The Blessing of Fearing the Lord – Ps 111-112
To fear the Lord is to have profound respect and awe of the Lord. Psalm 111 challenges people to fear and praise the Lord because of all the mighty works He has done. Fearing the Lord is the very beginning of wisdom and leads to good understanding of all other things (Psalm 111:10).
Psalm 112:1 shows practically speaking what it looks like to fear the Lord when it says, ‘Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments.’
Genuine fear of the Lord will be expressed by having great delight in God’s commands, by really wanting to know and do what God’s says – that is what it means to fear the Lord. If I am not hungry for the Word of God, if I am not desirous to know what it says, and if I am not eager to obey it, then I cannot say that I fear the Lord.
Fearing the Lord brings great blessings detailed in v.2-9. It blesses our children (v.2), our work (v.3) and our reputation (v.3). It gives us light in dark times. It brings us close to the grace, compassion and righteousness of the Lord (v.4). It fills us with discretion (v.5) and permanence (v.6). It helps us deal with our fears (v.7-8) and causes us to be generous and honoured (v.9). There is a great constrast between those who fear the Lord and the wicked (v.10).
Do we really fear the Lord? Are we greatly delighting in God’s Word? If we don’t have this profound respect and awe of the Lord and His Word, then we need to consider the great works of the Lord (Psalm 111). And if we are fearing the Lord, we should realise just how blessed we are as a result (Psalm 112).
I love this! My father always taught us to fear the Lord, not a fear of dread but knowing He loves and watches over us.