Tag Archives: Fear

Thomas Manton Exegeting the Heart.2

21 Tuesday Aug 2018

Posted by in Exegeting the Heart, Thomas Manton, Uncategorized

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An interesting aspect of Puritan Preaching is much of it was deeply, if you will, psychological. An earlier post on this can be found here.

It routinely probed the heart of the hearers, picking apart the mechanisms and relationships between affections, behavior and thought in a way that rarely happens afterwards. It works at the human heart more like a novelist (at their best, novelists are far better psychologists than academic psychologist). Anyway here is Manton teasing out the relationships between fear, conscience, the Gospel, sin, et cetera.

Here, Manton tackles two issues: (1) What is the reason that human beings care not for the proclamation of the Gospel, (2) what lies behind fear. Manton relates the two issues in one paragraph:

Whose nature engageth him to hate sin and sinners: Hab. 1:13, ‘He is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity.’

I urge this for a double reason: partly because I have observed that all the security of sinners, and their neglect of seeking after pardon by Jesus Christ, it comes from their lessening thoughts of God’s holiness; and if their hearts were sufficiently possessed with an awe of God’s unspotted purity and holiness, they would more look after the terms of grace God hath provided; Ps. 50:21, ‘Thou thoughtest I was altogether such an one as thyself.’ Why do men live securely in their sins, and do not break off their evil course? They think God is not so severe and harsh, and so all their confidence is grounded upon a mistake of God’s nature, and such a dreadful mistake as amounts to a blasphemy: ‘Thou thoughtest I was altogether such an one as thyself.’

Sin has as a primary mechanism, the ability to reject the knowledge of God’s holiness and wrath. In making this point, Manton is echoing Romans 1: First we reject the knowledge of God’s hold wrath against sin; then we fall into every sort of sin.

Well, if rejecting knowledge of God’s holy wrath leads to such ill, why do we do it: because we are afraid to consider the alternative:

The other reason is this, particularly because I observe the bottom reason of all the fear that is in the hearts of men is God’s holiness: 1 Sam. 6:20, ‘Who is able to stand before this holy God?’ and ‘Who would not fear thee? for thou art holy,’ Rev. 15:4. We fear his power; why? because it is set on work by his wrath. We fear his wrath; why? because it is kindled by his justice and righteousness. We fear his righteousness, because it is bottomed and grounded upon his holiness, and upon the purity of his nature.

Manton seems to be making a broader point, however. He speaks of all fear having as its base the fear of God’s holiness. This then creates a prison:

I observe, that the law-covenant is in the scripture compared to a prison, wherein God hath shut up guilty souls, Rom. 11:32, ‘He hath concluded or shut them up, that he may have mercy upon them;’ Gal. 3:21, ‘He hath shut them up under sin.’ The law is God’s prison, and no offenders can get out of it till they have God’s leave; and from him they have none, till they are sensible of the justice and righteousness of that first dispensation, confess their sins with brokennness of heart, and that it may be just with God to condemn them for ever.

This creates an interesting series of conflicting motives and irrationalities within the human heart. On one hand there is the fear of God exposing one’s sin — because such exposure is dreadful: it is the door to all doom and thus creates a constant fear. Yet, to not expose that sin creates a prison in the other direction.

This precarious position is made worse by the “danger” of a tender conscience:

What kind of hearts are those that sin securely, and without remorse, and are never troubled? Go to wounded consciences, and ask of them what sin is: Gen. 4:13, ‘Mine iniquity is greater than I can bear;’ Prov. 18:14, ‘A wounded spirit, who can bear?’ As long as the evil lies without us, it is tolerable, the natural courage of a man may bear up under it; but when the spirit itself is wounded with the sense of sin, who can bear it? If a spark of God’s wrath light upon the conscience, how soon do men become a burden to themselves; and some have chosen strangling rather than life. Ask Cain, ask Judas, what it is to feel the burden of sin. Sinners are ‘all their lifetime subject to this bondage;’ it is not always felt, but soon awakened: it may be done by a pressing exhortation at a sermon; it may be done by some notable misery that befalls us in the world; it may be done by a scandalous sin; it may be done by a grievous sickness, or worldly disappointment. All these things and many more may easily revive it in us. There needs not much ado to put a sinner in the stocks of conscience. Therefore do but consider to be eased of this burden; oh the blessedness of it!

