We have to be taught how to fear the Lord. That phrase dates back thousands of years and has lost it’s colloquial context. I liken it to someone thousands of years from now discovering our phrase: No Pain No Gain. Someone would have to reveal to them the good that we were expressing in such an ominous saying. I think today that we need someone from thousands of years ago to come teach us. Teach us the good being expressed in the saying, “Fear the Lord”.
9 Fear the Lord, you that are his saints, *
for those who fear him lack nothing.
10 The young lions lack and suffer hunger, *
but those who seek the Lord lack nothing that is good.
11 Come, children, and listen to me; *
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
12 Who among you loves life *
and desires long life to enjoy prosperity?
13 Keep your tongue from evil-speaking *
and your lips from lying words.
14 Turn from evil and do good; *
seek peace and pursue it.
The phrase “Fear the Lord” makes us think that we need to be afraid of the Lord. That we should try to be perfect lest he smite us. The Lord is ever watching our every move and will crack us on the knuckles like a stern nun when we lose focus. He is ever hearing our every word and ready to chastise us when we slip up. I don’t believe that is at all what the phrase “fear the Lord” is about.
10 The young lions lack and suffer hunger, *
but those who seek the Lord lack nothing that is good.
The verse that stood out to me in this psalm is verse 10. It seems out of place with the rest of the psalm. But over the years what I have learned when I see that is to pay attention to it. There is often something in there that relates it to what is being said but I don’t see it yet. What do young lions have to do with the rest of this psalm?
Finding Food
At first read I thought that the young lions are lacking food and that’s why they’re hungry. But this verse is relating to the problem that we have when we don’t know what it is to “fear the Lord”. It’s not that they are lacking food, which is where my mind went initially. It’s that they are lacking a “fear of the Lord”.
Young lions are proud and capable creatures. They are at the top of their food chain. If they are hungry, they just go kill and eat right? Well, all of creation looks to God for their food and sustenance. What the young lions lack and therefore suffer hunger is a humility. They lack the understanding that they need God and for their sustenance.
When we are urged to fear the Lord, we are urged to grasp our need for God in everything. Everything from recognizing how quickly our sin can unravel our lives to how it is only though God’s grace that we are capable of loving our neighbor. When we fall into the delusion of believing that we live successfully because of our strengths and talents, we are not fearing the Lord. We are like young lions that lack and suffer hunger.
The Lord’s Prayer
9 Pray then like this:
Our Father who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
10 Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread;
12 And forgive us our debts,
As we also have forgiven our debtors;
13 And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
Jesus who was and is Lord, lived out perfectly what it means to Fear The Lord. That is not an easy concept for me to wrap my mind around. But I think what he teaches us, His followers, about how we should pray, is deeply oriented from the mindset or what it means to “Fear The Lord”.
