← Stay True with Madison Prewett Troutt
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Psalm 34. 4, 9. I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. O taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack. Yes and amen. Psalm 34 is a Psalm I've been memorizing lately. And it is such a beautiful posture of the heart that David, in one of his lowest of lows and hardest of circumstances, is worshiping the Lord and praising the Lord. Lord, and extolling in the Lord and choosing to trust God above what his circumstances are saying. And he's choosing to trust that God will be his provider. He's choosing to trust that God will be his deliverer. He's choosing to trust that no matter what happens to me, I believe God has got me. He is coming before the Lord with such humility. And when you study this passage, you actually find out that this is when David made himself look mad before another king. He made himself look crazy. He faked being crazy, essentially, to get out of potentially being harmed or enslaved. And so he pretended to be like a madman. And he was let go and set free because they were like, we don't want to have anything to do with this guy. He's clearly insane. But in the midst of that, David had this posture of God, I know you will deliver me. And even in the midst of, you can tell, like, David is clearly a little afraid of this guy, that this guy might kill him, that this guy might enslave him. More than anything you see, David say, but no matter what, I fear God. I fear God more than I fear man. I fear God more than I fear death. I fear God more than I fear anything else happening to me. I trust that God has got me. And I wanna talk about that. I wanna talk about the fear of the Lord. Because in our world today, we harp so much on, do not be afraid. Do not be, you know, fearful. God has not given you a spirit of fear. Perfect love drives out all fear, which is all so true. And the spirit, spirit of fear is not from God. The spirit of fear that makes you afraid of man or that makes you afraid of death, or that makes you constantly walk in this anxiousness and this worry that is not from God. And I pray that no one listening to this, and even myself and even my family, that we do not come into agreement with that, because that is not of God or from God, but there is a fear that is of God and from God, and that actually glorifies God. And that is the fear of the Lord. And so often when we hear the fear of Lord, because that word fear has been used in such a negative way, we interpret it as the fear of the Lord must mean I have to be afraid of God, that I have to be so scared of him, like I can't approach Him. But as we study Scripture, we know that that is not the heart of God. We know that that is not true because he tells us to come to him like little children. He tells us that we can actually approach his throne of grace with confidence, as First John 5 tells us. And so we know it's not a fear that actually separates us from God or makes us want to run away from, but the opposite. And what I've seen in my own life is that what you fear most will show what you trust most. And so we are creatures made to worship. And really fear is just a disguise of worship. Like what do you worship? Do you worship yourself? Do you worship others? Do you worship this life and the things of this world? Or do you worship a good God? Do you worship the eternal God? The One who was the one who is, and the one who is to come? You trust in that God? Do you trust his sovereignty? Do you trust in his power? Do you trust in his authority? Do you trust his lordship? Or do you just kind of go by and live comfortably in this world and just look to you know what God can give you and how God can benefit you. I would say if that's how you're living, there may be a lack of the fear of the Lord. And I want to encourage you because all throughout scripture, it tells us that the fear of the Lord is what leads to wisdom. The fear of the Lord is what leads to the ability to resist sin. The fear of the Lord is what leads us to repentance. The fear of the Lord is what brings us to our knees to say, I am a sinner. You, God, are my Savior. You are the God in whom not only do I want to be rescued and redeemed by, but I also want to humble myself, to serve you and submit to you. The fear of the Lord is what gives us that ability to not only like, be in awe and wonder of God, but to actually obey him, to actually trust him, to actually worship him with Our time with our money, with our relationships, with our bodies, with our lives. And I think so often when we think about the fear of God, we think that that's just an awe and a wonder. But it's. It's so much more than that. You can be in awe over the sunset, you can be in awe over the ocean. You can be in awe over someone who does a lot of good deeds and is a really cool person. But to actually fear the Lord, it's not only to be in awe of him, it's not only to revere him, and it's not only to, you know, sing of his praises, but it's to actually TR. Trust his ways. It's to actually obey His Word. It's to actually submit your life to Him. And so my prayer, as we see in Scripture, there are so many promises and benefits and blessings that come with the fear of the Lord. But I first wanted to start off by saying what the fear of the Lord is and what it's not. Because it's not a fear that separates you from God. It's actually a fear that makes you run to God. You're not afraid of God. Rather, you're afraid of being away from God. You're afraid of anything that would separate you from God. And so sin and shame and the things of this world and the entanglements, the things that try to lure us