Psalm 64:9: “All men shall fear, / And shall declare the work of God; / For they shall wisely consider His doing.”

March 10th, 2024 by Pastor Ed in devotional

There are 2 Hebrew words for fear used in the Old Testament: pachad, meaning terror or dread; and yirah, meaning piety and reverence connected with love and hope, something like what children feel for their parents. David does not use the word for terror and dread here, but rather the word for reverence and love. It is difficult for our 21st century mindset to even associate the words fear and love with each other. But that is what C.S. Lewis was trying to capture in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe when Mr. Beaver was describing Aslan (the king of Narnia and a lion) to the human children who had never heard of or met him before: “‘Safe?’ said Mr. Beaver . . . ‘Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.'”

David was saying in this psalm that God is good and loving, and also that He is much different than us—the created, fallen beings of humanity. When we worship our Creator, we are recognizing that He is not just better than us, but that He is “other” than us. Psalm 2:11 repeats this idea: “Worship the LORD with fear, / And rejoice with trembling.” We rejoice because He is our good, loving, heavenly Father; and we tremble because He is also the Holy Creator. He is the mighty Lion of Judah. He is not tame, but He is good.

“LORD, we desire to know You better today than we did yesterday. Please reveal more of Yourself to us as we walk with You this day.”