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By Joseph Perry

Psalm 27:1-6

Have you ever been in a hazardous or dangerous situation in life and it had you wondering if you would ever get out of it alive?

That’s what many people are saying even right now, with all of this that’s going on. There are people who are wondering if they are going to make it. And with them having that on their mind, many of them have become afraid; they have become frightened and fearful.

The Bible clearly teaches us that God didn’t give us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love and of a sound mind. It does not matter how things look in life for us, we must never walk in fear. The Bible says fear has torment. In other words, it keeps nagging at us. It’s like an invisible, constant irritation that keeps wearing on you, and it won’t let you go. You wake up with it, you go back to bed with it. It seems as though it won’t let you go. In order not to walk in fear, we must know the God who has all power in His hands. The question is to you, are you afraid of the unknown, the unexpected, the unfamiliar?

There are times in our lives when we walk in fear. Sometimes the things that are before us, look so massive, so enormous, it seems as though giants are in our land, that we feel it’s going to get the best of us, and we feel ultimately it has the ability to destroy us. When this happens, we need to know that we have a God who is in fact the God of all creation and is greater than life itself. He is our Creator of the Heavens and the Earth. It has been said by Bible scholars, that David composed this Psalm earlier in his life, after he had been anointed king by Samuel. David was certainly anointed, and when you’re anointed by God, when you are gifted by God, sometimes it will have others envious of you, and it will have people resentful of you.

David had to leave from the presence of King Saul. He knew his life was at state. He makes his way to a dark, cold cave. It’s possibly there David pens Psalm 27. Some scholars contend it may have been after David had reached an old age and reflected back on how God had brought him through some dangerous situations. The truth of the matter is, we should not fear anyone, as long as God is God. Each of us need to know that, we’re not going to be afraid, when we know fellowship with God is highly important. Not only that, we must have frequent seclusion from involvement with the world. Lastly, we must have full praise to God, who has all power. When we sing praises to God, He removes our fears. When we sing praises to God, He takes away our worries. Singing praises to God, we’ll notice that He diminishes our troubles.

Remember who we are: we are the church. Keep trusting in the Lord each and every day.

The Rev. Dr. Joseph A. Perry is pastor of St. Mark AME Zion Church, 817 McKinley Ave. Contact him at josephp134@gmail.com.