That last bit could lead to a fascinating psychological question: what sort “ado” must be kept in place to protect the conscience from sin?

But there is another problem with sin: not only is it dangerous to be exposed, but it is loathsome. Manton proves this by an interesting point: we despise sin when we see it in another — but we do not want to see it ourselves:

a wicked person is a vile person in the common esteem of the world: horrible profaneness will not easily down. Nay, it is loathsome to other wicked men. I do not know whether I expound that scripture rightly, but it looks somewhat so, ‘Hateful and hating one another.’ We hate sin in another, though we will not take notice of it in ourselves. The sensuality and pride and vanity of one wicked man is hated by another; nay, he is loathsome to himself. Why? because he cannot endure to look into himself. We cannot endure ourselves when we are serious. ‘They will not come to the light, lest their deeds should be reproved.’ And we are shy of God’s presence; we are sensible we have something makes us offensive to him, and we hang off from him when we have sinned against him; as it was David’s experience, Ps. 32:3. That was the cause of his silence: he kept off from God, having sinned against him, and had not a heart to go home and sue out his pardon. Oh, what a mercy is it, then, to have this filth covered, that we may be freed from this bashful inconfidence, and not be ashamed to look God in the face, and may come with a holy boldness into the presence of the blessed God! Oh, the blessedness of the man whose sin is covered!

Thomas Manton, The Complete Works of Thomas Manton, vol. 2 (London: James Nisbet & Co., 1871), 185. This makes an interesting bit of comparison with Nietzsche’s ressentiment (but that is for another time). There is also an interesting question here about those who are peculiarly offended by another’s pride, or envy, or anger (even when it is not directly directed to them).

The Spiritual Chymist, Meditation XXX

03 Sunday Jun 2018

Posted by in Fear, Fear of the Lord, Uncategorized, William Spurstowe, William Spurstowe

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Who is the favorite of heaven, with whom the high and lofty one, that inhabits eternity, will dwell?

Upon the Palpitation of the Heart

The pearl which is in the oyster is a disease, in the cabinet is a jewel of rich value, and in the ear an ornament of an orient beauty. And such a thin is the trembling or palpitation of the heart; in the body it is a sad malady, in the soul it is a heavenly grace: They who are afflicted with the once, seek earnestly to the physician for a cure; and they who want [lack] the other, importune God to obtain if form him as a blessing when once they know the excellency and worth of it.

Who is the favorite of heaven, with whom the high and lofty one, that inhabits eternity, will dwell? And to whom will he look with an eye of protection, with an eye of grace and delight? Is it not to him that is of a contrite heart and that trembles at his word? [Isaiah 66:1-2]

Who is the best saint on the earth? Is not he who uses most diligence to work out his salvation with fear and trembling? [Phil. 2:12]

All duties are best done with this holy trembling. Prayer and confession of sins are never better made than we imitate those penitent of Ezra who sat trembling in the street of the house of God. [Ezra 10:1] The Word is never more awfully received [received with a sense of awe] as the will and command of a great king, than when received as the elders of Bethlehem did Samuel, who trembling at his coming. [1 Samuel 16:4]

O methinks I cannot without wonder read how Paul lived among the Corinthians, in with fear and much trembling, as sensible of the weight of his ministry. [1 Cor. 2:3] And how they again received Titus, Paul’s messenger, with the like affection, not entertaining him with costly banquets, with court-like salutation, but with fear and trembling, which is the highest respect that can be shown to the doctrine of Christ. [2 Cor. 7:15]

Yea, the Suppoer of the Lord itself, thought it be a feast of love in which, who is all love is the chief and only dish, that a soul has to feed upon, is best celebrated with a divine trembling, which may correct our joy and keep it from degenerating into a carnal mirth.

The sparkling rays of light which are reflected from the polished diamond are much beautified by those tremulous motions which the eye behold in the stone: and so spiritual joy receives no little addition of luster and sweetness by the mixtures of trembling that appear in it.

How great then is the folly and wickedness of the sons of Belial [Deut. 13:13], who scoff at the awful [full of awe] behavior which any exercise in the service of God? As Michal did David’s dancing before the ark [2 Sam. 6:20], as if it were nothing but pusillanimity [cowardice] which would beseem children, better than Christians, who startle often at their own groundless imaginations.

But are the angels cowards which tremble in the presence of God? Is it anything unbecoming them who continually stand in his presence to express a fear of him, as well as love unto him?

