Are you struggling with fear? – New Year Psalm of Wisdom, Part 2

Are things in our world getting worse? While politicians boldly declare that crime is on the rise, an FBI report says the opposite: “Not only has violent crime fallen 23% from 2002 to 2022, but also in the past year alone murders fell 6% and violent crime declined 2% overall.” (Source: Time)

It can be difficult to know what to do with a report like that when every day we see the news about war in Gaza, war in Ukraine, and I could go on and on about troubles in our world. I don’t have to detail it. We humans are quite well-acquainted with fear.

As we continue studying Psalm 49, a wisdom psalm for the New Year, the psalmist continues in verses 5-6 with a question: “Why should I fear when evil days come, when wicked deceivers surround me— those who trust in their wealth and boast of their great riches?”

He begins with the topic of fearing evil days.  It is very popular in our culture to describe the days as evil.  It is very popular to say, “Things are getting worse” or “I would never want to raise children in today’s world.”  Many people assume that things are getting worse, and that can be a focus of their heart, mind and conversations.

It would be incredibly difficult, maybe impossible, to scientifically prove that things are worse, but that kind of proof is not what people are interested in.  Instead, when people say that things are worse, they are communicating what they have been told by others, perhaps in the news or on social media, or they are communicating what they personally observe.  Their personal opinion is real to them. 

Some of you might have that personal opinion that we are living in evil days, days that are getting worse.  So the psalmist is bringing something up here that is quite common.  Many humans fear evil days. 

But notice how he frames it as a question: “Why should I fear evil days?”  He doesn’t answer the question yet.  He only describes the evil days a bit further.  The evil days, to him, are days when he is surrounded by wicked deceivers.  These wicked deceivers trust in their wealth and boast of their great riches. 

When I read that, it sounded very contemporary and American, trusting in wealth, boasting in great riches.  We swim in the cultural waters of capitalism, materialism, consumerism, and the economy.  The Dow Jones broke 37,000 for the first time ever a few weeks ago.  Inflation is going down.  The consumer spending index is strong.  The unemployment rate is low.  When we hear things like that, we Americans feel good.  The rest of the world can be burning, but our economy is doing great, so many of us feel great. 

Yet the psalmist is quite negative about people who trust in their wealth and boast of their riches.  In fact, he calls the people who trust in their wealth and boast of their great riches, wicked deceivers who surround him.  He is actually saying that the evil days have come precisely because the wicked deceivers, those people who trust and boast in their wealth, surround him.  A deceiver is one who tries to fool people, giving an impression that their lives are great.

It’s as though he is surrounded by people who are saying out loud, “We have such great wealth, we are awesome, we have things figured out, we are steady, we are solid, we have it made.”  The psalmist asks “Why should I fear this?” 

I get that.  I immediately resonate with the psalmist.  Do you resonate with the idea of being surrounded by wicked deceivers?  Do you resonate with the idea of being surrounded by people who trust in their wealth?  Does it bring on an unsettled, fearful feeling? Is it tempting to compare your life with theirs? 

It can seem we are surrounded by wicked wealthy deceivers, and even if they are not purposefully attempting to attack us with their depictions of the good life, if we aren’t careful we can feel fear because we know that we don’t have what they have. 

What we wonder deep down is if we are going to be able to pay the bills, to retire, to have steady relationships, to have peace and joy in our lives.  We fear we won’t have that peace.  We can fear that we don’t measure up.  We can fear that we don’t have it made like those other people who clearly have it made.  We not only fear that we don’t currently have it made, we fear we never will.  Do you see where the focus is?   On ourselves, on comparing, and drenched in fear.

I’m not saying that everyone experiences that fear. But some of us do fear. We can feel as though we are surrounded by success and the good life, while at the same time we ourselves seem to be experiencing failure and the not-so-good life. 

Of course, our feelings can be exaggerated.  We can dwell on the negative, and make life out to be far worse than it really is.  But our feelings of fear are real feelings nonetheless. 

But again, notice that the psalmist is questioning.  He says, “Why should I fear?”  That question leaves us with the possibility that maybe he is saying that there is another option besides fear.  Maybe there is a way to look at this situation of being surrounded by supposed success stories without fear. 

In the next post, we’ll begin to learn how he answers his question. 

Photo by Vadim Bogulov on Unsplash