Battling Fear – One Song at a Time

The gloom of nighttime felt heavy. I was wide awake as usual long after my son and husband had gone to sleep. Even the dogs lay snoring nearby. But I couldn’t shake the cold grip of fear that threatened yet again to undo me. These fears had begun to shake my soul in the late months of 2020 as many of my acquaintances battled the Coronavirus and the thread of this life seemed increasingly fragile. The truth that life is a vapor had never been so real to me. During the day, I was fine. I looked forward to waking up in the mornings and stirring around in the house, aware that I had lived to see a new day. There was something rejuvenating about the morning with its feeling of hope mingled with the aroma of freshly brewed coffee. But nearly every evening through the Fall and Winter, my mind would grow increasingly anxious. The darkness outside matched the darkness of my thoughts. Worries about Covid. Fears about our way of life being permanently altered. Unbidden panicked thoughts about whether I was truly loved and accepted by God. Again and again, I would push the fears to the back corners of my mind and try to just muddle through until falling asleep.

But I could not ignore those fears for long. I had to find a way to not just cope with them but to battle them and replace them with truth. So I turned to an avenue I’ve long been familiar with. Music. Specifically, hymns and worship songs rich with truth about the Gospel. Many nights, I would stream Scripture inspired songs at a soft volume, soothing my very soul until I finally fell asleep. The power of songs about the Gospel have given me so much peace in recent months but I am not alone. For thousands of years, followers of Jesus have encouraged their hearts with singing. Look no further than the story of Paul and Silas singing in the Philippian jail to see how powerful the singing of the saints can be. I’m convinced that singing the truths of the Gospel to our hearts can turn prisons into palaces. I have seen how it has set my chains free time and time again.

I’m grateful for the foundation of thousands of hymns and spiritual songs that we can glean from. Whether a song was written a month ago or written 500 years ago does not really matter. Timeless truth will drive out fear. I have seen this at work in my own life in the past year. In a pandemic of covid and fear, my soul has clung to the rich words of hymns both new and old. When fear tries to overwhelm my soul, I can sing, “Blessed assurance! Jesus is mine!” Or “My hope is in the Lord, who gave Himself for me and paid the price of all my sin at Calvary!” Life will always be uncertain and fleeting. Singing songs of hope and faith anchors my soul and delivers me from the tossing waves of doubt and fear.