How then can it be indecent for worthless creates to serve the great Jehovah with a holy awe and fear of his Majesty?

O God,
I am conscious unto myself
How little all my duties have been intervened with this divine grace.
I have prayed before thee,
But not trembled,
I have not feared thee
The Great Law-Giver,
Nor trembled at they commands.
I have heard often of thee by the hearing of the ear,
Yet I have not abhorred myself.
And therefore, I humbly beg of thee
That thou wouldst help me to sanctify thy name in my heart
And to make thee my fear and my dread;
That so I may neither abuse they mercy
Not yet provoke thy justice.

God is God in all places

21 Thursday Sep 2017

Posted by in Fear, Fear of the Lord, Richard Sibbes, Uncategorized

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It is a curious thing, but true that even we professors (those who profess, not teachers) Christ can more easily be frightened of the knowledge of other people rather than the knowledge of God:

Examine what affections we have to God: for it is affection that makes a Christian. Single out some few that we are most offending in. As, first, for fear, it may shame us all. Indeed, a Christian upon his best resolution is better. But the ordinary carriage of men is, they fear men more than God; they fear everything more than him that they should fear above all. For instance, is the retired carriage of men to God such as their carriage is to the eye of the world? Will not they do that in secret ofttimes that they will not do openly? In secret they will commit this or that sin, and think, Who seeth? There are secret abominations in the closet of their hearts. They will not fear to do that in the eye of God, that they fear to do in the eye of a child of six years old, that is of any discretion. Is this to make God our God, when we fear the eye of a silly mortal creature more than the eye of God, that is ten thousand times brighter than the sun, that is our judge? Is God our God the whiles? Undoubtedly, when God is made our God, there is an awe of the eye of heaven upon a man in all places. Therefore this is the condition of the covenant, ‘Walk before me,’ or ‘Walk as in my sight,’ 1 Sam. 2:30. How do we walk before God as in his sight, when there is such a great deal of difference in our carriage secretly, and before the eyes of men? when we labour more to approve our carriage to men, than we make conscience of our spirits to God? This may shame us. Even the best of us who are in covenant with God, and have made God our God, we have cause to be abased for this: and surely one of the best ways to make God’s children abased and humbled, is to compare the different proportion of their carriage; how they carry themselves to men whom they respect, and to outward things in the world, and how they carry themselves to God. If God be our God, there will be an universal fear and care to please God in all times and in all places, because he is everywhere; darkness and light are all one to him.

Richard Sibbes, The Complete Works of Richard Sibbes, ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart, vol. 6 (Edinburgh; London; Dublin: James Nichol; James Nisbet and Co.; W. Robertson, 1863), 10.

27 Saturday May 2017

Posted by in Martin Luther

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All the more are human works mortal sins when they are done without fear and in unadulterated, evil self-security.

The inevitable deduction from the preceding thesis is clear. For where there is no fear there is no humility. Where there is no humility there is pride, and where there is pride there are the wrath and judgment of God, for God opposes the haughty. Indeed, if pride would cease there would be no sin anywhere. 

The Annotated Luther, vol. 1, The Roots of Reform, Heidleberg Disputation 1518, no. 8
https://ref.ly/o/annotlutv1/462431?length=418

March Against Irony

26 Saturday Mar 2016

Posted by in Culture, Psychology, Uncategorized

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There are so many things which are said and implied in this single ironic sentence:

Brussels (AFP) – The organisers of a “March Against Fear” planned for Sunday to mark the Brussels terror attacks said they had cancelled the event after the authorities asked them to do so because of security fears.

You can read the rest here

Biblical Counseling Helps: Anxiety & Fear

30 Friday Oct 2015

Posted by in Biblical Counseling

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Definition: “Emotional foreboding or dread of impending distress or misfortune. Often spoken of as the source of religion. Yet fear alone can never account for true religion, since men are impelled to draw near unto God, the object of their worship. One does not desire to come close to the being he fears” (Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel, Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1988), 781).

(Sorry about the number formatting: wordpress does some strange stuff to my word docs when I copy them over)
  1. God is Sovereign

 

  1. Creation
  2. Genesis 1 & 2
  3. Heb. 1:3, 11:3
  4. John 1:3
  5. In short, all created things – all existing things – are because of God’s determination. Without God’s action to create & to sustain, no thing would continue to exist. See, Rev. 4:11 (note that the result of such a recognition is to praise God).

