to do. Once again, I want you to have
this theme in the back of your mind as we sing this psalm. The theme of God as being the
source of life and the one who has conquered death for us. Put that theme in the back of
your mind. Let’s pray. Father, we just ask
for your direction and guidance towards us. learn from David’s
psalm here and we pray that you will help us to open our minds
and that you will help us to apply this text in our lives.
I pray that this prayer will be able to open doors in our
minds of understanding so that we will be able to apply this
psalm and this principle that we are going to speak tomorrow
in our established order to see your wonderful things in your
life. In the name of Christ our Lord.
Amen. So let’s read Psalm 16. Let us read Psalm 16. It says,
Preserve me, O God, for I take refuge in You. I said to the
Lord, You are my Lord. I have no good besides You. As
for the saints who are in the earth, they are the majestic
ones in whom is all my delight. The sorrows of those that have
battered for another God will be multiplied. I shall not pour
out their dreams, O Prince of Blood, nor will I take their
names upon my lips. The Lord is a portion of my inheritance
and my cup. You support my lot. The lines
have fallen to me in pleasant places. Indeed, my heritage is
beautiful to me. I will bless the Lord who has
counseled me. Indeed, my mind is structured
in the night. I have set the Lord continually
before me. Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken. Therefore, my heart is glad,
and my glory rejoices. My flesh also will dwell securely. For you will not abandon my soul
to Sheol. Nor will you allow your Holy
One to undergo decay. You will make known to me the
path of life. In your presence is fullness
of joy. In your right hand there are
pleasures forever.” So this morning we are going to see three principles
that will help us grow in our trust in the Lord and overcome
fears. So we grow in our trust in the
Lord and also or we overcome fears. How do we do that? How
do we do that? From David’s psalm, how do we
do that? Well, the first thing we want
us to see is we grow in trust and overcome fear by way of our
petition. By way of our petition. Look
with me on verse 1. Preserve me, O God, for I take
refuge in You. Preserve me, O God, for I take
refuge in You. Why does our petition help us
grow? Because it shows our dependency
on God. It shows our dependency on God.
There are two aspects here from verse 1 that we need to see.
One is the focus and the other one is the foundation. The first
thing we see is the focus. Who is the focus here? It’s God.
God is the focus here. Our petition shows our dependency
on God, who is our focus. We first see this in the phrase,
preserve me, or watch over me, or protect me. This is David’s
dependence on God. It is a plea for protection and
preservation. Verse 1 begins with David’s relationship
with God. David acknowledges that God is
the only one who can provide protection. It is not a shallow
supplication made from a person who is religious, but rather
from a person who understands new values. We’ll see this as
we deal more with the text. This is not the only time where
we see David’s supplication. In many places we see David in
this kind of a format. Look with me in Psalm 25, verse
20. Both are my soul, and deliver
me. In Psalm 25 verse 20. Both are my soul, and deliver
me. Psalm 17 verse 8 says, Keep me
as the apple of your eye. Hide me in the shadow of your
wings. This is typical of David. It
shows his dependency on God. The focus here is God. The focus here is God on our
dependency. Also, our petition shows our
trust in God. This is the other face of the
coin. Our petition shows our trust
in God, which is the foundation of that petition. It says, For
in you I take refuge. Verse 1, Preserve me, O God. The focus is God, for I take
refuge in you. This is our trust, our foundation
in that petition. This is complete reliance on
God. Complete trust that God will preserve David from his
enemies. This is the basis of his request. We’re familiar with
that hymn. It says, I need thee every hour.
