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What Time I Am Afraid I Will Trust in Thee, Psalm 56:3

A wooden boat rides high on gray-blue waves while the clouds break open ahead, painted under a verse that admits fear before it speaks of trust.

The boat and the storm

Jesus sits alone in a small planked rowing boat, seen from behind and slightly to the side. His cream robe and blue garment are wrapped in a rust-colored mantle, and both hands hold a single long oar dipped into the water. Around him the sea is choppy, full of curling crests and white spray painted in slate and indigo.

Ahead, the heavy clouds part and a pale golden sun pours light across the horizon. He is rowing toward it. The lettering above reads: “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.”

What does Psalm 56:3 mean?

The note at the top of Psalm 56 places it at one of the lowest points of David's life: when the Philistines took him in Gath. According to 1 Samuel 21, he had fled from Saul into enemy territory, was recognized, and escaped only by pretending to be mad in front of the king. The psalm is written by a man with nowhere safe to stand.

“What time” is old English for “whenever” or “at the moment when”. The verse does not claim that believers never feel fear. It assumes they will, and it decides in advance what to do at that moment. Verse 4 repeats the thought and pushes it further: in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me. It is a psalm for people who are still in the middle of the trouble, not already safely past it.

Later in the same psalm David says that God keeps count of his wanderings and puts his tears into a bottle, an image of grief that is noticed and kept rather than wasted.

In times of loss

Because it speaks honestly about fear, this verse is often shared with someone who is grieving, facing an illness or walking through a frightening diagnosis. Framed simply, it is a sympathy gift that does not pretend things are easy. Others hang it by the front door or in a child's room as a reminder for anxious nights, and some give it at a baptism, as a verse to carry into whatever storms come later.

The blues and warm golds work well against white or pale gray walls, and a thin natural wood frame keeps the mood calm.

Read Psalm 56 and what it means