 

  1. Providence : No single word in biblical Hebrew or Greek expresses the idea of God’s providence. pronoia is used for God’s purposive foresight by Plato, Stoic writers, Philo, who wrote a book On Providence (Peri pronoias), Josephus, and the authors of Wisdom (cf. 14:3; 17:2) and 3, 4 Macc.; but in the NT pronoia occurs only twice (Acts 24:2; Rom. 13:14), both times denoting, not God’s care and forethought, but man’s. The cognate verb pronoeo, too, is used only of man (Rom. 12:17; 2 Cor. 8:21; 1 Tim. 5:8).

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Biblical Counseling for Depression, Part Three

25 Monday Aug 2014

Posted by in Biblical Counseling, Psalms

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COUNSELING PROBLEMS AND BIBLICAL CHANGE

BIBLICAL SOLUTIONS FOR DEPRESSION, PART THREE

Is there a cure for depression? Yes. But it is not in us. It is in God. The cure is to seek God’s face, so ours will not be downcast, which is what the psalmist does.

James Boice, “An Upward Look by a Downcast Soul”

 

  1. BE CAREFUL ABOUT THE WORD “DEPRESSION”

A mistake which can easily be made is that all “depression” is created equal. As we noted before, not every distress called “depression” has the same cause nor does it require the same response. Indeed, the Bible doesn’t use the word “depression” as a catch-all category for moods and behaviors which result in extreme bouts of unhappiness.

In the early 17th Century, Richard Sibbes wrote a book called, “The Soul’s Conflict With Itself” which details many different sorts of pain, sorrow, withdrawing — all of which might be loosely termed “depression.”

As we stated before, there are medical problems which can fall under the title, “depression.” Where there is a medical problem, then medicine is an appropriate treatment.  However, much of the medical treatment for “depression” has proven to be of little help:

In the January 2010 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, a large study found that in patients with mild, moderate or even severe depression, a placebo had the same therapeutic benefit as an active antidepressant medication.  Depending on the study, patients in these three categories make up 70 to 87 percent of all patients who present with depression. The study concluded that unless a person had very severe depression, a placebo pill was as effective as antidepressant medication. Even when treating very severe depression, the placebo effect could account for up to 80 percent of the effect of the antidepressant medication[1].

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Biblical Counseling: Anxiety Part One

19 Saturday Jul 2014

Posted by in Biblical Counseling, Discipleship, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Meekness, Psalms

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COUNSELING PROBLEMS AND BIBLICAL CHANGE

BIBLICAL SOLUTIONS FOR ANXIETY, PART ONE

 

What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.

–The Knowledge of the Holy

A.W. Tozer

If you were to pick up a Christian book on anxiety it would likely contain a thorough going treatment of anxiety. There might a look at someone in the Bible who was anxious (say Saul in 1 Samuel 13); perhaps some Bible verses on anxiety, et cetera. There may be another section about medical aspects of anxiety; perhaps some secular material on anxiety, et cetera. In essence, you would find a systematic theology of anxiety.

There is nothing wrong with a systematic approach to theology, but it is not the only way to consider a topic.

The Bible nowhere has a book on anxiety (or depression, anger, marriage, childrearing, et cetera). When the Bible tackles a subject, it takes place in the context of several other often seemingly unrelated subjects.[1] Peter addresses marriage in the midst of a discussion of worship, suffering, glory, the Second Coming, the atonement and congregational church life. In placing marriage in this context, Peter transforms the question of marriage from a matter of merely a woman, a man and their personal happiness. When we understand it this way, there is a reason Peter does not address marriage until chapter 3 of his letter – and a reason he has to more chapters to follow. Peter wants us to think of marriage in a particular context.

In this series of lessons we are going to look at problems not in a systematic manner but rather in a contextual way. We are going to look at problems as they are embedded in Biblical texts to see how something like anxiety relates to the resurrection (as Paul makes the connection in Philippians) or depression relates to worship (as is done in Psalms 42-43). At first, this may seem strange, because it is unfamiliar to us. However, in the end, I hope that you will learn to see your entire life through a Scriptural lens and begin to understand that your hopes and sorrows and fears and joys all ultimately relate to your theology: To put it another way, as you learn to understand God you will begin to understand how the way you relate to God affects everything in your life.