That’s a good hymn, it’s a wonderful hymn. And it says on the third
stanza, it says, I need Thee every hour in joy or pain. Come quickly and abide where
life is vain. It shows our dependency. Even the hymn can help us to
show our dependency on God. Our petition shows our trust
and our dependence on God. When this develops in our lives,
fear then becomes smaller and smaller. See, because then our
focus is who? Our focus is God. And so, when
we grow in our trust, those fears, or whatever we have, become smaller,
or at least more manageable. And I’m not saying that you will
never battle with those fears. I don’t stand here to say I’m
a great warrior of overcoming fears. I’ve lost quite a few
battles. And by the grace of God we are
able to overcome some. But the good thing is we have
the Word of God that helps us overcome those fears. So can we win this battle? Can
we win? And obviously it is. We can win
this battle. And the first way was demonstrated
by way of our petition. A way of our petition. Our petitions show our dependency
on God. It shows our trust in God. Our
focus is God. Our focus is God. The next thing is by way of confession. By way of confession. By way
of our confession. Look at me in verse 2 to the
4. I said to the Lord, You are my
Lord. I have no good beside You. As
for the saints who are in the earth, they are the majestic
ones in whom is all my delight. The sorrows of those who have
battered for another God will now be multiplied. I shall not
pour out their drink offering of blood, nor will I take their
names upon my lips. Why is it that our confession
helps us to grow? in our track of the Lord and
overcome fear. What is unique about our confession? Well, our confession affirms
our faith. Our confession affirms our faith. This is the divine dimension
we are going to see here. Look with me. I want us to pay
close attention to verse 2 and then we go into verse 1 just
to make a point here. Now, I want you to see two things
here. You see the words here, God,
Lord, and there is another Lord there. In the original language,
there is a great emphasis, there is a great impact on that text. In our English Bible, it doesn’t
show that. Let me show you. The importance
of these words is that it refers to David’s faith. OK? Bear with me here. David’s nutrition
brings out his faith. His faith is one in the true
living God. Look with me on verse 1. Verse
1 says, O God. The word God, in the original,
says El, which is the most common name for God. You know, El Elohim. And so, in this case, just El. Which really has reference to,
it describes God as strong or mighty. strong or mighty. So here we see preserving the
mighty one. Oh God, the mighty one, preserving.
Okay, the next thing we see is Lord, which is in some Bibles,
older Bibles, we see that as Jehovah or Yahweh, but sometimes
we like to see that. And then the next thing is Lord,
small letters, which is Adonai. Okay, the sovereign one. Yahweh
is really the personal name of God of Israel. It was revealed
to Moses in the burning bush. Right? I am. That’s what it means. Yahweh. I am. Okay? This name has reference to the
covenant God of the Hebrews. It is a name given to Israel
saying, I am the covenant keeping God. to Israel. So keep this in mind. So this is a covenant name in
relation to his people. And then we saw Adonai, which
is Lord, which speaks of his sovereignty, God’s authority
over David and the world. Now let’s put this together. And this is no simple faith from
David. If we can read the verses here differently, this is what
it says. I take refuge in the Mighty One. I say to Yahweh, the covenant
keeping God, You are the Sovereign One. You are my Sovereign One. You are my Adonai. So therefore,
my conclusion is that David, this is no simple faith. This
is no simple faith coming from David. David’s faith is rooted
in God’s character. Okay? Why is that important in
our lives? It’s because the name of God
keeps being… is being put in this filthy language
in our days. Right? We take the Lord’s name
in vain. In fact, we say the Lord, the
name of Jesus, in filthy language. Right? In these filthy languages. If you put Jesus in this filthy
language, a lot of times it’s not even a complete sentence.
Right? For a lot of people. It’s how
bad it is. So, notice that as you talk to
people, none of them says, when they hit themselves with a hammer,
notice that they don’t say, Wuhan. Well, they don’t say Buddha or
whatever. They say what? You already know. There’s a temple for him in Maine.
So, it’s interesting. That’s what I was remembering
here. It’s like, we don’t take that
word for him in Maine, but David’s faith is rooted in God’s character. It is this passionate faith of
David that it says, you are the mighty one. I said to Yahweh,
You are my Adonai. David continued, I have no good
beside you. I have no good beside you. David
is saying, there is no source of happiness apart from Him.
