The Fear that Brings Abundance (Psalm 34:9-11)

Amy Katterson
Jul 20
3 min read

Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack! ¹⁰The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing. ¹¹Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD. —Psalm 34:9-11

My reflection on this passage started at 4:00 a.m., with the ER bracelets still around my wrist. Sometimes God gives us a practicum for his Word, an opportunity not just to talk about it, but to walk through it.

Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack!

Driving away from the park, where my family was gathered with cousins, grandparents, uncle, and aunts; where we had hoped to picnic and snap a family photo, I knew things were not okay. I thought about this verse. It did not seem good to be heading to the hospital. This wasn’t the abundant gift I would have picked. How then was it that the fear of the Lord was granting me “no lack” just then?

I needed an anchor far stronger than my own emotions or present experience. Fearing God meant that I would take His sovereign, wise, kind gift and trust that this painful moment was not condemnation or wrath. It could not be, for I belong to Him. I am one of His saints, a specially chosen one, but not because of what I have done or offered. I have been chosen because of the perfect sacrifice He Himself sent.

If I had no fear of God, I would judge Him and find Him wanting. I would determine that He was dealing badly with me. I would add to my pain deep layers of bitterness, anxiety, hopelessness, and, ultimately, destruction. But to have a solace, a home in God himself—this is abundance in the midst of crisis.

The young lions suffer want and hunger.

David is offering us here a word picture, a metaphor. