Oh fear the LORD, you his saints,
for those who fear him have no lack!
The young lions suffer want and hunger;
but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing. Ps. 34:9-10
After reading about the LORD’s goodness, shelter, and communion with mankind, it may seem strange that the next sentence from the psalmist is to fear the LORD. Why would David fear Him in whom he had found such refuge? “You his saints” means the ones who have found forgiveness of sin and freedom from His wrath… and yet they still fear the LORD.
The right fear of the LORD is not a cowering fear that prompts a person to flee Him. Rather, a person should see the LORD’s goodness, His holiness, and His righteous, white-hot wrath against sin. His saints have God’s Word hidden in them that speaks of His judgment coming against the earth — against all who oppose Him with their idols, arrogance, and other evil ways. This should drive that person to the LORD as the only place of safety. What other refuge can protect against the LORD’s judgment of sin except the LORD Himself? For the wicked, however, “There is no fear of God before [the wicked’s] eyes” (Ps. 36:1), so they do not walk in obedience, but in arrogance of heart, for which they will be found out, their sin hated, and themselves condemned. True saving fear of the LORD seeks His face for forgiveness, and, as the psalmist writes in 34:11-14,
Come, O children, isten to me;
I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
What man is there who desires life
and loves many days, that he may see good?
Keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from speaking deceit.
Turn away from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it. Ps. 34:11-14
This way doesn’t seem profitable in the world; it is against the world’s ways and the world cannot understand it. But the promise is that “those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.” There is no gift in the LORD’s favor that is beyond His power to give, no want felt that He does not see, no want withheld that was not done so out of goodness, no good gift that does not come from Him.
thoughts and songs 