Psalm 73 verse 25 and 28 kind of picks up on the same theme. In this case, it is not David,
but Asaph. I have no good beside you. God is the highest good
for everyone. All the good things that people
enjoy in the present and will enjoy in the future come from
God. We will see the future blessings
in the next few verses. For David, God was the source
of all that made life good and enjoyable. In God, he found security
and satisfaction. He found security and satisfaction. The other thing is our confession. Our confession affirms our loyalty. Our confession affirms our loyalty. Verse 3. As for the saints who
are in the earth, they are the majestic ones. Here is the human
dimension. Verse 3 introduces David’s loyalty. His loyalty to whom? God’s people. Loyalty to God’s
people. Who are the saints? Right? They are the ones separated from
God for His service. They are the ones having a personal
relationship with God. And it’s not the saints of the
Catholic Church, right? It’s everybody separated from
God as the saints. It simply means separated from
God. We are God’s slaves, servants. So they are the ones all but
having a personal relationship with God. Since they don’t have
a personal relationship with God, then it is obvious that
our relationship with God’s people needs to be there as well. Loyalty
to God is also loyalty towards His people. 1 John 4.20 says, He is a liar, for he who does
not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom
he has not seen. Makes sense, right? David says, this type of people
is all my delight. The saints on the earth. It’s
all my delight. It’s a positive attraction. David
enjoys being around them. You know, when they’re sinned,
this relationship It’s broken, even within, not only with God,
but only among our people, when they’re saying that this relationship
is broken. Imagine when there’s sin, and
everybody’s involved in the church, everybody knows, it’s just a
broken relationship. It’s a broken relationship. David’s
confession demonstrates his loyalty to God. his loyalty to God. Verse 4. The sorrows of those who have
bartered for another God will not be multiplied. I shall not pour out their drink
offering of blood, nor will I take their names upon my lips. What
is that saying? Basically, he is saying, I am
not into idolatry. I am not into idolatry. Notice how Israel had a major
issue, right? Is that giving themselves to
other gods. The idolatry in Israel has always
been a problem. Perhaps there was a time in Israel
that they were worshipping God. What was one of the reasons they
went into exile? Right? Unfaithful Israel. Unfaithful Israel. But not David. Not David. We’re introduced here to the
concept of idolatry in this verse. David will not even think much
less waste time in the pursuit of idolatrous worship. David
says, I’m not interested. Those who mess with idolatry,
their pain multiplies. I’m not going to be pouring out this drink offering
of blood. In other words, I’m not dealing
with this idolatry, Lord. OK? I’m not dealing with this
idolatry. My loyalty is for you. My idolatry is for you. OK? So, our confession affirms
our faith. Our confession affirms our faith.
Our faith then is demonstrated towards loyalty towards the people
of God and also towards towards God Himself. That’s my loyalty
toward God. I’m not going to be messing with
no idolatry. It’s easier for us to say, yeah,
but they worship other idols over there. We’re idols and stuff
like that. It’s a problem in our day with
our materialistic environment. Many things can become, even
ourselves, can become idols. We can take the position of God. And so when this focus then is
on God, even those issues become They disappear. So here’s the
thing, our mind moves towards God. God is the focus. God is the focus. Notice how
many problems you have, or we have, or we can have, when we
mess with idolatry. Pains and sorrows and all that. Things that come our way. So
the first way we demonstrated that the psalm can help us grow
is by way of our petition. The second one was by way of
our confession. We can grow in trust and overcome
fears. The third one is that we can
grow in trust and overcome our fears by way of our praise. Notice that all of what I’m suggesting
to you is that the focus is on God. The focus is on God. So the next thing is that by
way of our praise, by way of our praise, verse 5, verse 5,
The Lord is the fortune of my inheritance, and my cup is to
pour my lot. The lions have fallen to me in
pleasant places. Indeed, my heritage is beautiful
to me. I will bless the Lord who has
counseled me. Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night. I
have set the Lord continually before me. Because he is at my
right hand, I will not be shaken. So, our praise, by way of our
praise, we praise God because of the present blessings. Because
of the present blessings. Verse 5, David speaks here of
his present blessings. The lowest portion of my inheritance,
of my cup, he used to pour my blood. We don’t speak like that,
right? It’s difficult for us sometimes
to grasp some of these concepts, because we don’t speak like that.
