Psalm 56:3-4 When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
    In God, whose word I praise—
in God I trust and am not afraid.
    What can mere mortals do to me?

A particular turn of phrase in the Japanese catches my attention right now. Where the English says, “When I am afraid,” the Japanese says, “When I remember fear in my heart.” When we are totally fixed on the task at hand, and particularly on the One who gave us that task, we forget to be afraid! The more we fixate on something, the bigger that becomes in our awareness. We multiply our suffering when we fixate on how bad we feel. Here, David is in a genuinely dangerous situation, seized by enemies who might very well kill him, but he chooses to trust God rather than fixate on the fear that very naturally wells up in him. When we have the eternal perspective, we can say with Paul, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” (2 Corinthians 4:17) As David put it, “What can flesh do to me?” The devil and the world would give us a long list of things “flesh” could do to us, but when we compare it to the glory of eternal life in Christ, all of that fades into total insignificance. When we have that perspective, we are freed to enjoy all the blessings God pours out on us, even in this life. All sorts of things work against our delighting in God’s goodness to us, and therefore thanking and praising Him. A major one is a sense of entitlement. We are shocked when bad things happen to us, because we think we don’t deserve them. However, Peter said, “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.” (1 Peter 4:12) And John said, “Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.” (1 John 3:13) Those things are just part of life on this planet, just as Jesus said. (John 16:33) Yes, bad things can happen to us, and probably will, but if we fixate on that, we suffer before they even happen! We need to trust God to the point that we forget to be afraid!

I feel like God has been teaching me this particular lesson all my life, so it would be very foolish to forget it now. As I get older, physical issues attack me more easily. Yesterday, simply walking and standing in a store, my back and right hip were yelling for my attention to the point that I had to find a place to sit down for a while. If I focus on that, I’ll stop going anywhere, and my physical situation will only get worse. Last night my wife was seeing on the Internet some of the scams and such that are being done in the wake of the hurricane in the US, and it dragged her down emotionally to the point that she was in physical pain and nausea. The world is full of nasty, unpleasant things, but it is also full of the grace, glory, and love of God. I’ve got to be careful of my focus, and help those around me adjust theirs as well.

Father, thank You for this reminder. We are indeed greatly influenced by our emotions, and emotions are certainly unreliable. Help us fix our eyes, our hearts, fully on You, so that we may have the perspective You intend for us, for our blessing and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!