Fear Not

Building The Heart

Chapter 74

January 19

Psalm 57:6-7

6. They spread a net for my feet--I was bowed down in distress. They dug a pit in my path--but they have fallen into it themselves.

7. My heart, O God, is steadfast, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music.

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Preface

The "Theme" of today's Psalm says, "God's faithful help and love in times of trouble. When we face trials, God will quiet our hearts and give us confidence."

Why would God do this? Because it's the internal state that determines outward results. If an external threat presents itself, first and foremost we determine if it's either going to make good on its threat or be solved by how we respond inside of ourselves.

With the fog of trouble, no matter how "in the thick of it" we may find ourselves, the dawn of sun's light changes the conditions on the ground. It's what happens within the midst of the sun, from within its internal state, that generates heat and fire. There's a catalyst that occurs, creating an ignition that provides light and warmth.

If we find that we're feeling confused, frightened, overwhelmed, all being elements of the fog, then faith serves as the catalyst that turns on our heart's light, chasing the fog away. And with it goes the dark and cold.

David is showing us that our heart is the sun, and faith activates gratitude. Faith turns the music player on, each challenging event an opportunity for the spontaneous creation of a unique song of praise. The song is the light that shines from out of us, what David calls in other Psalms the "horn of salvation." Like a weapon, it chases away the underlying root cause of the darkness from out of which the trouble manifested in the first place.

Trouble is the symptom. Fear is the underlying cause. Remove the cause, the symptom goes away.

The internal dictates:

1) what comes at us in the world, and

2) whether the threat's able or not to achieve its objectives.

When we truly come to understand this, we'll be far more mindful of, taking greater care with, the thoughts we entertain and the emotions we allow those thoughts to create. Why? Because we (finally) realize these are the things that get funneled through our faith toward creation, or through fear toward destruction.

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When we integrate the original Hebrew into today's verse, we're provided with more insight about David's perspective, being better able to see the underlying source of the message from which his words came.

They 'kun,' built up a 'reset,' network of people committed to get rid of me, to 'pa ama,' impel me to leave. I was 'nepes,' unable to breathe, like the breath was knocked out of me. They 'kara,' plotted to bring me down, to 'siha,' make me lose faith. But it was them who lost their arrogance, having it snatched from them, exposing the fear beneath, which led them to 'napal,' perish in the very way they hoped I would die.

My 'leb,' the center of my feelings, will and intellect, is 'kun,' built up; it is established as an edifice. I will 'sur,' sing looking at you, God, and 'zamar,' sing and play the harp, celebrating you in song and music.

It's revealing that David used the same word, 'kun,' for both his enemies ("spread") and for himself ("steadfast").

Being controlled by the drivers of fear, such as greed, jealously and hatred, David's enemies set up an external network of like-minded people, organizing them toward the goal of preventing David from taking Saul's place. The language implies that they came from the position of "Who does this guy think he is?" As if David was some undeserving upstart.