in and pull us in. The things of this world, we want nothing to do with those because we know that those things ultimately distract us and separate us from a loving God who wants what's best for us. And so you see David say in verse seven that the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and he delivers them. There is a protection that we are promised and given, a deliverance that we are promised. When we fear God, it says, fear the Lord, you, his saints. For those who fear him have no lack. There is a contentment, a radical contentment and trust and faith for those who fear God. We all have fears. So it's not whether are you afraid or are you not afraid? Do you have fear or do you not have fear? We all have fears. So the Bible, from start to finish, is actually not telling us to live fear free. It's just telling us to feel fear, the right thing, fear the right one. It talks about in the scriptures that we should not be afraid of man who has no control over our eternal soul, but rather we should be afraid of the God who not only determines our lives and our bodies here on this side of Eternity. But for all of eternity, we should fear the God who has full control and all power and all authority. And so we see the Lord comes through for David. The Lord provides for David. But it's because you see God's goodness, in spite of even David, its flaws, like David chose to make himself look crazy. But you also see that David continually comes back to this place of God. I trust you. And so if we go back to what I was saying at the beginning, what you fear the most reveals what you trust the most. Then my question to you is, what holds your peace? Where do you make your decisions from? What controls your emotions and affections? What dictates your obedience and the decisions that you make? Because ultimately it's going to show you that is what you trust the most. What do you spend the most of your money on? Where do you spend the most of your time? What do you spend the most of your time thinking about and obsessing over that is going to often reveal what you trust the most, what you love the most. And my hope and my heart for all of us is. Is as we read through Psalm 34, as we meditate on these verses and on this passage, that we would have a heart like David that says, I choose to fear you more than I fear what's going to happen to me more than I fear what they think about me. That there's a lot of reasons to be afraid today in 2026 and in today's world. But I'm going to choose to not be afraid of my circumstances or of the outcome or what what other people think about me. I'm going to choose to place my trust in the Lord. I'm going to put my hope in him. And it's like sometimes you got to just command your soul. You got to say, no, no, no, I understand you're feeling afraid right now, but don't be afraid. Put your trust in him. Put your hope in him. And I have to do this often, like Maddie. What are you so afraid of right now? You're afraid that something may happen to you. You're afraid of losing someone you love. You're afraid of looking foolish in the eyes of other people. You're afraid of being rejected by that person. But right now, I'm gonna command my heart and my soul. Fear, you will not win. But I am going to choose to put my fear in God. I'm gonna choose to put my trust and hope in God. And so I just wanted to differentiate the difference between the wrong kind of fear and the right kind of fear. And my prayer for you as we close is God right now, wherever my friends are, I pray that you would reveal yourself as the one true God, the king of all kings and the Lord of all lords. That you are a God who is worthy of being worshiped and praised and honored. And that you are worthy of all of our attention and affection. And so, God, right now we repent. If we have at any point and in any time and in any way allowed our affection, our attention, our devotion, and even the things that we're afraid of to be dictated by our emotions or by culture or by other things. If we have anything else on the throne of our heart, any other idols, God, we just ask you right now in this moment to expose them and to tear them down. And God, that you would take your rightful place on the throne of our heart. That we would fear you above all else, God, that we would submit our lives to you. That we would not give in to the fear that makes us afraid of you or the fear that makes us live our life to please people, God. But that we would live our lives in such a way of drawing near to you, of sin, seeking you, of honoring you, of obeying you. And so, God, give us a heart that seeks you above all else. God, give us a love for you that is a love that is greater than any other love on this earth. Lord, we want more of you. We know that your word is true and that your word is alive and active. And so when you say that you will deliver us, that you will surround us, that you will watch over us, that you will rescue us and save us, that we will lack no good thing. When we fear you, God, we say yes and amen. Let that be true of our lives and of those around us. God, I pray that we would have a healthy and holy fear of God. And so, God, rid all other fears. God, we break off every other spirit of fear that is not of you or from you. Right now, in the name of Jesus and I pray for all of my friends that we would have a fear of the Lord and that it would lead to wisdom and humility and the favor and the grace that can only come from you. A closeness and intimacy with you, protection, your provision and all the goodness that you are and that you give. God, we want more of you and less of us. And we love you and we praise you in Jesus name. Amen.