The Mirror of the Word and other works by C.E. White can be purchased on her website, cewhitebooks.com or on Amazon.

“When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I have put my trust; I shall not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”

—Psalm 56:3–4

When we are afraid . . . not if. Fear will come. So what will we do?

Put our trust in the Lord. Praise his Word.

And then what?

We shall not be afraid.

It sounds a little confusing, as if he’s saying, “When I am afraid, I shall not be afraid.”

And in a way, he is, because I don’t think it means that all concern over the present danger will dissipate. But if, when we begin to be afraid, we take time to insert trust and praise of the Lord into our fear, it changes.

That trust and praise reminds us who’s really in control and what really matters. “What can mere mortals do to me?”

We can face the difficult and painful things now even while trusting the Lord in all we do because no mere mortal is in charge of our ultimate fate. Man can harm the body but has no power over our soul (Matthew 10:28).

We’ve taken our thoughts captive, put our trust in the Lord, and turned our hope to the eternal. Anything man can do to harm is temporary, and in the Lord’s strength, we will endure to the end.

Because of this, our actions can radiate trust even in the midst of terrifying situations—we can sing in the prison (Acts 16:25–26), face the giant (1 Samuel 17), and enter the fiery furnace calmly (Daniel 3:17–18)—but only when we react by intentionally injecting our fear with trust and praise of our almighty God.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download