Sermon Psalm 34 – The Fear of the Lord

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon Psalm 34 – The Fear of the Lord
New Covenant Presbyterian Church
August 19, 2018

The is Gospel Sunday and we are singing some of the oldies but goodies.   I love to sings these songs, but there is an underlying theme to them which I would like to point out.   Consider these words from Softly and Tenderly, “Time is now fleeting, the moments are passing, passing from you and from me; shadows are gathering, deathbeds are coming, coming for you and for me”.  Listen to these words from Sweet Hour of Prayer, “In seasons of distress and grief, my soul has often found relief, and oft escaped the tempter's snare by thy return, sweet hour of prayer!”  Or what about these words from It is Well With My Soul, “Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, let this blest assurance control: that Christ has regarded my helpless estate, and has shed his own blood for my soul”?  There seems to be a lot of fear:  fear of dying, fear of distress, fear of temptation.   Fear is something we experience.   The gospel songs teach us the when we fear, Jesus rescues.

We all have things that we fear.  Maybe we fear to be high up in the mountains.  Maybe we fear being enclosed in an airplane.  Maybe we fear the loss of our health or the loss of a job.  There are many things that we fear.  We come to church to find sanctuary from our fears in the arms of a loving God.  So why does the Bible tell us to fear God too?  Before we look at this let’s pray.

Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy Heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen. (John Calvin)

In March of 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt spoke to the American people in his first inaugural address.  He said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”  Roosevelt was talking about cowardice that was preventing the country from doing what needed to be done to get out of the Great Depression.  Today we have different fears.  We fear economic depression or maybe inflation, we fear terrorists, and we fear the loss of our health.   Fear sometimes can paralyze us into inaction or sometimes spur us on to action.

In the scripture that we heard earlier, David was very much afraid.  King Saul was after him.  He was alone with no army, no equipment, and no supplies.  David was hungry and approached the priest of Nob for sanctuary.  David needed a place where his fears of Saul could be replaced with a deep reverence for God.  The priest of Nob gave David the holy bread which strengthened him, removed his fears and set him right with God.  David then approached the King of Gath for protection from Saul.  But fearing that the King of Gath might tell Saul where David was hiding, David pretended to be mad hoping the King would ignore him.  Then David sat down and wrote a psalm about his experiences with fear, Psalm 34.

Psalm 34
Of David. When he pretended to be insane before Abimelek, who drove him away, and he left.
1 I will extol the Lord at all times;
    his praise will always be on my lips.
2 I will glory in the Lord;
    let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
3 Glorify the Lord with me;
    let us exalt his name together.

4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me;
    he delivered me from all my fears.
5 Those who look to him are radiant;
    their faces are never covered with shame.
6 This poor man called, and the Lord heard him;
    he saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,
    and he delivers them.

8 Taste and see that the Lord is good;
    blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
9 Fear the Lord, you his holy people,
    for those who fear him lack nothing.
10 The lions may grow weak and hungry,
    but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
11 Come, my children, listen to me;
    I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
12 Whoever of you loves life
    and desires to see many good days,
13 keep your tongue from evil
    and your lips from telling lies.
14 Turn from evil and do good;
    seek peace and pursue it.

15 The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
    and his ears are attentive to their cry;
16 but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
    to blot out their name from the earth.

17 The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them;
    he delivers them from all their troubles.
18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
    and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

19 The righteous person may have many troubles,
    but the Lord delivers him from them all;
20 he protects all his bones,
    not one of them will be broken.

21 Evil will slay the wicked;
    the foes of the righteous will be condemned.
22 The Lord will rescue his servants;
    no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.

Psalm 34 tells us that God knows of our fears through our prayers and will deliver us.  We walk into church with all of our fears intact and we walk out filled with confidence and trust.  Our fear is replaced by faith.  That’s why the angels tell to not be afraid.  So if through God our fears are removed why would Psalm 34 also tell us to fear God?  What is “the Fear of the Lord” all about?

One clue to this is that ancient Hebrew has two different words which are both translated in English as “fear”, and these have subtle differences in meaning.  Let me explain. 