A lot of times we say, Laura, you’re my all in all. Which is
fine, but what I’m saying is that we don’t speak in these
terms. So a lot of times, here it is
difficult to grasp the essence of what David is saying. But
the Lord, here the Lord appears again, the Lord, the Name, Yahweh.
Yahweh is the portion, the chosen portion that might come. This phrase of blessings refers
to the full life that he enjoyed in the Lord. This is how David
expressed his fullness of life. His fullness of life, that’s
how David expressed that he enjoyed in the Lord. This type of blessing
is also found in Deuteronomy 10 verse 9. and it has to do
with the Levites, having no portion or inheritance. Why? Because
the Lord was their blessing, was their inheritance. Deuteronomy chapter 18 verse
1 and 2 says, The Levitical priests, all the tribal Levites, shall
have no portion or inheritance with Israel. They shall eat the
Lord’s food offerings as their inheritance. They shall have
no inheritance among their brothers. The Lord is their inheritance,
as He promised.” In other words, the priest and Levi were not
going to inherit anything. No land. And you’re like, well
that’s kind of strange, right? For poor people. Everybody is
moving to their land, and Levi is looking at everybody like,
you know, grabbing everybody, grabbing their own land. There is something better for
them. There is someone better for them. The Lord is their inheritance. Here is the crucial thing for
the Levites and the priests. They had to depend on God for
their sustenance. If God said, I will take care
of you, it was their right to exercise their confidence. See, they have to exercise their
confidence. If God says, I am your inheritance,
you’re not going to work the land, I will take care of you. Right? I will take care of you.
Imagine, in their mind, one way of taking care of themselves,
of taking care of the people, was what? Taking care of their
family, is working the land. They’re a farmer. They’re taking
care of the land. If there is no land, How in the
world am I going to take care of my family, myself, everybody
else? Right? Fear. But the Lord says,
I will take care of you. So, they were not to grow in
panic. They were not to grow in some kind of low self-esteem
kind of thing. I’m not going to use the word
self-esteem, but that’s the word we use now. They were to trust in the Lord.
So we need to trust the Lord for their sustenance. God was
going to keep His promise because He is faithful. And that is why
David is saying here, Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance
and my cup. Obviously we know from history
that he eventually became the King of Israel. But even before
he became the King, running away, He understands God’s present
blessings. The Lord is my portion of my
inheritance and my cup. He is blessing God. He is showing
his confidence in God by praising Him and acknowledging His present
blessings. The Lord is my chosen portion
and my cup. It says, the lines have fallen
for me in pleasant places. Indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. Again, verse 6 simply expands
on the idea of contentment. The idea of contentment here. The lions have fallen to me in
pleasant places. He is content with what the Lord
has provided so far. This is a way of saying I’m content
in a poetic manner. David is Christ and praises God
for his care. I’m praising God for the person’s
blessings. But I’m also content with what
the Lord has provided at this point. Like I said to you, we
don’t speak like that, we don’t speak in this manner. But it
is what David is communicating to his readers. I praise the
Lord, I’m content. Many times fear creeps in our
lives for that very reason. We’re not content, or we don’t
understand why the Lord having us go through this circumstance. We don’t receive what we think
we should. Therefore, we panic. Because we think that the results
are going to be negative. That we need to be acting in
a different way so that we have good results. In other words,
I need to There is a sense in which our
expectations are different from what the Lord is allowing us
to experience. Our expectations are different. But the Lord’s ways are different.
