Anxiety: Of Whom (or What) Shall I Be Afraid?
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Greg Waybright
- Psalm 27
- Heart Cries
- 38 mins 39 secs
- Views: 1458
Community Study
Notes for Teacher/Facilitator
Psalm 27 shows us the great diversity that Israel enjoyed when worshiping and praying. This psalm is a beautiful work of art reminding us that as humans seeking to be connected to the eternal God, we should expect faithful moments and confusing ones also, moments of great trust in the Lord and times of doubt and anxiety too. And the window into this reality is the life-threatening experience that the psalmist faced which caused him to write this wonderful psalm. No matter our situations, this psalm reminds us that when we are enveloped by darkness we can and should reach out to God, who is our light, and the community that he calls together!
Word Studies
Here are a few notes about particular words in this psalm:
- My light (ōr) – v.1: This is the only place in the Old Testament where “light” is used as a title for God. Elsewhere it is a descriptor which indicates all that is good and creative about God. The psalmist here personalizes this goodness of God even more by saying that God is “my light.”
- Beauty (nōam) – v.4: This is a rich Hebrew word which carries with it the ideas of physical beauty and overall loveliness. The psalmist is likely thinking of the splendor of the temple in Jerusalem, which was intended to point to the beauty of God. It should be noted, however, that anything that is created will pale in comparison to the magnificence of the Creator!
- Seek (baqar) – v.4: Specifically in view here is the idea of seeking God in his temple. What does the psalmist mean? He could mean meditating or praying in the temple, though it seems more likely that the he is saying that he comes to worship at the temple with specific questions for God. This means that he understands worship as a time not just for adoration, but also for bringing questions before the God of the universe.
- Shouts of joy (teruah) – v.6: This same word can also be translated as “battle cry.” Here, however, the context lets us know that worship of the living God is often accompanied with loud screams of utter happiness and contentment!
- Face (paneh) – vv.8-9: Seeking God’s face does not literally mean looking for a physical face to gaze upon. Instead it implies a metaphorical search for a fresh experience of the presence of God, a renewed vision of his deep love and concern for his creation.
- Oppressors (sharar) – v.11: This word is also translated as “enemies” and comes from a verb meaning “to watch.” The idea is that there will always be some people lying in wait, watching the people of God, looking to see us falter.
Introduction
- Open your class/community time with prayer. Ask the Spirit of God to reveal himself to all of you through the Scriptures and through your discussion together.
- Discuss last week’s challenge and encourage people to share how the challenge went for them.
- Spend a few of the opening moments of your time together exploring how following Jesus causes us to rejoice and to lament.
- Share about how Psalm 27 is both a psalm of confidence and one of lament
- Ask your community (all together or in smaller groups) to share with one another reasons they have to celebrate and reasons they have to be sad
- End the opening time with prayer, celebrating the joy God brings and asking for his presence in the midst of pain, suffering, and loss.
Bible Questions
- How big of a deal is fear in our modern lives? In what ways do we attempt to overcome it on our own? How can remembering that God is our light and our stronghold help?
- In the face of despair and danger, the psalmist says there’s only one thing he really wants: to worship God. Is this our “one thing” we want when we’re in trouble? Why or why not?
- The psalmist says that in response to God’s goodness in the face of danger he will “sacrifice with shouts of joy.” What role does joy play in our worship of the Lord, especially in our giving of monetary tithes and offerings?
- In verse 11 the psalmist begs God to teach him and guide him in the face of the life-threatening danger that he faces. Wouldn’t most of us pray for God to remove us from the danger? What can we learn from the psalmist here about how to face tough times?
- Verse 14 is beautiful but difficult to live out. Why is waiting on God so hard?
Discussion Questions
- In times of stress, danger, and uncertainty, what about God is still worthy of worship? How can we remember this – are there spiritual practices we could engage in to help us remember?
- What role can and should Christian community play when we are facing real fears in our lives? How can we fulfill this role for one another better and better?
- How do you think our capacity to seek God in the midst of pain and suffering impacts how those who are far from God view us and Jesus, whom we represent?
Takeaway
God is always on our side! He will be there to teach us and guide us, even in the worst of times!
Challenge
When (not if!) something goes awry this week, reach out to a member of your group for support.
