Everyone knows today that man’s greatest enemy is fear. If you really get rid of fear concerning any danger it has no power to hurt you. It is no mere platitude to say, “There is nothing to fear but fear.”

This wonderful Psalm is a most powerful prayer or treatment against fear. If you are afraid about something read this Psalm—or part of it—carefully and thoughtfully, realizing the spiritual meaning of each verse, and very soon your fear will begin to lessen, and will finally disappear.

The advantage of a written prayer or treatment like this is that it makes you think certain powerful healing thoughts, and, as you know, it is the right thought that demonstrates. It is not, of course, the Psalm itself but the change which it brings about in your thinking that does the work.

It opens, in the first three verses, with an affirmation of faith in God. Always begin every prayer by thinking of God, if only for a moment, and by affirming your faith and trust in Him.

Verse one says, I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. In reading this you are affirming that you are going to love God. Fear always means that one has an insufficient faith and love for God—or why should one fear?

Then you go on to say that God is your rock, and your fortress, and your deliverer, that God is your strength and your buckler, and that you are going to trust in Him. Then you think of Him as the horn of your salvation and your high tower. In the Bible, the horn is a symbol of power, and, of course, a high tower is a safe place and signifies a high consciousness that fear “a groundling” cannot reach, and you affirm that you will be saved from the dangers which you have been fearing.

Sometimes your fear will evaporate at this point or after a short prayer of any kind, but this is not always the case. If there is a good deal of fear it will probably take some time to overcome it. But if you hold to your faith in God it is only a question of time before you will be free and therefore safe.

At this point the Psalmist, thinking of one of his own experiences, says that the sorrows of hell compassed him about and the snares of death (great fear) prevented him, and that he “cried unto God”—he went on praying—and that God came to his rescue.

He goes on to describe how everything changed for the better as a result of his prayer, how the action of God transformed the situation from danger into perfect safety. This description is a most beautiful poem in itself. It consists of a number of graphic figures and symbols in the familiar Bible style.

He says that the earth shook and trembled and that the very hills moved because God was wroth. Of course, the “earth” means your environment, your body, and all the outer conditions that constitute your life experience at the present time. Thus the shaking and moving of these things means that all your conditions are changed, naturally for the better. The “wroth” of God in the Bible always means the activity of God. It does not mean anger.

1. There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.

2. He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet.

3. And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind.

4. He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.

5. At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire.

6. The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.

7. Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.

8. Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.

Verse 16 sums up the experience with beautiful simplicity—He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters.

The writer goes on to say that God delivered him from his strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me. Of course, the enemies, and those who hated him were his own fears and doubts, and, of course, that is true for us all.

Verse 19 says, He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me. Is it not a wonderful thought that God brings us forth into a large place? Does it not express dramatically the sense of being delivered from a dungeon into the open air and freedom? Then it says that he delivered me, because he delighted in me. God always delights in his children, and this verse really means that being delivered from the dungeon of fear, the Psalmist was beginning to experience the delight that peace of mind naturally brings.

The writer then says that God rewarded him according to his “righteousness.” This word, in the Bible, always means right thinking.

And now comes a very significant statement, according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me. This refers to right conduct or right living. The hand always stands for activity for it represents the executive power of man. To have clean hands means that one has been trying to live the Christ life. We must never forget that our prayers have but little power if we are not honestly trying to live up to the best that we know. If we are not trying to live the life it is proof that we do not believe in our prayers, even if we think we do, for WE ALWAYS DO WHAT WE BELIEVE. It is self-deception of the deadliest kind to think “I believe such a thing although I know that I do not always do it.” If you believe it, you will do it.

