“I sought the Lord, and he answered me;
he delivered me from all my fears.
Those who look to him are radiant;
their faces are never covered with shame.
This poor man called, and the Lord heard him;
he saved him out of all his troubles.
The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,
and he delivers them.
Taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
Fear the Lord, you his holy people,
for those who fear him lack nothing.
The lions may grow weak and hungry,
but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
Come, my children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.” Psalm 34:4-11
Psalm 34 has long been a favorite to me because “those who look to Him are radiant, their faces are never covered with shame.”
How beautiful is that? How amazing, that just by looking to Him, putting my hope and trust in him and what He has done delivers me from shame? I who am shameful, yet because
“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.” Lam. 3:22-23
The theme of this year for me has been all about looking unto Him. Not that I’ve mastered it at all, but everywhere I turn I feel him beckoning me to do it. To look to him. This Psalm has become all the more precious because of the fact that those who look to him are RADIANT. This gives me a picture of such joy! This is the desire of my heart, to keep my eyes on Him.
Also this year I got sick of fearing man. Sick of it. And from the depths of my heart cried out to God to teach me to fear HIM ALONE, to teach me, rather to make reality in my life “the fear of the Lord.”
He responded with such speed and clarity that it blew me away and greatly excited me. Immediately after praying that prayer initially my eyes fell on a verse written on the front of a magazine poking out behind some books on my bedside table:
“The Lord confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them. My eyes are ever on the Lord, for only he will release my feet from the snare.” Psalm 25:14-15
Then in the same sitting I read, I believe as a part of my sequential reading, from Proverbs chapter 2…
1. My son, if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you,
2 turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding—
3 indeed, if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,
4 and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,
5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.
No kidding! And finally, he led me to this beloved Chapter 34 and there it was again,
“Come, my children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.” Psalm 34:11
My cry was answered with a clear “COME, LOOK, LISTEN, SEEK, CRY OUT…
and I will teach you. ”
How sweet this is. I needed this reminder today so greatly. It is so hard to listen amidst all the noise of this world. But I will not give up, not give up asking Him to teach me to listen and teach me to look, to teach me the fear of the Lord.
Because this Psalm makes it very clear that this fear is worth seeking, that it is not scary or heavy, but rather the fear that “delivers me from all my fears.”
The fear that makes me radiant.
Lord, help me keep listening, keep looking, keep crying out until I truly know this fear of You, and am delivered from all other fears!
Sixty-six books in a year 