Fight Insecurity On Your Knees
“Be not silent, O God of my praise! For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me, speaking against me with lying tongues. They encircle me with words of hate, and attack me without cause. In return for my love they accuse me, but I give myself to prayer.” Psalm 109:1-4
If you’re human, then more likely than not, you've struggled with feeling insecure. I want to suggest to you that insecurity itself may not be your biggest problem; rather, it’s what you do when you feel insecure that can be life-altering.
Insecurity can involve an overwhelming sense of uncertainty about your abilities, skills, and value as a person that in the face of challenging circumstance makes you feel threatened or in danger of something or someone. If we don’t deal with our insecurity in a healthy way, it can have a negative impact upon our physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. Moreover, when we don’t deal with our insecurity in a healthy way, we will be unable to exercise trust in ourselves or others or function to our fullest potential.
Again, insecurity itself is not the main problem, rather, the issue is what we do when we feel insecure.
In Psalm 109, David is under attack from men who want to see his demise. Those who are out to get him are obviously men who cannot be trusted. Concerning his attackers, David tells God,
“For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me, speaking against me with lying tongues. They encircle me with words of hate, and attack me without cause. In return for my love, they accuse me…” Psalm 109:2-4a
Sometimes our insecurities are not based in reality. In other words, they are internal, not external. That is to say, they are rooted in an inner lack of confidence in our ability not based on a real outward threat.
In David’s case, real evil people were out to get him. This wasn’t something he was imagining. Nevertheless, David's response to the real threat, was to pray. More specifically he writes:
“In return for my love they accuse me, but I give myself to prayer.” Psalm 109:4
There are times when people need to do more than pray when being threatened. Recently I counseled a single mom to get an order of protection from the father of her child. He had been verbally and physically abusing her for some time. But she tolerated it not only because of an external threat but because of an internal insecurity. She feared being alone. She didn’t know the security of God’s love that would fill the void in her heart. She had made a profession of faith in Christ, but she lacked intimacy with Christ, an intimacy that is cultivated in prayer and in hearing and walking in obedience to His word. She was hoping instead that her boyfriend would change. But what she needed was for her heart to be changed by finding her ultimate security in a close relationship with Jesus, the lover of her soul. The abuse not only continued, but got worse. Thankfully she finally called the police and he was arrested. I’m praying that she will pursue a close walk with Jesus and give Him the preeminent place in her heart. You’ll never know how to truly love and be loved until you find that God’s love is enough.
Concerning the external threats in David’s life, he did what he often did, he gave himself to prayer. As one commentator explained:
"The following lines in the Psalm are filled with bitter wishes that form something of a prophecy of doom against these enemies. Yet David did nothing to bring this doom against these enemies. That was God’s work, not his own. As for David, he would give himself to prayer and leave it with the LORD.” David Guzik
When David felt threatened, he didn’t just pray, he gave himself to prayer. In fact, in the Hebrew, David’s devotion to prayer is stated more emphatically. Another commentator explained it this way:
“The Hebrew is more abrupt and therefore even stronger. It says literally, ‘But I prayer.’ That is, ‘I am all prayer or characterized by prayer. While my enemies are uttering false words about me to other people, trying to do me harm, I am speaking to God. I am praying to God always.’” Boice
Charles Spurgeon put it this way:
“He did nothing else but pray. He became prayer as they became malice. This was his answer to his enemies, he appealed from men and their injustice to the Judge of all the earth, who must do right.”
Prayer is more than making request of God. David begins Psalm 109 with these words: “Be not silent, O God of my praise!”
The God who David loves and who David knows loves him is at the forefront of his prayers. This is made clearer at the end of the psalm where he writes:
“With my mouth I will give great thanks to the Lord; I will praise him in the midst of the throng. For he stands at the right hand of the needy one, to save him from those who condemn his soul to death.” Psalm 109:30-31
Remember, it’s not insecurity itself that is the problem, but what we do with it. What do you do when you feel insecure? Do you take your troubles, and your cares to the Lord? Do we do what the word of God exhorts us to do in Philippians 4:6-7? “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
It’s important to note here that the word translated prayer speaks of more than bringing our requests before the Lord.
“It carries the idea of adoration, devotion, and thanksgiving. Whenever we find ourselves worrying, our first reaction ought to be to get alone with God and worship Him.” Warren Wiersbe
When we worship, we recognize the worthiness and greatness of God. Excessive worry and insecurity is often the result of making our problems bigger than God. But when we go to God in worship, when we see Him rightly, we are reminded that God is bigger than our problems. More than that, when we draw near to God, He draws near to us and makes His presence known and His love secures our hearts.
Start your day praying with an open bible about the things that God is revealing to you about Himself and His will for your life. As the Lord exhorts us to do in Psalm 46:10: “Be still, and know that I am God.”
“God guarantees security and blessings to those who are in an authentic relationship with Him and who demonstrate faithful obedience (Matthew 7:24-25). This person doesn’t just affirm the truth but acts upon it. It is not their religious dogma, but their diligent doing that secures blessings. Trying harder to be a religious person is not enough. Nor does it work to utilize God as your life-preserver in difficult moments if He is not your very life in every moment. The gospel’s message is the exclusive pathway to ultimate security and strength in a world sliding away.” Henderson, D, Never Shaken, Moody Publishing.
Let’s not just pray when we’re in trouble. As I've heard it said, “If you pray only when you're in trouble, you’re in trouble.” Let’s give ourselves to prayer, to pursuing intimacy with God so that we might live to the praise of His glory and securing grace.
In His service,
Pastor Marco