by Marcia Mount Shoop
Psalm 27:1, 4-9
“The psalmist knows God’s presence changes the way fear impacts life–at the same time, the psalmist still feels fear–even about the very God who empowers this person to have a different relationship with fear.
That’s the thing about fear and faith–they don’t cancel each other out, but without being truthful about your fear and your faith, if their relationship gets skewed or out of balance, either one can scramble our capacity to be in proper relationship to both our faith and our fear.
God’s presence, God’s protection does not keep you from harm, but is a way that the harm does not destroy your soul, your spirit, your will. It can embolden you and humble you all at once.
When fear and faith interact with each other in ways that truly free us up to be God’s people in the world, fear does not disappear, in fact we have to get close enough to it, we have to be curious with it, to understand what it is that we actually fear and who or what it is that we actually have faith in.”
Watch the full GCPC service on 1/22/23 here
(Scripture and sermon begin at 41:24)