One Hebrew word for fear is pahhad.  Pahhad literally means that all of your bones begin to shake, you tremble. Pahhad could also be translated as “dread”.  We experience pahhad whenever we expect disaster to fall.  Stress overwhelms us, our muscles tighten up, and we begin to shake in anticipation that something really bad is about to happen.

It is clear from scripture that God brings pahhad on Israel’s enemies and this accounts for much of their military successes.  The Book of Chronicles says, “The pahhad of God came on all the kingdoms of the countries when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel” (2 Chronicles 20:29).  This fear of God was often enough to prevent war as Israel’s enemies trembled with terror at the prospect of war with their God. 

Pahhad also affects individuals, and most often the wicked.   It comes in the form of sudden panic as a storm from God strikes the wicked.   Pahhad is a good thing if it motivates the wicked to change, and repent of their evil ways before calamity strikes.  The prophets of Israel told their people that when they experience fear, pahhad, they should turn toward God in prayer with the promise that God would deliver them from those fears.

So pahhad is the fear we have of God when we sin.  This fear causes our bones to shake and we tremble in dread that God will punish us.  But if we turn to God pahhad is removed and we are delivered from this type of fear.

Pahhad is not the only Hebrew word translated as fear.  Another is the word yarah. Yarah literally means “to flow”.  The idea is that when you come into the presence of a person with great authority, or if you see an awesome sight you then respond with reverence and wonder, and bow down to authority.  Yarah describes the relationship we have with God.  We approach God with awe and reverence flowing out of us.  It is through yarah that we know God.  Yarah removes our pride and gives us a spirit of humility as we give all glory and honor to God.  Yarah gives us the proper perspective in relationship with God so that we may learn wisdom from God and avoid evil.  And it is through the yarah of God, the fear of God, where we find our delight in the spirit of God that comes upon us.

So pahhad means that we fear impending calamity and our bones tremble in dread.  But yarah means that we fear the glory and majesty we cannot understand with awe, reverence, respect and humility flowing from us to God.  Psalm 34 teaches us that God is here to remove our fear, pahhad, but we are expected to fear, yarah, the awesomeness, greatness and majesty of the Lord.

We all have fears, our fears about declining health, our fears about our jobs, our fears about our families.  These fears keep us up at night.  We tremble with dread.  We worry about what will happen tomorrow.  We can’t get to sleep, so we take sleeping pills or drink alcohol until we pass out.  But when we wake up the fears are still there.  They just won’t go away.  And when one problem is finally over there is always another one that comes along to worry about.  All of this fear causes stress which harms our health and relationships with our family and coworkers.  Our bones shake, we tremble.

The only solution for this is God who will redeem you from your fears and fill you with faith, confidence and strength.  But God will only help you when you first fear the only thing that you really should be afraid of, and that is God.  We fear God because God is our creator, the creator of the universe, who loves us and wants the best for us.  So we fear the greatness, the awesomeness of God, who has the power we cannot even imagine.   Reverence and honor flow from us to God.

And this is why worship is so important.  We bring all of our fears with us to church.  Even as we enter the sanctuary our fears are still with us.  We tremble with our anxieties.  We worry about everything.  And we sit here hoping that God will do something about these fears.  Then worship begins when we confess our fears and ask God to remove them.  The God who loves us removes our fears and fills us with confidence and faith.  Then we realize that we have come into contact with God, our creator.  We are filled with fear and reverence.  Humility flows from us.  We dare to approach God in reverent fear and love.  And God responds with the gift of life without fear.

David’s fear of Saul was removed when he entered the sanctuary and ate the holy bread.  But while he pretended to be crazy he realized the great gift he had received in the privilege of fearing God.  So he gave us the great gift of Psalm 34.

President Roosevelt was wrong in 1933 when he said that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”  No.  The only thing we have to fear is God.  We fear God because of his majesty and might and power and glory.  When we fear God our humility flows out of us to honor God.  And God faithfully removes our fears from us.  Thanks be to God.  Let’s pray.

Lord God, remove our fears from us today.  Purge them from our minds by filling us with your love.  Then give us the appropriate fear of you so that we always approach you in a spirit of humility and reverence.  This we pray with your Son and Spirit. Amen.