Psalm 119:120

We now arrive at the last verse of the octave of Psalm 119 entitled Samech. 

Psalms 119:120  My flesh trembleth for fear of thee; and I am afraid of thy judgments.

The Bible is the most comforting book in the world to those who receive it as it is in truth, the word of God.  But it can also be the most terrifying book if you consider the judgments that God has pronounced in it.  In just the two verses that go before this one we read that God has trodden down all those that err from His statutes and puts away all the wicked of the earth like dross.  Right there are two judgments that should strike terror in anyone who has ever erred from the word of God.  The God of the Bible is certainly no Being to be trifled with.  He is to be greatly feared for it is written:

Hebrews 10:31  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

When the judgments of God were made known to the prophet Habakkuk, he responded like the psalmist. 

Habakkuk 3:16  When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble: when he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops.

When the good king Josiah heard out of the book of the law the great wrath that was pronounced against his nation for their transgressions against that law, “he rent his clothes” (2Kings 22:11).  He, too, was afraid of God’s judgments.  Now it speaks well of the psalmist, the prophet, and the king that they had a fear of God and His judgments.  Far better is it to have such a fear than to be like those who have no fear of God, His word, or His judgments.  We read of such persons in the following passages. 

Psalms 36:1  The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.

2 Peter 3:3  Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,

4  And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

5  For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:

6  Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:

7  But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

When Jehudi read the prophecy of Jeremiah before the king and his servants, look at the reaction.

Jeremiah 36:23  And it came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth.

24  Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants that heard all these words.

Now as for those whose flesh trembleth for fear of the Lord and who are afraid of his judgments, the Lord has His eye upon them and takes delight in them.

Isaiah 66:2  For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

Psalms 147:11  The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.

Those who fear the Lord even to the point of trembling are those who can also hope in His mercy, because His mercy is upon those who fear Him.

Psalms 103:17  But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children;

18  To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.

One of the reasons those who fear God keep His commandments is that they are afraid not to since they know the judgments that befall those who do not. 

To be sure, we do not obey the Lord only because we fear Him.  We also obey Him because we love Him.  Hence our service to God arises from a balance of fear and love.  We know that “we love Him because He first loved us” (1John 4:19).  But we also know that “whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth” (Hebrews 12:6).  Therefore, we fear Him.  And when you consider how prone to err we are, you understand that we need both fear and love to keep us in line.  As George H Horne sounded off: 

“Encompassed with a frail body, and a sinful world, we stand in need of every possible tie; and the affections both of fear and love must be employed, to restrain us from transgression; we must, at the same time, ‘love God’s testimonies, and fear his judgments.’”

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Anyone that shares the sentiments of the psalmist in fearing God and His judgments may also take great comfort in all the reassuring promises that God has made to those who fear Him.  That is why Habakkuk, even though he trembled for fear, could “rest in the day of trouble.”  He knew that as one who feared God the Lord would take care of him in that day.  Thus it is that we read of the early churches that they were “walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 9:31). 

As the end of 2014 is upon us, let me take this opportunity to wish all of my readers who fear the Lord a most blessed New Year.