When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. (Ps. 56:3 ESV)

Doctors tell us we respond to fear in one of two ways: fight or flight. When confronted with danger we either get our backs up and fight or turn tail and run. How many interactions with family or friends can be explained by those two responses?

But David gives us a third option, and the best. When he penned these words David was pursued by Saul. David refused to bring the fight to Saul, because he was the Lord’s anointed king. And David did a lot of running. But his first response to fear was always trust in God.

David was the first writer in the Old Testament to use the word trust in this way and it shows up twice as often in the Psalms David wrote as in the rest of the psalter. Trust was his hallmark.

For the child of God there is a new response we need to turn into habit. When confronted with fear or danger or uncertainty we should not first turn to fight, nor turn to run, but drop to our knees in trustful prayer. Humanly speaking trust in God is a most vulnerable position, but because God is faithful, it is actually the most powerful thing we can do.