Study Notes
Anxiety: Whom (or What) Shall I Be Afraid? - Sermon Notes
Heart Cries: Anxiety – Whom (or What) Shall You Fear?
Psalm 27
I’m a bit anxious about today’s sermon. Yes, anxious about talking to you about being anxious.
I think I feel this way because so many people, including church people, struggle with anxiety. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), anxiety is the most commonly reported mental and emotional disorder that people confess to struggling with in the U.S. Over 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older, or 18% of the population, report that they are negatively affected by anxiety.
So, what do I mean by anxiety? Here’s a simple definition: Anxiety is a feeling of apprehension or fear about what might happen. So, make note: It’s not always bad to feel anxious. In fact, one of the good things about us as human beings is that God has made us to be able to feel anxious when there is something real to be anxious about.
For example: Imagine that you're alone at night walking down a street. You turn a corner and notice that it’s darker than usual. Suddenly, you hear footsteps behind you –getting closer by the second. Your heart begins to pound, your mind races about what to do. In this kind of case, anxiety may lead you to do something that protects your life, e.g., pull out your mace, make a quick phone call, etc. Of course, the person running up behind you may be out for a late night jog. But your reaction to the anxiety could save you from harm.
Or, think about a final exam or important project at work. Anxiety often has the affect of motivating you to work in a more focused way on the project or to study for the exam. If you never felt anxious about doing well on your tests or having your project done in time the boss, you may not go very far in school or work.
However, when anxious feelings, like worry and fear, begin to be debilitating -- keeping you from normal activities, when they become excessive, or have no apparent association with things that actually happen -- they can be evidence of an anxiety disorder. And that's a whole other story.
Debilitating Anxiety
There are a number of ways that anxiety can become destructive in your life. Here are just a few:
- General Anxiety Disorder
- Panic Disorder -- a type of anxiety characterized by brief or sudden attacks of intense terror that often leads to shaking, confusion, dizziness, nausea, and difficulty breathing.
- Social Anxiety Disorder – That’s when you fear being negatively judged by others or fear public embarrassment. This disorder can cause you to avoid human contact to the point that normal life becomes very hard. If you struggle with that, know that I am thankful you have made it to church!
I believe King David struggled with some kind of anxiety disorder. The language he uses in his Psalms points me to that again and again. And he surely had good reasons for his anxiety. For years of his life, he was chased by a crazy king and the king’s army. Later, he constantly felt the pressures of leading a new and fragile nation. And he had serious marriage and family problems. In fact, two of his sons betrayed him and tried to put him out of office. So, I find that David’s Psalms are especially relevant to this topic of anxiety.
The topic of anxiety is too big to be dealt with in one sermon. So, I’ve prayerfully considered what I should focus on in the moments I have. Here’s what I’ll do today: I want you to see the main difference that David’s faith in God made in his anxiety-filled world. I want you to find the same kind of confidence and peace in the midst of anxiety that he did. It all had to do with his relationship to God.
But, before I do that, I want some of you to know that I believe that God has built into his world some general truth and help available even to people who do not know him or even seek him.
Anxiety, Faith, Meds and Therapy
When I speak about topics like this, I find that some people are tempted to think that, if I just trust Jesus more, then I’ll never have any anxiety. And they throw away any other kind of help that God has made available in this world that he has created. So, listen carefully now: God heals in many ways – both in ways we call natural and super-natural. God made the natural and God is the God of the supernatural.
Here’s a principle: We who follow Jesus believe that all truth is God’s truth, including whatever is true about our human emotional functioning. And there is nothing in all the universe that has not been created by God, including whatever is found in medication.
How might God provide help in more natural ways for people dealing with anxiety? Over the years, I have found that there are two main ways that health care professionals seek to provide help for people suffering from anxiety: medication and therapy. Medication can be misapplied and abused. I know that. And the therapy can be foolish and misguided. I know that too. But, please know that Christian and non-Christian alike can benefit greatly both from wisely prescribed meds and from good counsel.
Sometimes, anxiety disorders have a deeply physiological component to them. Something in the body gets out of sync. A properly diagnosed problem can often be helped significantly by medication. But, be sure of this: Meds cannot solve the problems that make you anxious but they can help alleviate the out-of-control feelings that anxiety causes so that you might begin to deal with those problems more reasonably.