Next we come to one of the most profound statements of spiritual law to be found even in the Bible—With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright; with the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward. (Verses 25 and 26)

This is a concise and powerful statement of the law that we shall literally reap what we sow. If we are merciful to others we shall receive mercy from the universe, and if we are sincere and honest, the world will be sincere and honest to us. The pure minded (and in the Bible the word “pure” means not only physical purity but loyalty to God in every phase of one’s life) will be rewarded with peace and harmony that nothing can disturb. On the other hand, the froward (this word, now obsolete, means unscrupulousness of every kind) will surely bring suffering and disaster.

Naturally, the only place that you can be merciful, or upright, or pure, or froward is in your own heart, or consciousness; because that is where you rise or fall, and your words and deeds are merely the external expression of what is in your heart.

Of course, these verses do not mean literally that God sends these things. They are the automatic result of natural law. God, in His infinite wisdom, has made the laws of the universe and left them to work themselves out. He is not constantly interfering in every individual transaction as simple minded people think. If this were the case there would be no law and God would not be Principle.

To these thoughts the author adds a rider reminding us that spiritual pride leads to a fall, but that true humility and repentance always bring forgiveness. Reread the parable of the publican and the Pharisee. 1

Now the Psalmist moves on to another phase of the teaching. He makes the reader say, or think, Thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.

Many similes have been offered by religious teachers to illustrate the relationship between God and man. One of the best known and most helpful is to think of man as a spark from a great fire, which is God. The spark is not the whole of the fire but it is part of it, and therefore of the same nature, and possesses, potentially, all the characteristics of the parent fire. It can ignite many things upon which it falls, thus producing another fire essentially of the same nature as the original fire, and this fire grows and grows, especially if it is stimulated by a breeze. This illustrates the growth of your soul, and the breeze which builds it rapidly is, of course, prayer.

This spiritual growth will give you great power to overcome difficulties and to advance on the path. And the Psalmist, thinking of some of the times in the past when this happened to him, says, For by thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall. He means that he was like a single man who was able to charge through a whole troop of soldiers and they could not hold him. He also says that this help enabled him to leap over a wall. It would be a high wall, of course, or it would not be worth recording. Everyone has found himself at some time confronted with a difficulty which seemed like a high and insurmountable wall, but faith in God enables one to clear the obstacle notwithstanding.

Next he reminds us that the way of God is perfect. Prayer never brings any difficulties upon us or anyone else. It can do nothing but good. It can only improve any situation, and there is no God but the one God. When we trust to our own efforts, or, in fact, look to anything but God, “the rock,” we are wasting our time. The Psalmist goes on to say once more that God will give you strength and make your way perfect. This means that your various faults and failings cannot keep you back as long as you are honestly trying to get rid of them.

It says, in the picturesque Bible way, that He will make your feet like hinds’ feet. This implies great fleetness of foot, or quick answers to prayer.

It then says that He will put you upon your high place. In other words, He will raise your consciousness so that you will automatically demonstrate. He will teach you to pray in a still better way than you have been doing previously (teach your hands to war). He will shield you from all evil, and His right hand will hold you up. When we pray, God always acts in a gentle and kindly way and for the benefit of all concerned—thy gentleness hath made me great.

The next section (Verses 37 to 43), in the usual Bible idiom, graphically illustrates the demonstrations or over-comings that your prayers have brought about. Again they talk about enemies being defeated and destroyed, and, as always, these enemies are your own fears, doubts, faults, etc.

The following section deals with the dominion which you will acquire over your own mentality. The “strangers” are our most important faults and weaknesses because, familiar as they are to us in most cases, they are strangers to our real selves, and they will surely fade away.

Then the author praises God and thanks Him for His goodness. You probably know that thanksgiving is one of the most powerful forms of prayer.

Finally he says that God gives great deliverance to his king; and that He sheweth mercy to His anointed, to David and to his seed for evermore. You are His king. God intends us all to be kings through the exercise of spiritual power. David, in the Bible, stands for Divine Love, and the more love we have in our hearts, the more power do we have in prayer. The seed of David is our demonstrations and they are to go on increasing through all eternity.

1. Luke 18:10-14.

EMMET FOX