Today’s lectionary reading is from Psalm 27, and it shows a troubled David reaching out to God when times are troubled. He’s surrounded by intrigue, plots and plans. People are out to get him, and he’s acknowledged fear and frustration.

As David says in verse 12, he’s faced with false witnesses and people breathing out violence against him.

In spite of this, Psalm 27 starts and ends on a positive note of faith. Nonetheless, in the middle of the Psalm, we read David’s prayer when he begs for answers. 

So, how do we transform fear into faith when we are surrounded by life’s challenges? 

Desiring God and the presence of Spirit

Seeing through God’s eyes

Psalm 27 starts out with a strong affirmation:

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

What does it mean for the Divine to be our light? 

• a light allows us to see things clearly, rather than stumbling around in the dark.
• light is also used to guide the way and show us our path;
• in other instances, we have light that can highlight dangers and warn us, like lighthouses

Typically, when we think of light, we also instinctively think of it’s opposite: darkness. And often, in darkness, we are blind to our situation and unable to see the way ahead. We can’t identify the path we should walk or the obstacles that can cause us to stumble and fall. 

To start to turn fear into faith, our first step is to see our situation clearly.    And for this, we need to use the right light. 

Is the light that I am using to look at my situation and circumstances, the eyes of Spirit and Divine inspiration? Or am I looking at my situation through the lens of my fear, other people’s opinions or gossip?

Is this a Divine perspective? Or did I get caught up in worldly troubles and opinions?

What is my faith placed on?

Let’s have a look at Psalm 27:5.

Psalms 27 reminds us that we are to find shelter and refuge in God. We find three metaphors for hope here:

• refuge, stronghold or shelter
• a tent
• a rock

Here David syas that he hides in the shelter of God, he is concealed under the cover of God’s tent, and finally he is set high on a rock. 

I don’t know about you, but it’s really easy for me to get caught up thinking that money will solve all my problems. For example, how many times have we heard the saying:

If you have a problem that your money can solve, you don’t have a problem. 

So, for many of us, when we’re faced with a problem, our first thought is: money can solve this. And just like this, the love of money becomes a new problem, as we place our faith in money, rather than God.

Now, money is a good thing. But when we set our faith and trust in money, it takes us away from our spiritual walk. We start to focus all our energy and attention on making money and having “enough” money stored away so that we can feel confident and safe. 

When I was younger, I know that my faith was placed on my parents rather than God.  And perhaps, for you, there are friends or family that you have put your faith. 

That’s not to say that God doesn’t allow people to help us and shelter us, but we have to guard our hearts to make sure that our faith is placed in God, rather than in other people. 

Because, just like Job learnt through life’s trials, it’s easy to lose all your money and all your family and friends in just a moment.  And then, what do you have left to put your faith in? 

And so, we hear David say in verse 6 that his head is lifted up and held high.  He’s happy and joyful, celebrating with shouts of joy. 

What is your personal prayer?

And then David turns into a personsal prayer of faith: let’s look at verses 7 & following. 

Is your heart like David’s which says:

Come, seek God’s face!

Can you say?

Your face, Lord, do I seek. Do not hide your face from me. 

When you are troubled, what’s your first reaction and response? Is it to seek the presence of the Divine?

Or is God and prayer the last solution you think of when you’ve run out of all other options? 

I know for me, often my first impulse is not to directly seek Divine guidance.  First I rely on myself and try to fix it and solve the problem, and then, when all else fails, I turn to God.

But Psalm 27 reminds us that this is our first response: to seek God’s opinion while we are looking at the problem. 

One of things I have come to appreciate about churches and meetings, is that we start with prayer. No matter the problem that we are looking at, we ask for God’s insight and inspiration for solutions. 

Our daily practices and habits

But, are we doing this at home and in our every day life?

When you have a challenge at work, do you dedicate 10 seconds to ask for God’s insight before you really start to look at it? 

A few years ago, one of the girls at work asked me why I always had empty client folders in my drawer. It wasn’t just for the convenience of setting up new client files.
In fact, my practice was simply this:
I would sit down and look at how many new clients and how much new work I needed, and then I would go and get the empty file folders in that amount.
I would then sit and pray over those folders, asking that they be filled with new work and that I would have the discernment to know which clients to accept and which to reject and turn away. 

My personal prayer was that God would take care of my needs by sending me work. And my faith was that I would get the right work and clients because they were first dedicated to God.

But I don’t always remember this formula.

That was a habit that I developed. It didn’t come naturally to me. I would worry about doing the right thing to get clients, and finally, when all else failed, I would ask God.

But, we develop habits of faith through practice. 

So, what are your daily and weekly practices that turn fear into faith? 

David reminds us:

Teach me your way, O Lord…

Wait for the Lord, be strong and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord. 

So, today I invite you, can you never give up on the path of transforming your daily habits and practices into those that turn fear into faith?