Followed By Mercy

I will fear no evil, bad thing

W. Austin Gardner Season 2 Episode 27

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Fear has a way of grabbing hold of our hearts and making shadows loom larger than the light that casts them. In this episode, we slow down with Psalm 23:4 and get honest about what it means to say, “I will fear no evil,” especially when you’re surrounded by darkness that feels impossible to shake.
Most of us think of fear as being scared or anxious, but in the language of the Bible, fear also means to stand in awe, to give reverence. 


The tragedy is that when we focus all our energy on our problems, we’re giving them the kind of attention and reverence that belongs only to God. David, who wrote Psalm 23, knew what it was to be surrounded by enemies, betrayal, and danger. Yet his revolutionary choice was to set his focus on the Shepherd who was with him, not on the shadows threatening to swallow him whole.


This episode isn’t about denial or empty positive thinking. It’s about deciding where your reverence belongs. We’ll talk honestly about how our anxious “what if” thoughts turn our problems into little gods and how that keeps us stuck in fear, diminishing our sense of how deeply we’re loved. You’ll hear how the solution isn’t about mustering more courage or pushing yourself to be braver. The answer is sinking deep into God’s perfect love, a love that casts out fear and holds steady even when our faith feels weak.


Best of all, you’ll discover that God’s faithfulness doesn’t depend on your performance. Even if you struggle or doubt, He remains faithful. Like David facing Goliath, you have a choice: will you keep your eyes on the threats or on the One who has already overcome them?


Ready to step out of the shadows? Listen in as we learn how to shift our focus from our problems to our Provider and make the bold, freeing declaration: I will fear no evil.

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Austin Gardner:

We come to Psalm chapter 23 and verse 4. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. I know we've been meditating on this psalm for a long time, but it has radically changed my life and it can change your life. The first thing I want to just focus on just for a minute is fear, and I want you to notice yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. So he will fear no evil, and I want you to notice he's going through it. We've discussed that a little bit before. David thought to himself and possibly even said out loud I will fear no evil. So what does he mean when he says fear? It means I will not be afraid, I will not stand in awe or feel reverence for any kind of evil or bad things that are happening. That's what the word fear means. It can mean be frightened, but it also means to stand in awe or feel reverence. So that you can see the comparison. Fear is like worship. The Bible says fear God. I will fear no evil, but I will fear God. In other words, I will not stand in awe of evil. I will not stand in awe of what might happen to me, but I will stand in awe of evil. I will not stand in awe of what might happen to me, but I will stand in awe of God. How often do you and I feel reverence for the problem instead of the shepherd? We focus on the problem, the hurt, the shame or whatever David decided to focus on, feel reverence for stand in awe of his shepherd and not the shadows, not the horrible things that were happening or might happen to him. Fear is the emotional reaction of terror or apprehension. The same word is used for honoring someone or something. One dictionary meaning is that it is not simple fear, but reverence, recognizing the power and position of an individual or thing. Fear God, but do you realize how often we fear what people have done to us? Or we fear the mistakes we've made, or we fear what might happen, or we fear the disease and what it might do to us, or we fear all the anxiety that we're having and it's driving us literally insane because we are respecting and showing all. We're exalting. We're exalting the fear, the problem, the shadow. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. You see that when you fear something, you're reverencing it, you're worshiping it. Now you're supposed to do that to God. That is reverence.

Austin Gardner:

See, too often we're very sinfully inept at understanding words in English Fear God. We're like, oh, we've got to be afraid of God. Well, you're not to be afraid of God. He's your Father, he's your Savior, he's your Rescuer. But you are to feel reverence. He is the Holy God of the creation, he is the all-powerful God that rules the universe. And I reverence Him and I stand in awe of Him and I have extreme respect for him and I exalt him, but I'm not trembling in fear. I'm not trembling in fear.

Austin Gardner:

David says I may be going through the valley of the shadow of death, but I'm not going to reverence, I'm not going to fear the evil, I'm not going to lift up the bad that could happen. You and I spend our time thinking about well, what if this happens? What if we worship? What if, instead of the God who handles, what ifs, god is love? Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good, God is good. Why would we live in fear? Why would we live in fear of the shadows, in fear of what might happen. When we have a shepherd who will take us through, we are to fear nothing but God. We have to shift our focus from the problem to the solution, from the shadows to the shepherd. We have to elevate our eyes to the Lord, god of heaven, our shepherd, and not elevate fear, not elevate problems. Now we have to choose to see the shepherd and not the shadows.

Austin Gardner:

Now, before I leave that, let me just admit I know exactly how you feel. It's like every time I opened up social media there was something there blasting me. It's like every time I went to the doctor the tumors had grown bigger. It was like every time the phone rang I wondered who's that going to be? What are they going to say? It was like every time I was out in public I felt like what are people thinking about me? Do you not realize that God wants you to change your focus from that to? The Lord is my shepherd. He has always met my need. He always restores me and I may be going through some bad times and there may be things that have got me a little bit worried, but I'll fear no evil because I know that he is with me.

