Psalm 18, one of my favorites, helps me to deal with the anxiety and fear that so often grip me –and all of us at times. It shows me the way to defeat fear and anxiety, which is using the sword of the Spirit.

Psalm 18:1-3 “I love you, O LORD, my strength.” [my weakness is both real and irrelevant, for His strength is everything.]

“The LORD” [the holy, sinless, completely other One, who rules with indisputable might]

“is my rock,” [my unshakable stability]

“my fortress” [my sure security]

“and my deliverer” [my ever-present protection];

“my God” [the powerfully creative and utterly faithful One who has claimed me as His own]

“is my rock” [He has made Himself the place of stability, safety and security for me, more strong and immovable than the Alaska mountain in this picture],

“in whom I take refuge” [this is my part, fleeing to Him in praise and persistence, thanksgiving and trust when difficulties, disappointment and seeming defeat come].

“He is my shield” [my personal, portable protection, coverinfg my head in every moment of the daily battle]

“for all who take refuge in him” (v 30) [Again, here is my part in the process: I must run to Him, think His Truth, trust Him—for He is the only place of safety and I must choose to stay in His Way.]

So, let’s daily take refuge in Him, offering thanksgiving in all things so He may show us the salvation of the Lord.

Praise be to you, Lord, for your goodness to us, of which there are two kinds. First there is that which we commonly express after we get what we want. We say can, “God is good!” for we can easily see His goodness when He gives us the pleasant, the preferred, the prayer answers we wanted and the protection that we crave.

Then there is the other kind, when God’s unwanted goodness comes our way: the trials, chastening and challenges He sends or allows,, like unanswered prayers (actually, the answer is “no” or “wait”), the protection withheld, healing not given and problems unsolved. These all are also your goodness, Lord, as you have higher, deeper, longer and wider reasons for them.

It was your goodness, Lord, that sent Joseph to Egypt as a slave, that sent him to prison for doing what was right, and that in the end made him the Prime Minister of Egypt so he could save his family, the Egyptians, many from surrounding countries–and eventually us, as his work preserved the life of his brother Judah from whence came the Messiah.

All of this was your goodness, although much of it did not look, feel or smell like it to Joseph at the time. But he, by faith, declared his suffering and trials good, as he said to his brothers concerning their selling him as a slave, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good, to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Gen. 50:20).

Help us to remember that the next time things seem to “go south” —God has a plan will carry us through to better things.

In Luke 1 Zechariah continues, declaring that Jesus will come, “to guide our feet into the path of peace,” as in this picture leading us ever closer to the light of your love.

How wonderful you are, Lord Jesus, to call us to the path of peace: peace with you, peace with ourselves, peace with others. You, as the King of Peace, have bought this peace with your death and resurrection.

We praise you for this marvelous gift to us, which we must reach out and take by trusting you: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace AS YOU TRUST IN HIM, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Rom 15:13).

And we can trust in you because you are our Sovereign Lord who has redeemed us, saved us, has a plan for our lives and will carry us through with you to the end of history, on into eternity.

Here is a beautiful message in Luke 1, spoken by Zechariah, addressing his son, John the Baptist:

“you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,” [and so John did, sent by God for stirring up the people’s desire for righteousness.]

Luke 1:77 “to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins,”

[This was a new truth, for the Jews thought that through the keeping of the law they could be saved. However, as it says in Romans 3, “But now a righteousness from God, APART FROM THE LAW, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.” This is a mystery revealed in Christ; it is the perspective of God, different from the tradition of the Jews.]

Luke 1:78 “because of the tender mercy of our God,”

[And this new way, the costly way of Jesus, is opened because our God is gracious, tender and merciful towards His enemies. We exalt you, O Lord, our God, for your kindness, your grace, your loving goodness towards us when we deserve the opposite. HELP US TO DWELL consistently IN THAT WONDERFUL TRUTH, IN THE LIGHT OF YOUR LOVE!]

As I face the unknowns of this coming day, I praise you, Lord Jesus, for what you will lead me through, and for what you will allow and disallow. I praise you that I can rest in you,

in your wonderful, marvelous, majestic and mighty Character,

sparkling in holiness, shining in purity, glowing in love, radiating forgiveness.

You are perfect, wise, absolute, gracious and righteous.

You are trustable, loving, firm and good.

You are the One and Only to be exalted and worshiped.

In you there is no evil, no fault, no wrong, no error.

In you there is only goodness, righteousness, purity and holiness.

Therefore, to you belongs praise, to you belongs trust, to you belongs obedience.

I bow before you now, surrendering myself and my desires to you in worship, I lay them on the altar of your love, and ask that you will do what you desire with each one. Fulfill what is good, deny what is not.