What Time I Am Afraid

I once heard a story told about brother Franklin Camp. Apparently he had gone in for a surgery that was very serious. During his prep and testing the doctor commented that he was the calmest person who was to undergo this type of surgery that he had ever seen. Brother Camp told him that he had been quoting Psalm 56:3 all day: “What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee.”

One of the most comforting results of my Christian growth has been an increased awareness of God’s work in my life. So often when we talk about God’s providence we only mention His work in the lives of Joseph and Esther, and sometimes people will throw Paul and Onesimus in there for good measure. However, in my most recent trip through the Bible I decided that I would note every time that a thing was accomplished and attributed directly to God. My notes ended up being pages long. God’s natural providence, apart from miracles, is evident in nearly every book of the Bible. God has worked, is working, and will continue to work in our lives. “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). I cannot say how God works because “His ways are past finding out” (Romans 11:33), but I am confident that He does.

In Genesis chapter 20, Abraham lied, again. He told Abimelech that Sarah was his sister and Abimelech took her. Later that night God says to him, “Thou art but a dead man” (20:3). He defends himself to God by saying, “In the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this” (20:5), and I find God’s answer very interesting. “Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her” (20:6). The interesting part about this is that Abimelech had to be told that it was God who did it. As far as Abimelech was concerned, life had continued on just as it had all of his life. He noticed nothing odd or out of place in the circumstances of the days since he had taken Sarah. But God was working. How? I don’t know. Abimelech didn’t know. And we aren’t told. The lesson we should take away from this is that even if things continue just like they have, and we seem to be going about our normal day, this does not mean that God has left you or that He is idle and not working in your life.

If ever there was comfort to be found in scripture, that is it. God has the power to take even the bad things in my life and use them for good (cf. James 1:2-4; Romans 5:3-5; 2 Corinthians 4:17, 18). Therefore, no matter what happens, I know that God is working and present in my life; even if I can’t see it with the eye, I can see it through the eyes of faith (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:7). When I don’t know what to do, God is working. I will trust in Him. When my life seems like it is falling apart, God is working. I will trust in Him. When I am weak, God is working. I will trust in Him. When I am strong, God is working, and I will trust in Him. When my life continues as it has these 24 years, God is working. I will trust Him. And what shall I do when I am afraid? I pray to God and cry out from the bottom of my heart, “What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee.”