In addition to finding some help from meds, some of you have shared with me that you simply discovered some good therapy and counsel that has helped you cope with stress.
So, just before I turn to the way the Bible speaks to the heart of our anxiety, I want to say clearly that some of God’s help can come in more “natural” ways to us to us, whether we are Christians or not Christians. If you are struggling with anxiety, it may be that good meds may help ease some of the volatility of it and good advice from professional counsellors may help you manage it. If they’re helping you, don’t throw either one out.
If you need some help finding a good Christ-centered counsellor or a small group to walk with you, I’ll show you right now where you might find the next step: Find some resources at www.lakeave.org/counseling. And we have a counseling intake number to help you too: 626.844.4794.
I’ve been reading a lot of secular articles about anxiety this week. The single most common advice I have found about anxiety is this: “The things you’re worried about may never happen. Learn not to worry about things that may never happen. Instead, visualize a future without bad things happening. Visualize that future. Focus on that. Don’t focus on all the things that could go wrong.”
And, at last, that piece of advice brings me to the distinctive way the Bible talks about handling anxiety.
The Foundation for Lasting Help: Dwelling Face-to-Face with the Lord
In Psalm 27, David writes a song about how anxiety and faith live side-by-side in his life. Some scholars have said that it really is two different Psalms that somehow got jammed into one. They think that anxiety and faith cannot coexist like this in a person’s life. But, the scholars are wrong about that. David takes what most of us experience and puts it into a profound Psalm. He tells us that people of faith sometimes are anxious.
Psalm 27 is about a man who genuinely believes in God but is going through a time filled with fear, worry, and anxiety. Notice where he begins and ends the Psalm: With remembering what God is like: Vv.1, 13. So, this Psalm is a personal experience of a man who wrestled with deep fears but continued to honor God.
The Realism of a Person of Faith
When we look at Psalm 27, we see a very refreshing transparency about how hard things might be in our world. David did not do what many counselors suggest we should do when we are anxious, i.e., to try to visualize a life in which there is no trouble. He didn’t try to say, “Those things I am anxious about could never happen.” He knew they could – and you do too.
For example, look at v.3. David says, “Though an army besiege me.” Many think David wrote this when Saul with his army was trying to catch David. What David imagines in the situation is the worst that could happen! “What if the army is all around me, with weapons, and ready to attack.” Then, in v.10, he envisions something even worse, “What if even my parents turn against me?”
You see, there is no indication that an entire army actually was besieging David at the time. And there is no evidence that David’s mother and father actually forsook him. But, David knew those things could happen in this world. He says, “Even if those things do happen …”
What is David doing? He is doing the opposite of what many articles say about handling our fears. He is actually imagining the worst things that could happen to him in his world. Why? Because he wants to have a strategy of life, a strategy of dealing with fears and anxieties, that can stand up to anything – that fears nothing that might happen in this world.
And that’s what he found in his relationship to God. The Bible does not tell us to try to envision a day in our lives without trouble. It tells us to envision the worst that this world could throw at us and consciously remember that the God who is with us is greater than anything that might make us anxious in this world. So, David writes a song in which he begins by saying that God is the stronghold of his life, a place of safety, so that he does not have to be afraid of anyone or anything. Nothing can separate him from the love of God.
And David ends the Psalm by saying in vv. 13-14 that we can be confident in this world in which we tend to be afraid and we can be strong and have hearts of peace as we wait on the Lord in the midst of trouble.
So, the distinctive key to dealing with anxiety is applying your faith in God to the situation that causes anxiety. It’s not that you should try to pretend that troubling things won’t happen. You know they do. No, you call out the things that you might be afraid of – and you learn to face them with God. That’s what David says.
How Do You Take Steps to Move from Fear to Trust?
I believe that v. 4 provides the practical key to you applying your faith in a God who is your light and stronghold to your situation of anxiety:
One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
1) to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and 2) to seek him in his temple.
There are three verbs in this prayer: dwell, gaze and seek.