I. KING DAVID & ANXIETY

David led an anxiety producing life. The first time we see David, Samuel anoints David as King (1 Samuel 16:1-13). Normally, being made king would be considered a good thing. But David was anointed King while Saul was still king – and Saul was insane. David was hired by Saul to play soothing music whenever Saul fell into a fit.

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The Freedom of a Christian

26 Friday Jul 2013

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Freedom of the Christian: 1 Peter 2:16

In the midst of his instructions on how the Christian is to live with the State (1 Peter 2:13-17), Peter writes, “Live as people who are free” (1 Peter 2:16a).

There are two aspects in which this is true. First, the Christian is free from the power of the State. Second, the Christian owes allegiance to a power greater than the State.

The power of the State is violence (Romans 13:4). When the State sets boundaries, gives directives or whatnot, the rules and power and are not self-enforcing. Thus, to enforce it power, the State must rely upon violence.

Sometimes the use of force can be a good thing. The ability to stop a murderer rampaging through a playground is good. Paul writes that the State has the power of the sword to stop the “wrongdoer.”  Peter writes that such authority has been given, “to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good” (1 Peter 2:14). (While there may be differences as to what constitutes the “good” or the “evil”, it is a generally assumed position that some-things must be stopped and others rewarded.)

However, the use of force often and easily turns to oppression (Ecclesiastes 4:1-3); therefore, wouldn’t shouldn’t be “amazed” at the matter (Ecclesiastes 5:8), even though we know oppression to be an evil.

Christians, of all people, should be the understanding and sensitive to the matter of oppressive use of political violence. Jesus was executed in a context of political oppression. Pilate’s concerns were profoundly political as well as personal (he was trying to figure a way to avoid a riot, among other concerns). Herod killed James, because it pleased a constituency (Acts 12:1-3). The book of Acts reads in part like a series of political arrests.

Both Peter and Paul would find themselves at the wrong end of Roman political violence. Why then would both counsel a general position of obedience to the government’s laws?

Because ultimately the Christian is “free.”

4 “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. 5 But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. 7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows. Luke 12:4–7 (ESV)

The power of the State can run no further than the edge of the grave.  During the 19th Century wars between the United States and the Plains Indians, the Native Americans learned the US troops wouldn’t cross the Canadian border. To the Native Americans, something magic seemed at work and thus they called it the “medicine line.”

The grave acts as a sort of medicine line which the State cannot cross. When the Christian dies (and dies not at the same time), the Christian is forever free of the State’s conduct.

What the Christian must learn then is the freedom is existent now. The State seeks to gain power by means of fear.  The Christian who follows the instruction of Jesus has nothing to fear. Jesus commands us not to fear the one who can only kill us.

In Pilgrim’s Progress, Timorous and Mistrust come running down the hill due to the lions. Yet, as Christian soon learns, the lions are chained.

Even at its most violent, the State can go no further than permitted by God:

9 He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.” John 19:9–11 (ESV)

Thus, not only is the State’s power limited to violence; even the violence can go no further than God will permit.

In fact, the violence and threat of the State can only work to the Christian’s good. The trial of this world is real and wickedness is common. Yet, even in the infliction of trial, God transforms such trial into blessing:

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Romans 8:18 (ESV)

16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16–18 (ESV)

6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1:6–7 (ESV)

3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Revelation 21:3–4 (ESV)

Thus, the Christian is free of any constraint imposed by the State.

Second, the Christian is the citizen of another kingdom – and thus not at home in this world. Peter calls Christians “exiles of the dispersion” (1 Peter 1:1); those in a “time of .. exile” (1:17); “sojourners and exiles” (2:11).

13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. Hebrews 11:13 (ESV)

Yet, the Christian is not without a home, “Our citizenship is in heaven” (Phil. 3:20). Yet, the Christian does not seek to disrupt the nature of this world with bare political rebellion:

36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” John 18:36 (ESV)

The response of the Christian is not for political rebellion. In the end, all political revolution will fail. While history bears this out, the Christian knows that the ultimate reason for oppression is not merely political structures, but sin welling out of the human heart:

20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” Mark 7:20–23 (ESV)

Therefore, while the Christian must abhor oppression and wickedness; and while the Christian must call upon those with power to use their power in a righteous manner; we must also realize that such work will always fall far short of what is required. Until God transforms the heart, there can be no real transformation of any individual human being – much less a society.  The Christian must labor as Wilberforce to stand up against wickedness in all its forms. But the Christian must never settle for the lesser goal of a change in law and seek the greater change of a change of heart.

