A fortress for when afraid (1 Samuel 18-19, 1 Chronicles 3, Psalm 59, Acts 13)

To feel unsafe in your own home is a terrible thing. To feel that there are people lurking around, waiting to harm you. This was the experience of King David before he was made king. King Saul was continually trying to trap David, and even sent men to his house to kill him! 1 Samuel 19 describes one such time when David had to escape through a window.

In Psalm 59 David reflects on how this felt. He cries out to God to deliver him from those who are lying in wait for his life. The experience is always worse at night time, when darkness reigns. David describes how they come back every evening, like dogs prowling.

How does David cope? Does he look inside himself and tell himself to be strong? No, He looks up to God. When He looks up to the LORD, he knows it will be ok, for what is the sovereign LORD doing? Laughing (v8). These people that David is so afraid of are no threat to God. It reminds us of Psalm 2 – when the Lord laughs at those who shake their fists at him. The people who look most scary to us, are no threat to the sovereign LORD. It helps to remember this, and yet it doesn’t stop the fears returning, like the dogs each evening, the fears seem to come back (v14). As the fears come back, so David turns again to the LORD in song, reminding himself that he will get through another night because of the LORD’s covenant love. Just as the LORD delivered him in the past, and has been his refuge, He will continue to be His fortress.

Our Lord Jesus Christ knew what it was like to be surrounded by enemies trying to take His life. Powerful men plotted to get rid of him, and in fact it looked like they defeated him, but Jesus knew God as His fortress and knew the morning was coming when he would again sing of the LORD’s steadfast love.

It may feel like night time for many of us, maybe you feel darkness surrounding you, enemies lurking, but in this Psalm we have reassurance that God is our fortress and that there is a morning coming, when Jesus will return and gather us safely to himself.

So even in the face of threat and fear, we can be led by Jesus to sing:

“But of your power I’ll sing, your love

With joy each morning praise,

For you have been my refuge high,

My fort in troubled days” (v16)