Word 1: Dwell
The greatest desire David has in the midst of anxiety is to dwell in God’s house. This means to be consciously in the presence of God, i.e., to live in a way in which he is deeply aware of God’s presence so that he can rest in that. He’s talking about what I feel when I’ve been travelling and involved in a difficult task and then go home. I think, “This is wonderful -- to be in my bed, with my family, and eating food I really like.” What David is saying is that his “one thing”, his greatest desire, is to experience the unbroken presence of God in the midst of his anxiety-producing situation.
Note this: Anxiety is often caused when something else in this world has become your “one thing”, things like your money, your health, your reputation… When that is the case, and that “one thing” is threatened, you become afraid. The Bible is saying that, in times of anxiety, the main thing you must learn to seek is to be in God’s presence. David is saying here, “My fears are directly proportional to the vulnerability of the things that are my greatest desires. If the one thing I ask for is God’s presence, then I will always be able to live without fear. Nothing in this world. can take that away. And God is greater than anything I might fear in this world.
Word 2: Gaze
When you take time to acknowledge that God is with you, then, take time also to “gaze on his beauty.” When you gaze on the beauty of something, you turn the thing you want over in your imagination. It may be a career. It may be a house at the beach. It may be getting out of debt. It may be a particular person… You gaze on it -- you imagine what life would be like if you got it. David says that “gazing” like this this is the way things become the “one thing” of our lives. What he does is he calls himself – and you too – to take time to gaze on the beauty of God. Do you ever take time to do that? David says unless you do that, other things will become your idols and you’ll have a fearful life – a life afraid of those things not happening.
You can always follow your worries to the things that enslave you. When other things in this world become the “one thing” you want, you think you have to have those things in order to be happy. Then, you “gaze on them”. You adore them, and you become anxious that you’ll lose them. So when other things become “one things,” that’s when anxiety comes.
If God is your ‘one thing,’ the one thing I ask for most – so much that you gaze on his beauty, then you can be anxiety-free” Anything but God is vulnerable. But, nothing can take God away from you.
Word 3: Seek
The word seek means to go and get counsel. So what the Bible is telling you to do in the midst of anxiety is to pray like this, “Lord, I gaze upon you and see how good and beautiful and powerful you are. So, when I come to you, I am telling you that I know I need to find out what your will is. Oh Lord, I want to find out your will, and submit to it.” Do you seek God that way?
There are disciplines to seeking his will. You read the Bible. You pray. You meditate. You worship with your brothers and sisters in Christ at church. Those are the inner disciplines. Then you have the outer disciplines. Be careful stewards in your financial lifestyle instead of materialistic. Be sexually pure instead of impure. Be forgiving instead of bitter. Have a servant’s heart instead of a self-centered and arrogant heart.
Gazing and seeking describe the two essential parts of walking with God. But we often separate them. If you only seek God’s will to obey him day in and day out without gazing on the beauty, your walk with God will be legalistic and burdensome. You won’t grow in your love of God and you’ll get worn out. But, on the other hand, if you just try to gaze on his beauty, just have great religious experiences, but you don’t seek to find out God’s will and do daily obedience, you will find you will walk away from God.
In times of anxiety, seek first to know God’s presence. Then take time to gaze on his greatness, his power over all things, and his love for you. Then seek to live in the situation in ways that honor him. You then will, as vv. 13-14 say, “be confident, strong and able to wait upon the Lord.”
Bottom line: we live in an anxious world. But we don’t need studies and statistics to tell us that, do we? We see the reality of it everyday. We live in a world where most people don’t have enough of anything, and too many people have too much of everything. We live in a world that is anxious about global warming and natural disasters and wrong people being elected. We live in a world that brings so much pain and injustice to so many. We live in a world that is worried about running out, about not having enough, about not doing enough, and about not measuring up. I want you to come and dwell with God, gaze on him, and seek his ways again.
I can imagine there are a number of you here today who are saying, “Okay, Pastor Greg, this is very interesting -- but I’m anxious right now about something that’s going to happen on Thursday. That’s four days away. What do I do until then? Today, you have come into his house and are among his people. I want you right now to gaze on the beauty of Jesus. Gaze on him. Look at him. Look at what he is doing. Look at him dying for you. Gaze on him defeating death by his resurrection. He is greater than your fears. How much more of the beauty of God can we see because we know Jesus?