And it is in this situation that we panic because we don’t see
the Lord moving in our lives. David is not like that. David
acknowledges his present blessings. David stops and acknowledges
his present blessings. And is full of contentment in
the Lord. It is in this state of praise
that we always need to be. So that fear doesn’t grab us.
So that fear doesn’t grab us. Psalm 73 verse 25 says, Whom
have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth
that I desire besides You. That’s what Asa says in Psalm
73. So we can think of David’s praise. I think we fear Christianity
and help us to think of these matters. We need to think of
David’s praise and how does that help him overcome is feared. So we must be content as David
with the present blessing. Another blessing is having God
as our guide, as our counselor, as our teacher. Let’s look at,
I will bless the Lord who has counseled me, verse 7. I will
bless the Lord who has counseled me, indeed my mind instructs
me in the night. God is the source of all knowledge
and wisdom. Thank God for a moment. God is
the source of all wisdom, knowledge, everything. I will bless the
Lord who gives me counsel in the night. God at all times is
the source of wisdom. Think about this. Truth does
not exist outside of God. Right? So, any truth apart from
Any truth apart from God is false. Anything that contradicts the
Word of God is false. It’s not another truth. It’s
just false. It’s apart from God. It’s demonic. So, truth is not
anything outside of God. Psalm 32. Psalm 32, verse 86,
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you
should go. I will counsel you with my eye upon you. And it
says in verse 9, be not like a horse or a mule without understanding. Which must be curbed with a bit
and bribed, or it will not stay near you. In other words, don’t
be like a horse or a mule. Right? Submit. In other words, submit to my
instruction. I will counsel you. Proverbs 4.13 says, Keep hold
of instruction. Do not let go. Guard her, for
she is your life. God is faithful to take care
of our physical body, but also of our minds and hearts. He protects
us. What more do we want? There is
nothing good besides the Lord, as David says. God never desires
harm on His children. That sounds hard to understand
at times, when we go through difficult things. But in reality,
God never desires harm on his children. It is not his nature. Now, in the unbelieving world,
that’s a bit of a story. Because it’s punishment. They’re standing on judgment. He will guide our path. Verse
8 seems to move us from the present blessing to the future blessing. I have set the Lord continually
before me. Because He is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken. God is constantly in the mind
of David. He is at my right hand, that
is what it means. He is at my right hand. This is not meant
for God to be treated as a genie. Sometimes we hear that. He is
at your right hand, so ask whatever you want. Pull the coin and have
God give you something. You invest in God, He will give
you something. He is at my right hand, it simply
means that David has the Lord God in his mind, continually. So the Lord, we can’t say Lord
like this, this, this and that, and expect God to in the morning
have everything. This is simply stating a strong
dependence and confidence on God. The second aspect here is
that we praise God for the future hope. We praise God for the future
hope. Verse 9. Therefore my heart is
glad, and my glory rejoices. My flesh also will dwell securely. For you will not abandon my soul
to shield, nor will you allow your holy ones to go and to undergo
decay, you will make known to me the path of life. In your
presence is fullness of joy, in your right hand there are
pleasures forever.” My Heart Rejoices says, My heart
is glad and my glory rejoices. The idea of gladness and rejoicing
in this verse brings the element of praise and introduces us to
the idea of restoration as well. to the idea of Resurrection.
