“Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor the arrow that flies in the day. Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at midday.”
Imagine that you live in a world without electricity or any modern conveniences. You have been on the run in a bunch of caves with someone hunting you down. God appointed you for a significant purpose, but right about now you are starting to wonder if all of that is really true. King David, the writer of this psalm, experienced all of these things and his songwriting hobbies mean that thousands of years later we get the chance to connect with his experiences.
Night is a tough time for a lot of people. Anxiety and depression symptoms often get worse when it becomes dark at night. Insomnia is a common problem for those who struggle with mental health disorders. So what is God trying to tell us in these verses? Is he saying that we just need to not fear, when some of us struggle with intense fear, depression, or anxiety? How can you just stop something over which you seem to have no control? To answer this, we need to look at David’s own life to understand what he is talking about. Being on the run in some dark caves could be pretty terrifying. God is connecting with David in that place and essentially saying, “Hey, I’ve got your back. The dangers that you might normally face won’t take you out.” And they didn’t in David’s case even though he continued at times to face a lot of emotional turbulence.
Here’s your freedom for today: God won’t let you down. If he says he can do the impossible, then he is going to do it even if you don’t feel like you can muster up enough faith at the moment. If he says he will never leave you, then he is always there no matter what your feelings are telling you. God is faithful, and he will finish all that he has started in your life if you believe him to do it. Too often, we start to sabotage the good work that God is doing because we fear that he is not going to come through for us. The terrors in the night seem all too real. Take heart, God’s up to something in your life and he’ll see it through if you hang on to hope.