SINGING ABOUT FEAR TOGETHER

The honesty and humanity of the Psalms are two of their significant features. Described as a song, perhaps for use in worship, Psalm 55 even incorporates the all-too-familiar physical symptoms of fear: “My heart pounds in my chest. The terror of death assaults me. Fear and trembling overwhelm me, and I can’t stop shaking” (Psalm 55:4, 5, NLT).

We know those feelings and the effects they can have on us. We all have those experiences—circumstances or periods in our lives when fear threatens to overwhelm us. People of faith and the communities they are part of should not pretend that life with God is, or ought to be, fear-free. Indeed, as a psalm “for the choir director” (NLT), Psalm 55 was a song to be sung together, a communal acknowledgment of the reality of fear in our lives.

While few of our hymns or worship songs today seem to have this same kind of raw honesty, the Bible models this kind of human expression as legitimate among the community of faith. But while many of the psalms express the reality of fear, few leave us there. Acknowledgment of fear and the weight of threat and attack that might overwhelm us is most often offered in the context of cries for help to God as our Rescuer, Protector, and Defender.

Additionally, most of those psalms describe the progression from fear and anguish to a renewed trust in God. “Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken” (Psalm 55:22). Voicing our fears—even in a general collective sense—need not mean that we are overwhelmed by them or surrender to them.

Rather, it can be a way of acknowledging them together, calling for God’s help, and giving them to God as an act of trust in Him, His response, and His power.