Austin Gardner:

Now, when you say evil here, that's another word we don't understand. He said I'll fear no evil. What's evil? It's not the idea of being wicked, it's not that I will fear the idea of wickedness. No, it's referring to distress and misery and injury and calamity or harm. It's another word saying I will not fear adversity, I will not fear affliction or bad or wrong things that could happen to me. I will not be afraid of what's going to happen. When you have cancer, it's easy to let your mind run wild and go crazy and you think well, soon I'll be laying in a bed and I'll all be standing around talking about me as I lay here dying, and you start focusing on that, or you feel a lump growing more and then you wonder what's going to happen to you, and so you begin to magnify the possibility of that hurt when the facts are. I've had friends who were much healthier than me that died before me.

Austin Gardner:

You see, david's rebellious son is surrounding him. An army is coming to get him. His best friend has just betrayed him and sided with Absalom against him. Death looms in the shadows for David and those few that are still loyal to him. But he chose to fear no evil. And I need you to hear that he chose to fear no evil because he decided I'm not going to be afraid of what bad things might happen, I'm not going to be afraid of how I might get hurt here. Even though it was right there in front of him, he said I'm not going to do it. You see, he said I'm not going to worry about what's unpleasing or deformed or unhappy or what's going wrong with me or anything. I am going to fear honor, respect, elevate God. You see, david said I will not fear evil.

Austin Gardner:

David decided he would focus on the shepherd, not the shadows, not the danger, not the disaster that his life had become, but on his deliverer. See, david said the Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear when you get a hold of who the Lord is, when you get a hold of who the shepherd is? The Lord I am is not only his shepherd, but it's his light, his salvation, he's the rescuer. Why would David be afraid? When he knows the truth about who God is and about who his shepherd is, he doesn't have to be afraid.

Austin Gardner:

Yes, fear can come. We spend time worrying and exalting the bad things that happen, but David learned that when your fears run wild, it's time to trust the Lord. And you do that by a statement. See it's choosing I'm not going to be afraid. How do you do that? You change the way you're thinking. You say I'll say this the Lord is my shepherd, I won't even focus on the army that's out there. You listen to me. You're hiding in that motel room. You're terrified of what's going to happen. You've been mistreated, Things have gone wrong and you want to cry. Woe is me. When you could stop and say I'm not going to think like that. I'm going to say, no, I got it good. The Lord is my shepherd.

Austin Gardner:

The psalmist writes what time I'm afraid, I will trust in thee. I'll trust you, lord. In God I will praise his word. In God I put my trust. I will not fear what any flesh, what flesh, what man, what any person can do to me. That's Psalms 56, 3 and 4.

Austin Gardner:

You see, fear loses its power when we understand, not how much we love God, not about how much you love God, but how much God loves you. And we just basically almost drowned in his love. It's flooding over us and we just are so happy in it. There is no fear in love, perfect love, mature love, god. Love cast out fear because fear has torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him because he first loved us. Do you get the key there? Verse 19, you see, that's how you focus on. It's not about you loving God because you're sitting there. I just don't know if I love God enough. It's not really about that. It's about how much God loves you and he loves you enough. He loves you enough. When we gain a better, more informed, biblically-based understanding of God's love and that truth will pound that into our hearts and into our feelings fear will vanish.

Austin Gardner:

God is love. His love was so great that he took on human form. He lived among us. He died carrying our sin. He was buried and rose to live eternally. He's not a ghost, he's not a spirit, he's not something you feel, but he's a real, living life person. He is the God who knows us, loves us and feels everything we're going through. He became one of us to love us perfectly, of us, to love us perfectly.

Austin Gardner:

Grab that and kick the fear out. Know this even when you feel that you have failed and you don't love God like you ought to, even when you doubt him, even when you mess up, and that doesn't change God, because he's the unchanging God who loves you. He is faithful whether you are or not. He can't stop being who he is when we aren't what we should be. The Bible says in 2 Timothy 2.13,. If we believe, not yet he, if we believe not. If we quit believing, he abides faithful. He can't deny himself. Your job is to take strength to be. Your job is to take strength to be brave, to believe, to trust. Don't faint or fret, because God is with you. Joshua 1.9. And it's not about you, it's just about you saying I'm going to believe. It's a simple, easy solution to say I'm not going to think about that right now. I'm going to focus my thoughts on how much God loves me.

Austin Gardner:

Remember the 12 spies 10 look for shadows and fears and 2 looked for the shepherd. The nation was cowardly looking at Goliath, but David didn't fear the Goliath, he trusted his shepherd. That doesn't mean David didn't think Goliath was dangerous. It just means choose where you put your eyes. Remember, if you have any fear at all and I think most of us do, fear does not come from God.

Austin Gardner:

God does not want you living in fear. God has not given you a spirit of fear, but a power and of love and a sound mind. So trust the Lord, Bask in his love, focus on his power, and you too will be able to live with victory over your fears. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. I will fear no evil. I just decided, you see, he decided that when he started the psalm he said I'm not going to grovel, I'm not going to talk about all my mess ups, I'm going to think about one thing the Lord's my shepherd. And now he says I will not fear. I will not fear. That's a decision you've got to make. Choose right now. I will not fear.

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