We praise God for our future hope. This is a portion of scripture
that it brings us more, it will help us to understand more if
we use the New Testament here. In Peter chapter 2 verse 25 to
verse 28 quotes this portion to point to Jesus as the one not met in the grave,
but that he was resurrected. This is a prophetic fulfillment
when Peter quotes this. So, verse 10 was fulfilled by
Christ, because David was in the grave. David stayed in the
grave, but not Christ. So, here we have Paul, in Acts
chapter 13, also tied this section to the covenant made with David
in chapter 2 verse 7. Now, same thing with the promise
of resurrection. The promise of resurrection,
that’s what this thing is dealing with. Now, I do believe that
the Old Testament saints had an idea of a resurrection and
glorification. Job 19 verse 26 says, And after
my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh, as I shall see God. John 11 verse 24 says, Martha
says, I know that you will rise again in the resurrection on
the last day. Martha was no system state. So, they had an idea of resurrection,
and Martha was not a scholar. Yet, the common people knew of
the resurrection, most likely the leaders as well. So, going
back to David, I believe David is referring here to his ultimate
destiny. David trusted the Lord for his
ultimate destiny as he looked ahead at what the Messiah would
accomplish. That’s a faith accomplishment
here. The restoration for those who
believe in his name and the fulfillment of the David’s coming. In other
words, David looked ahead to what the Messiah will accomplish. We know that He said your Holy
One would not go under decay. He died, He became dirt, but
not Christ. So, David is looking forward
towards His glorification. He is looking forward towards
His glorification. And so, if this is Help us, if
this is the case, then death should not put fear in our hearts.
God has already conquered death for us. For death, for the believer,
is won. You know, we get excited about
promotions in our job. Are you being promoted? Are you
being given a raise? We like that. We like that. Maybe not a promotion so much
as a raise, right? a lot of times the promotion
comes with more headaches. But how about a raise? Imagine
if I said, well, how about if you bought this? Oh, I’m thinking
about giving you a 25% raise. Oh man, that’s nice. We walked
out of the office and we shopped for joy. Or your businesses,
imagine if they would grow 25% every month, or every year, whatever. That’s great! But see, so with
that excitement, that’s how we should see death. Because it
is a promotion for us. It is a promotion for the believer
because that person doesn’t have to suffer anymore. They will stand in glory with
the Lord. What Paul says, I’d rather be
in the presence of the Lord than here. You know, but now it’s
obviously for your benefit that I stay here. That’s home to the
church. So death should not put a fear
in our hearts. I know this is something that’s
difficult. Especially when we see our loved ones dying. We
want to pray for healing. Right? And some of our churches
think that healing is the best thing ever. But that’s not the
case. Death, for our believers, is
the best thing ever. Think that for a moment. Death.
Because then we stand in the presence of God. of the Lord. David then helped us to see beyond
the grave. So we praise God for this, for
the future hope. It is our assurance that God
will take care of us. So the first thing that helped
us was growing in our trust, our petition. The second thing
we saw is It’s our confession. Then, the third thing is our
praise. We praise God for the present
blessings, and we praise God for the future blessings, for
the future hope, which He has stored for us. I’d like to conclude with this
quote from a Stephen Lawson poem. Maybe some of you are familiar
with him. I know he’s one of my favorite preachers. Stephen
Lawson says, commenting on this psalm says, Believers fix their
hope in God who is the only safe refuge from the deadly dangers
which threatens the righteous. Like David, a believer must always
set the Lord before him, constantly meditating upon his raw, solid
character. Only with such a riveted focus
upon God will the Lord become the believer’s delight. Believers
must continually remind themselves that the Lord has brought us
to the path of life, and He alone can bring joy and eternal pleasures. Therefore, the believer may confidently
say with David, we will not be shaken.” That’s a good way of
putting it, a good way of summarizing Psalm 16. So, I pray that David has given
us some insight into his heart. You were able to see how David’s
heart, be able to see something from David’s heart that will
help him overcome fear and grow in his trust in the Lord. It is a difficult thing for us
in our days. Especially when we leave not,
when we leave apart from God. When we leave apart from God.
We don’t have that relationship that we need to have. And we
have this relationship that is kind of like shaky. I pray that
your relationship with God will grow stronger and you will stay
confident along with David and will not be shaky. Let’s pray. Father God, we thank you once
again. I pray that we have been able to see something from David’s
life. an insight in his life and how
he prayed to you. And I pray that you will help
us see those things as well. Help us see what David saw. And may we repeat the same words
of David so that our confidence in you will grow. And you will
help us overcome our fears. In the name of Christ, I pray.
Amen.