Tell him, “You’re my ‘one thing.’ I see your beauty. I will trust you so that I’m afraid of nothing anymore. Do you understand that? Unless you’re able to get this into your blood you’re going to live a fearful life. Don’t you see? “If my father and mother forsake me, if my spouse forsakes me, if my career forsakes me, if romance forsakes me, if my looks forsake me, the Lord will never forsake me.”
Let’s take time to respond to this. Before our service ends, I want to give you the chance to gaze on the Lord and seek the Lord. Is there anything you are anxious about now? We’ll give you just a moment right now – with us in this place – to give that matter to God.
And the language in this Psalm of David meeting God “in his house” and seeking “in his Temple” leads me to see that we need to give you a chance to have someone pray with you about any matter that is a burden on you now. So, we will give you a chance now to come for prayer…
Chinese Study Notes
Anxiety: Whom (or What) Shall I Be Afraid? - Chinese Translation
心靈的哭泣：焦慮 ----你當懼怕誰（什麽）？
詩篇 27
今天的講道令我有一些焦慮。是的，和大家談論焦慮這個主題，令我有些焦慮。
我想，我有這種感受，是因為很多人，包括教會的弟兄姐妹，都會掙紮於焦慮之中。根據國家心理健康協會（NIMH）的統計，在美國，焦慮是為人們所承認的最為普遍的心理和情緒的紊亂。據統計，在美國十八歲以上的成年人中，有四千萬，也就是18%的人們有焦慮引起的負面情緒。
什麽是焦慮？一個簡單的定義就是：焦慮就是對未來將會發生的事情感到擔憂或害怕。所以要記住，人並不總是感覺焦慮。其實，人類的一個優勢，就是當真正的危險臨到的時候，有神所賜給我們的感到焦慮的能力。
比如，你想象一下，一個晚上，你獨自一人在街上行走。轉過一個街角的時候，你發現那裏比平時要黑。突然，你聽見身後有腳步聲，越走越近。你的心跳開始加快，你的腦中飛快地盤算著要怎樣應對。在這種情況下，焦慮會使你做出一些保護自己性命的舉動，比如，拿出你的手杖、或是盡快打電話等等。當然，也許從後面跑上來的那個人只是在跑步而已。但是你對焦慮的反應會使你免受傷害。
或者，想一想你的期末考試或是工作中的一個重要的項目。如果你從來不會對考試好壞、或者按時完成工作與否感覺到焦慮，那麽你在學業或工作上就無法走得很遠。
然而，當焦慮的感覺，比如擔心和害怕，開始使你軟弱的時候，要就是當它們過多的時候，你就無法正常地活動，或者無法正確解讀真實發生的事情，那就是焦慮癥的癥狀。當然，這完全是另外一回事了。
焦慮使人軟弱
焦慮在幾個方面可以破壞你的生活。下面列舉出幾個例子：
• 一般性焦慮癥（GAD）---- 特征是有持續性，過度焦慮，不現實地擔心每天的事情。有這種癥狀的人通常會想得過多。即使事情沒有明顯令人擔憂之處時，他們也會預計最壞的結果。他們不知道該如何停止不斷循環的憂慮。
• 恐慌癥 ---- 一種突發性的強烈恐懼，常會導致發抖，混亂，暈眩，和呼吸困難。
• 社交恐懼癥 ---- 當你害怕別人的負面評價，或害怕當眾遭遇尷尬場面時的恐懼癥。這會使你避免與他人交往，以至於使日常生活變得困難。如果你有類似的掙紮，我很感恩，你還能來到教會！
