Psalm 115:11
You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord!
“We don’t live in fear!” How often do we hear this and like exhortations in our culture? Interestingly the most recurring instruction in scripture is not to be afraid. Yet at the same time we are also told that fearing the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 1:7). Certainly this kind of fear is not a crippling fear that leaves us dead in our tracks, but there is a sense that the right ordering of our fear is necessary.
Coming to Psalm 115 it is striking that the call to those who fear the Lord is not to run from him, but to trust in him. Ally yourself with the one who deserves reverent respect. Know that the Lord is God. That he is powerful. That he is holy and just. That he does not allow the wicked to go unpunished forever. The faintest echo of evil is blown away by his righteous voice. He alone stands above all and knows all. To him, the works of man are like the construction of anthills. The thoughts of the scholar are the scribbles of a toddler compared to his infinite wisdom. The most exuberant display of love is lost in the torrent of his compassion and patience. None can stand before him. We who fear the Lord- let us, in response to this great God deserving of our reverent deference, trust in him.
Trusting in the Lord is an acknowledgement that true fear belongs to him alone. Nothing in his creation may command allegiance, yet when we give our fear to something else we inadvertently declare our God is not to be feared.
Consider the cross. There his holy wrath, his just retribution, his great displeasure against any who would trust in another. Yet to us who are in Christ, that fear yields a joyful contentment in his power. Christ grants us a right view of all his rivals- those things we face in this life that would call us to fear and tremble. Our God is great. Our God has displayed his righteousness and his love at the cross, we need not fear and run, but to fear and trust.
Read the second part of the verse. Hebrew parallelism as we see in the Psalms often writes in dual statements repeating the same idea. Who is this God to be feared? To be trusted?
