Writing on Psalm 23:4 (“I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me”), Charles Spurgeon said these wonderful words:
The worst evils of life are those which do not exist except in our imagination. If we had no troubles but real troubles, we should not have a tenth part of our present sorrows. We feel a thousand deaths in fearing one, but the Psalmist was cured of the disease of fearing. “I will fear no evil,” not even the Evil One himself; I will not dread the last enemy, I will look upon him as a conquered foe, an enemy to be destroyed, “For you are with me.”
This is the joy of the Christian! “You are with me.” The little child out at sea in the storm is not frightened like all the other passengers on board the vessel, it is asleep in its mother’s bosom; it is enough for it that its mother is with it; and it should be enough for the believer to know that Christ is with him. “You are with me; I have in having thee, all that I can crave: I have perfect comfort and absolute security, for you art with me.” “Your rod and your staff,” by which thou governest and rulest thy flock, the ensigns of thy sovereignty and of thy gracious care—“they comfort me.” I will believe that thou reignest still. The rod of Jesse shall still be over me as the sovereign succour [help/support] of my soul.
My wife Nanci wrote in her journal a prayer based on Psalm 23 that included these thoughts about fear related to her stage-four cancer:
May your Holy Spirit—the Comforter—banish all my fears of evil (being out of control, letting pride inflate me, weakness, pain, loss of plans) as I walk through this valley—because you are with me!
Scripture is full of commands to fear God, and it is also full of commands to not be afraid. If we fear God, we need not be afraid of anyone or anything else. John Donne wrote, “As he that fears God, fears nothing else. So he that sees God, sees everything else.” Similarly, in Grow in Grace, Sinclair Ferguson writes, “The fear of the Lord tends to take away all other fears… This is the secret of Christian courage and boldness.”
If we don’t fear God, we have good reason to be afraid of other things. You fear God when you come to grips with the fact that He is in charge, and you are not. As Spurgeon put it, He is the sovereign help of our souls.
Yet despite being the sovereign King over all, He’s also near His children and cares deeply for them. “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). God, the Creator of the universe and fountainhead of all marvels, cares for you and me! Here’s another great Spurgeon quote: “God has never refused to bear your burdens, he has never fainted under their weight.”
In Psalm 16:8 David says, “I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” To set the Lord before me is to recognize His presence and His constant help. May we do the same.
