[Notes of a sermon preached at Holy Trinity Norwich on 30th August 2026]

Have you ever been afraid?  (Examples of phobias: arachnophobia, acrophobia, arachibutyrophobia.)

Have you ever felt under threat because of your Christian faith?

Worldwide, over 200 million people are living in fear because they are followers of Jesus Christ.

Bulbullah (Ethiopia): Once a persecutor of Christians himself, faced intense hostility from friends and family after converting to Christianity.

Atahar (Bangladesh): Attacked and driven from his market stall by a mob of 500 people.

Zaira (Central Asia): Began a life of hidden faith after praying alone to accept Jesus.  But saying ‘yes’ to following Jesus meant stepping into a life of rejection and violence from members of her own family.

Somayeh (Iran): Endured violent abuse and threats from her husband after converting from Islam.

Closer to home, there are those who are fearful because of

• a home situation where any mention of Christ and his message is met with frosty silence, if not downright hostility
• a classroom or lecture theatre where any challenge to secular humanism is dismissed with contempt.
• a workplace where any advocacy of God’s good plan for women and men is regarded as the height of intolerance.

In Psalm 56 David travels from fear to faith.

Superscription: ‘When the Philistines had seized him in Gath.’

Background: 1 Samuel 21:10-15

David has been chosen by God to be king, and anointed by Samuel.  Has become famous as the slayer of Goliath of Gath.  But Saul, whom he is to replace as king, has grown hostile towards him.  David flees to Gath, carrying with him Goliath’s sword!  He’s on his own, he’s in danger, he’s afraid.

But, by the end of the psalm, he is expressing heartfelt thankfulness.  How does he – and how do we – get from fear to faith?

1. Begins with a cry to God

 (a) Make prayer your first, rather than your last, resort, v1

‘Didn’t have a prayer’ – Song by Ray Wylie Hubbard:

I stood at the crossroads with tears in my eyes
I’d come as far as I could bring me, I couldn’t live and I could not die
There was darkness all around me, there was no sun up in the sky
I didn’t have a prayer
I didn’t have a prayer
I didn’t have a prayer to save my life.

Contrast with David’s starting point:

v1f Be merciful to me, O God, for men hotly pursue me;
all day long they press their attack.
My slanderers pursue me all day long;
many are attacking me in their pride.

‘There is much we can do after we have prayed; but there is nothing we can do until we have prayed.’

Like David, make prayer your first, rather than your last, resort.

(b) Look to the God of all compassion, v8

When we approach God in prayer, we are coming not only to an all-powerful King, but to an all-compassionate Father.

v8 ‘Record my lament; list my tears on your scroll—are they not in your record?’

In this life, be assured that God will record every tear, not one will fall down your cheek unnoticed.  In the life to come, he will wipe away each one.

(c) Take courage from the example of Jesus, Heb 5:7-9

Was Jesus ever afraid?

Mt 26:36-38 Jesus…began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

Fear says: ‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death’

Faith says: ‘Yet not my will, but yours.’

Heb 5:7-9 During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.

2. Guided by God’s promises

v4, 10 “I praise his word (promises)” (x2).

(a) Don’t focus on ‘mortal man’ and what he can do to you

v4,11 – What can ‘mortal man’ do to me? – Quite a lot, actually!

v5f –

‘All day long they twist my words;
they are always plotting to harm me.
They conspire, they lurk,
they watch my steps,
eager to take my life.’

They can oppress, slander, hurt, hate, maim, and murder me.

(b) Focus rather on our great God, and what he can do for you

v9b ‘I know that God is for me’.

Biblical faith is not wishful thinking.  It is not whistling in the dark.  It is not gritting your teeth.  It is trusting in God as he has revealed himself in his written word, the Scriptures, and, supremely, in the Living Word, Jesus.

(c) He has given us his Son, and all things along with him, Rom 8:31-32

If you have trusted God for salvation, you can trust him for all the things that accompany salvation.

Rom 8:31f ‘If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?’

You may or may not be delivered from the object of your fear.  But you will be given all things needful: ‘strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow’.

When John Chrysostom (ca. 347-407) was brought before the empress Eudoxia, she threatened him with banishment.

“You cannot banish me, for this world is my Father’s house.”

“Then I will kill you,” said the empress.

“No, you cannot, for my life is hid with Christ in God,” said John.

“I will take away your treasures.”

“No, you cannot, for my treasure is in heaven and my heart is there also.”

“I will drive you away from your friends and you will have no one left.”

“No, you cannot, for I have a Friend in heaven from whom you cannot separate me.

There is nothing you can do to harm me.”

3. Leads to a life of grateful obedience

The biblical doctrine of the Christian life can be summed up in two words: ‘grace’ and ‘gratitude’.

‘Grace’ (mercy) is what David asked for at the beginning of this psalm, and gratitude is what he expresses at the end.

(a) Let us give thanks!

v12 – I am under vows to you, O God; I will present my thank offerings to you.

When my father had become very frail in both body and mind, there was still one thing he was able to do: he could pray.  And his prayers always began with the same words: ‘We thank thee, heavenly Father’.

The presentation of ‘thank offerings’ was a public gesture.  reminds us that there is an important place for public thanksgiving.  Remember the ten lepers, Lk 17:11-19.

(b) Let us walk in the light of light, v13

v13  – ‘You have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.’

This is echoed in the teaching of Jesus:

Jn 8:12. “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

A hint of the life to come.  Our faith needs to be, and can be, stronger than death.  ‘If for this life only…’

(c) Jesus shows us the way

Heb 12:2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Bulbullah: Now a gospel partner with Adam, who once tried to kill him.

Atahar: A video of him being targeted for his Christian faith was shared widely on Facebook.  Atahar views this positively: “Now everyone knows that I am a believer”.

Zaira: Disowned by members of her family for several years, she returned to find that some of her relatives who had been most hostile  had now become believers.

Somayeh: Under threat from the intelligence services, Somayeh and her daughter had to flee to another country.  She had to leave her son behind: “It’s difficult knowing he’s still there,” she says, “but even when hope feels delayed, I know God is working. His love sustains us, and his guidance strengthens me every day.”

Whatever threat you feel under threat as a Christian, cry out to God in prayer, trust in his promises, and rejoice that nothing in life or death can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Psa 56:3 – ‘When I am afraid, I will trust in you.’