Break Free from Fear by Making this Power-Packed Psalm Your Own

I sought the Lord and He answered me,
And rescued me from all my fears. 

—Psalm 34:4 (NASB) 

My mother was afraid of many things, including snakes. One summer, we were out weeding on the side of the house, and I decided to have some fun at her expense. As we yanked out weed after weed, I created some fictional tale about a television report warning this was a particularly bad season for garter snakes—and other snakes as well. As that thought began to simmer, her face darkened with concern.

A few minutes later, I fattened my fib with additional nonsense about invasive species of poisonous snakes. All the while, I kept an eye out for a long, skinny stick. Having found one, I quietly pulled it aside as I waxed on about snakes spotted right in our own town. Not long after that, she turned to gather up the weed pile. That’s when I tickled the back of her leg with my stick. She screamed. I laughed. And to her credit—she laughed too!  

Years later, I learned that psychologists call what I was creating for my mother a sense of “potentiation.” It means that simply by being in a state of fear, we amplify our fear response. The bottom line is that even harmless events—like a stick on the back of your leg—seem scary when you are primed for fear.  

In Psalm 34:4, David offers a powerful insight into how he processed his fears. With a remarkable economy of words, David testifies, “I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears” (KJV). In other words, poof went potentiation! 

When David says he “sought the Lord,” he isn’t referring to a quick prayer. The word he uses here means to investigate, search carefully, make inquisition, and seek with the idea of demanding answers. So, David is talking about multiple conversations, extended time with God, and a determination to find answers. 

Next, David says, “He heard me.” We should not be surprised. Proverbs 15:29 assures us, “The Lord is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous.” On a human level, astounding affirmation and peace come from knowing we are heard and known. How much more so when it is God who tells us He hears us? 

How to Make This Self-Talk Yours 

For fearful folks like us, the most powerful phrase of this verse is David’s declaration that God “delivered me from all my fears.” The word for delivered means  

• Snatch 
• Spare 
• Preserve 
• Recover 
• Rescue

Don’t you love every one of those? Isn’t this what you want?  

New Victories! 

I have wrestled with a fear in my life that has repeatedly tripped me up, knocked me down, and beaten my soul to a pulp. But I’m experiencing new victories when I swap out my crummy self-talk for this verse in Psalm 34. Important: this is not a “one-and-done” deal. My particular fear keeps coming back, so I must keep repeating this same verse over and over. And that’s okay! But the more I claim the verse, the less of a claim fear has on me.  

Imagine how satisfying it would be for you—on the other side of God’s rescue—to say out loud, “I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.” Why not make this power-packed verse your own? It’s brief. Memorize it, ponder it, and speak it to your very next fear. And the next and the next.