我相信，大衛王也掙紮於某種焦慮癥之中。他在詩篇中所使用的語言使我不斷
地想到這一點。當然，他有很好的理由焦慮。在他的生活中，他常年被國王及其軍隊追殺。之後，他帶領一個新生的、尚為弱小的國家，總是感到有很多壓力，再加上他有嚴重的婚姻與家庭問題。他有兩個兒子都背叛了他，並且想謀篡王位，所以我發現，大衛的詩篇與焦慮的主題有很多關系。
用一次講道來講焦慮這個主題，有些太過寬泛，所以，我在禱告中決定了我此時應當將側重面放在哪裏。今天，我想讓大家看到，在大衛那充滿焦慮的世界裏，他對神的信仰怎樣改變了他。我希望大家能看到他在焦慮之中所存的同樣的信心與和平。這都與他和神的關系緊密相連。
然而，在我轉入正題之前，我想讓大家了解，我相信，神將一些普遍真理置入世間，為要幫助那些從不認識祂、也從未尋求祂的人們。
焦慮，信心，藥物和治療
每當我談到這個主題時，我就發現，有些人會認為，只要我更多信靠耶穌，就永遠不會有焦慮。而且他們會放棄神在祂所創造的世上為人們提供的其他類型的幫助。所以我希望大家認真聽：神有很多醫治的方法，包括自然方法和超自然的方法。神創造自然，而神又是超自然的神。
原則是：跟隨耶穌的人都相信，所有真理都是神的真理，包括有關人類情緒功能的真理。宇宙中的一切都是神所造的，包括在醫藥之中的發現。
神怎樣以更加自然的方法幫助人們面對焦慮呢？在過去的年日裏，我發現，專業的醫務人員有兩個主要的方法幫助那些掙紮於焦慮之中的人們: 藥物治療和心理治療。我知道，藥物治療有可能被誤用或濫用；而心理治療可能會是愚蠢和誤導的。但是也請大家了解，無論是不是基督徒，都可以從智慧的處方和好的心理咨詢得到很大的益處。
有時候，焦慮癥有著深刻的生理成分，因為身體上的某些物質的含量失衡。一個得到正確診斷的問題往往能夠通過藥物得到顯著的改善。但是要明白這一點：藥物無法幫助你解決那個最終導致你焦慮的問題，而只是能緩解焦慮帶給你的那種無法控制的感覺，從而使你能夠有足夠的理智來處理那些問題。除了靠藥物幫助之外，有些人也找到一些好的治療和咨詢師，來幫助他們應付壓力。
因此，在我們開始看聖經如何談到焦慮的根本問題之前，我想清楚地告訴大家，神所給我們的某些幫助，是以更加“自然”的方式出現的，無論我們是不是基督徒。如果你掙紮於焦慮之中，很可能，好的藥物會幫助你緩解一些波動性；專業咨詢師們中肯的建議可能會幫助你管理這些問題。如果他們幫助你，不要拒絕。如果你需要找到一個以基督為中心的咨詢師或一個小團體，那麽我現在可以告訴你一個得到幫助的途徑：請到下面的網站尋找一些資源：www.lakeave.org/counseling。我們也有一個咨詢熱線可以幫助你：626.844.4794。
這個星期，我讀了很多關於焦慮的非基督教的文章。我發現，人們給焦慮最普遍的一個建議是：你要學會不要為永遠都不會發生的事情擔憂，不單如此，還要想象一個沒有壞事情發生的未來。專註在想象未來上，而不是專註在可能出問題的事情上。這個忠告使我想到聖經中處理焦慮的獨特方法。
永久幫助的根基：與主面對面同在
詩篇第２７篇是大衛寫的一首歌，他描述了焦慮和信心如何他的生命之中並存。有一些學者說，這篇實際上是兩個詩篇，不知何故被寫在了一篇之中。他們認為，焦慮與信心不能在一個人的生命之中像這樣同時存在。但是學者們錯了。大衛只是將我們大多數人所經歷的寫成了一首深刻的詩篇。他告訴我們，有信心的人有時候也會焦慮。
詩篇２７篇描述了一個真誠相信神、卻在經歷著充滿懼怕、擔憂和焦慮的人。請留意這首詩篇的開始和結束。在第１節和１３節回憶了神的樣式；這是詩人與恐懼搏鬥之時，還繼續榮耀神的親身經歷。
一個有信心的人的真實生活
當我們看詩篇２７篇的時候，我們非常清楚地看到艱難的事情如何在我們的世界中運行。大衛沒有像很多咨詢師那樣建議我們在焦慮的時候應當做什麽，比如當我們焦慮的時候，要想象一個沒有問題的人生。他也沒有說：“那些我所擔憂的事情永遠也不會發生。”他知道，那些事情有可能會發生，你也知道。
例如，在第3節，大衛說：“雖有軍兵安營攻擊我……”。許多人認為，大衛這樣寫是因為掃羅及其軍隊要抓捕大衛，而大衛在想象著有可能發生的最壞的狀況！“興起刀兵攻擊我”，接著，在第10節，他設想到更糟糕的事情：“我的父母離棄我。”
你看，當時並沒有任何跡象表明，整個軍隊真的在圍攻大衛。而且也沒有證據顯示，大衛的母親和父親真的都離棄了他。但是大衛知道，這些事情是有可能發生在這個世界的。他說，“即使這些事情發生......”