            Application: How then must the Christian live in this world? Does the Christian simply deny all law, being free?

            Of course not. Jesus, Peter, and Paul all instruct Christians, as a general rule, to lead lives of lawful compliance: paying taxes, being civil, et cetera; even though the country and the government have serious bents toward wickedness. However, such obedience is not aim primarily at the civil authority but rather at God. As Peter writes, “Be subject for the Lord’s sake ….” (1 Peter 2:13). The obedience is owed to the Lord alone. Our Lord instructs us to live quiet and peaceable lives in the midst of the countries where we may find ourselves.

            In the second century, Justin Martyr wrote to the Roman Emperor and explained the lives of Christians. He noted that the Christian is no threat to good civil order, because the Christian owes his allegiance ultimately toward God:

And more than all other men are we your helpers and allies in promoting peace, seeing that we hold this view, that it is alike impossible for the wicked, the covetous, the conspirator, and for the virtuous, to escape the notice of God, and that each man goes to everlasting punishment or salvation according to the value of his actions. For if all men knew this, no one would choose wickedness even for a little, knowing that he goes to the everlasting punishment of fire; but would by all means restrain himself, and adorn himself with virtue, that he might obtain the good gifts of God, and escape the punishments. For those who, on account of the laws and punishments you impose, endeavour to escape detection when they offend (and they offend, too, under the impression that it is quite possible to escape your detection, since you are but men), those persons, if they learned and were convinced that nothing, whether actually done or only intended, can escape the knowledge of God, would by all means live decently on account of the penalties threatened, as even you yourselves will admit. But you seem to fear lest all men become righteous, and you no longer have any to punish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And Hope of Heart to be Helped by Him.

12 Sunday May 2013

Posted by in Biblical Counseling, David Dickson, Faith, Fear, John Calvin, Prayer, Psalms

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In Psalm 55, David prays:

4 My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
5 Fear and trembling come upon me, and horror overwhelms me.
6 And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest;
7 yes, I would wander far away; I would lodge in the wilderness; Selah
8 I would hurry to find a shelter from the raging wind and tempest.”

Such a thing may seem beneath a warrior such as David. Or, to bring the matter forward, one may think it wrong of a Christian to know fear. Shouldn’t faith be such as one would never suffer trouble? David Dickson explains that such fear may easily become the fount of faith:

It is not a thing inconsistent with godliness to be much moved with fear in time of danger; natural affections are not taken away in conversion, but sanctified and moderated: my heart is ore pained within me. 2. Natural sagacity and courage re not sufficient to bear a man out in a great stress, for they will fail him; and if a man have not stronger supporters than his natural parts, he is undone; for here the terrors of death are fallen upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me. 3. The godly have an advantage above all natural men: for when natural strength and courage fail them, they have nothing behind; but the godly have faith in God, to open a fountain of fresh supply of wisdom, courage, and strength to them, when all natural parts fail them; for, David being now emptied of natural strength, hath wisdom and strength to go to God, and hope of heart to be helped by him.

David Dickson, A Brief Explication of the Psalms.

Calvin, who had more than once a reason to fear, wrote of this Psalm:

We may learn from the passage, therefore, not only that the sufferings which David endured at this time were heavy, but that the fortitude of the greatest servants of God fails them in the hour of severe trial. We are all good soldiers so long as things go well with us, but when brought to close combat, our weakness is soon apparent. Satan avails himself of the advantage, suggests that God has withdrawn the supports of his Spirit, and instigates us to despair.

This instigation should then lead us to prayer:

He does not content himself with saying that he will pray, for many do this in a perfunctory manner, and soon become wearied with the exercise; but he resolves to display both assiduity and vehemency. From the particular mention he makes of evening, morning, and noon, we are left to infer that these must have been the stated hours of prayer amongst the godly at that period. Sacrifices were offered daily in the temple morning and evening, and by this they were taught to engage privately in prayer within their own houses. At noon also it was the practice to offer additional sacrifices. As we are naturally indisposed for the duty of prayer, there is a danger that we may become remiss, and gradually omit it altogether, unless we restrict ourselves to a certain rule.

Here is the great hope: not that we will never fail, but that God can turn the worst into good. Even our fear will be turned to faith — for to whom else can we turn in fear?