Sermon Quotes: "When I Am Afraid"

“Among our ever-expanding troubles, fear and anxiety have pride of place. They are quintessential human issues. They are not so much problems that occasionally seize us; they are regular features of daily life that can be either quiet in the background or loud and dominating in the foreground. They say that we are powerless and weak, there are troubles ahead, things cherished at risk, and there is not much we can do about it. And they are correct. Their specific predictions are often off, and they don’t tell the whole story, but they are correct. In this world, we and the people we love will know trouble…Look around and see that your fears are everywhere…Scripture agrees that fears are everywhere. The Psalms assume that we are afraid.” Ed Welch

“Faith is seen here as a deliberate act, in defiance of one’s emotional state.” Derek Kidner

“This word-picture arrests us. Consider every tear that has fallen from your face. Every single one. They have each been marked by heaven. God has noticed every one.” Dane Ortlund

“This simple statement ‘God is for us’ is in truth one of the richest and weightiest utterances that the Bible contains. The knowledge that God is on his side brings a note of triumph into his prayer.” J.I. Packer

“The psalm calls for further pastoral care and sympathetic instruction, since not all answers to these laments appear as quickly as the faithful might like.” John Collins