此時大衛正在做什麽呢？他正在做的，是與許多文章所告訴我們如何處理恐懼的辦法相反的事。實際上，他是在設想可能發生在他身上的最糟糕的情況。 為什麽？因為他要發揮出他生命的最高策略，處理恐懼和焦慮的策略，這樣就可以有能力、毫無懼怕地去面對這個世界上可能發生的任何事情。
而這正是他在與神所建立的良好關系中發現的。雖然聖經並沒有告訴我們，要試著去想象沒有問題的生活，然而它卻告訴我們，可以去設想一下，我們在這個世界上可能會臨到的最糟糕的光景；但卻要牢牢記住，與我們同在的神會勝過任何可能使我們焦慮的事情。因此，大衛在一首詩的開頭寫道，神是他生命的山寨和避難所，因此他不必害怕任何人或任何事。沒有任何事物能使他與神的愛隔絕。
大衛在13-14節中，用以下的話結束了這首詩篇：雖然在這個世上我們都有軟弱，但只要我們在危難中等候主，就可以變為剛強，以致我們內心充滿平安。
因此，對付焦慮的關鍵，是在使你焦慮的境況中信靠神。你不應該假裝煩惱的事情不會發生，你知道它們很有可能發生。相反的，你要面對那些可能使你害怕的事情，要學會在與神的同在中去面對它們。這就是大衛所告訴我們的。
你如何從懼怕邁入信心？
我相信，第4節很實用地為你提供了一個關鍵方法，使你將信心放在那位在焦慮之中成為你的光和盾牌的神的身上：
有一件事，我曾求耶和華，
我仍要尋求，
就是一生一世住在耶和華的殿中，
瞻仰祂的榮美，
在祂的殿裏求問
第一個字：住在
大衛在焦慮中最大的渴慕，就是居住在神的殿中。這意味著他自覺尋求與神同在，也就是說，他選擇一種深深感受到神同在的生活方式，讓他可以在其中得享安息。他所說的這一切，剛好是我在旅行或者參與了一項艱巨的工作之後，回到家裏的感受。我想，“這真是美好，躺在我的床上，和家人在一起，吃著我喜愛的食物。”大衛所說的這“一件事”，他最大的渴望，就是在焦慮之中經歷神完全的同在。
請註意，通常來說，焦慮的引發，是因為世上其他的事物成為你的“那一件事”，比如你的錢，你的健康，你的名譽……若是如此，當“那件事”受到威脅的時候，你就會焦慮。聖經說，在焦慮時，你要學會尋求的最主要的一件事，就是與神同在。大衛在這裏說，我的恐懼與我最渴望之事的脆弱程度是成正比的。如果我所渴求的，是神的同在，那麽我就永遠可以毫無畏懼地生活。世上沒有任何事物可以奪走這一切。神比這世上的一切都更強大。
第二個字：瞻仰
當你花時間了解神與你同在的時候，那麽，請你也花時間“瞻仰祂的榮美”。當你瞻仰某些事物的榮美時，你就將那個事物在自己的想象之中美化了。這可能是你的事業，可能是海邊的一棟房子，可能是擺脫債務，也可能是某一個人……你瞻仰它，你想象著，如果得到它，人生會是什麽樣子。大衛說，如此“註視”一件事，就使它成為了我們生命之中的“那一件事”。他所做的，是讓自己和我們都花時間去瞻仰神的榮美。你有沒有花過時間做這件事？大衛說，除非你這樣做，否則其他事情就會成為你的偶像，你就會有一個充滿懼怕的生活 ---- 害怕那些不會發生的事將會發生的生活。
你總是能夠遵循你的擔憂而使一些事物奴役和驅使你。當世上其他事物成為你渴望的“那一件事”的時候，你覺得自己必須要擁有它才能快樂。那麽，你就在“瞻仰”它們。你崇拜它們，你擔憂自己會失去它們。因此，當其它事物變成那“一件事”的時候，焦慮就會來到。
