This is a difficult topic, because we could pick any number of psalms to find courage. Think for a second about Psalm 23:4, “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” Or 59:9, “You are my strength, I watch for you; you, God, are my fortress, my God on whom I can rely.” Or in the psalms of ascent, 121:7-8, “The Lord will keep you from all harm—he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.” Before we move to our psalm for courage, let’s notice a pattern here: we are safe in God.
Psalm 3
1 Lord, how many are my foes!
How many rise up against me!
2 Many are saying of me,
“God will not deliver him.”
And yet we do not always understand our safety. Like Peter walking on water, we are quick to notice the whipping winds and the crashing waves that tell us we will fall, we will sink, we will be overwhelmed. Our foes are many, not always perhaps as tangibly present as the psalmist’s enemies pursuing him, but present nonetheless. We feel the pressure of the world around us in different ways and we cower in fear. We hear the voices say, “God will not deliver you.” Whether our own voice or someone else’s, they tell us to give in to the fear, to fall, to sink, to be overwhelmed by it.
3 But you, Lord, are a shield around me,
my glory, the One who lifts my head high.
4 I call out to the Lord,
and he answers me from his holy mountain.
5 I lie down and sleep;
I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.
6 I will not fear though tens of thousands
assail me on every side.
But the Lord is present also! He is a shield around us. Even as we sink under the weight of our foes, his hand takes us. In our lack of faith, he is still there reaching out as we cry, “Lord save us!” We can rest in the truth of his protection. This is not the lack of fear. It is not that fear is absent or banished, but shielded by the Lord we can see that though we are surrounded and afraid, we do not need to act out of fear, because the one who is with us is greater than anyone or anything that could come against us.
7 Arise, Lord!
Deliver me, my God!
Strike all my enemies on the jaw;
break the teeth of the wicked.
8 From the Lord comes deliverance.
May your blessing be on your people.
Receive God’s blessing. Every week I hear or speak those words. Every week I remind or am reminded of the presence of the love of God, the grace and peace of Jesus Christ, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit in my life and the life of those around me. How could we not be courageous? How could we not take heart against our foes? Like Peter, we are focused on the whipping winds and the crashing waves. Let’s draw our focus to something else, to something true and good, to something that conquers all and stands at our side. Let’s draw our focus to the face of Jesus.
