Fear & Anxiety
I do not feel safe in my own home anymore. I check the locks over and over and every noise at night puts me on alert. How do I get my sense of safety back?
“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.”
This psalm speaks in the language of shelter, refuge, and fortress, which are all images of physical structures a person can go inside. It was written in a world of raids, plague, and open violence, for people who knew that walls sometimes failed. It does not promise that nothing will ever come near. It relocates the deepest sense of security from the structure around you to the God you are dwelling with.
“Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.”
The writer joins two promises together: God has said he will never leave you, and therefore we can say boldly that the Lord is our helper and we will not fear what man can do. The logic runs from presence to courage, not from safety to courage. Nothing in the passage claims that people cannot do anything to you. It claims you are not facing them alone.
A path forward
Do the practical work properly once: locks, lighting, a conversation with a neighbour, whatever is actually needed. Then stop rechecking. Repeated checking teaches your brain that the danger is real.
Pray Psalm 91 aloud at the point in the evening when the fear usually rises, rather than in the morning when you feel fine. Scripture spoken into the actual moment does different work.
If something happened to make you feel this way, tell someone the whole of it, and consider a counsellor. Hypervigilance after a real event is a normal response, and it responds well to help.
Closing verse
“The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.”
- Proverbs 18:10
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