如果神是你的那“一件事”，是你祈求最多的，以至於你瞻仰著祂的榮美，那麽，你就可以“免於焦慮”。除神之外的一切都是脆弱的。沒有任何事物可以將神從你身邊奪走。
第三個字：尋求
尋求這個字的意思，是去得到忠告。聖經告訴你，在焦慮之中，要這樣禱告：“主啊，我仰望你，看到你是何等良善，榮美和全能。因此，我來到你的面前。我要告訴你，我知道自己需要明白你的旨意。主啊! 我想要知道你的旨意，並降服於你。”你是否這樣尋求過神？
在尋求祂的旨意時，有一定的規律。你讀經、禱告、默想，你與主內的眾弟兄姐妹一同在教會敬拜，這些是內在的規律。還會有外在的規律。要小心管理你的財務生活，不要變成物質主義者。在兩性問題上要純潔，而不要汙穢。要有仆人的心，而不要自我中心和傲慢對人。
瞻仰和尋求描述了與神同行的兩個最重要的部分。然而我們卻常常將它們分開。如果你每天僅僅尋求神的旨意、遵從祂，卻並不瞻仰祂的榮美，那麽你與神的同行就會是墨守陳規和繁重的。你對神的愛不會成長，而且你會筋疲力盡。但是另一方面，如果你只瞻仰祂的榮美，有美好的宗教經驗，但是卻不去尋求神的旨意，每日遵從神，那麽，你就會發現，你慢慢會偏離神。
在焦慮的時候，首先要明白神的同在，然後花時間瞻仰祂的偉大、祂那超越一切的全能、以及祂對你的愛。然後去尋求一種榮耀神的生活方式。那樣你就會像13-14節所說，“滿了信心、剛強並能夠等候主”。
底線：我們生活在一個焦慮的世界裏，這並不需要研究和統計數據告訴我們，不是嗎？我們每天都看到這樣的現實。我們生活在一個大多數人沒有足夠的物品、而很多的人卻有過剩物品的世界裏；我們生活在一個擔心全球變暖、自然災難發生以及不恰當的人被選舉的世界裏；我們生活在一個充滿痛苦和不公正的世界裏。
我們生活在一個擔心資源被用盡、擔心所需的不夠、所做的不夠，和估計不足的世界裏。我希望你能與神同住，定睛在祂身上，再次尋求祂的道路。我能想象到有你們中間許多的人，今天在這裏說：“好吧，Greg牧師，這是非常有趣的事情，但我現在正憂慮將會在周四發生的事情，它離現在僅有這4天的期限。在這之前我該怎麽辦？”
讓我們這樣做：今天，你已經進入神的家，並成為祂的子民之一，我想讓你現在就瞻仰耶穌的榮美，凝視祂，註目於祂，看看祂正在做什麽，看著祂為你而受死，註視祂藉著復活而戰勝死亡。耶穌大過你的恐懼，祂與你同在，整個星期都會與你同在。因著認識耶穌，我們可以看到神更多的榮美。
告訴祂，“你是我的‘唯一’，我看到了你的榮美。因著相信你，我毫無懼怕。”你明白嗎？除非你能夠將這些融入你的血液，否則你將會生活在焦慮之中。你明白嗎？ “如果我的父親和母親離棄我，如果我的配偶背棄我，如果我的職業拋棄我，如果愛情遠離我，如果我的容貌離棄我，上帝卻永遠也不會離棄我。”
讓我們花一些時間對此作出回應。在主日敬拜結束之前，讓我們一同來仰望主、尋求主。你的心中是否有值得焦慮的事情？現在我們花一點時間，一同將你的焦慮卸給神，在詩篇中，大衛在聖殿裏遇見神，並尋求神，使我看到，我們需要給你一個機會，為了你心中一切的重擔，讓代禱同工與你一同祈禱。
榮耀歸給神，
Greg Waybright 博士
主任牧師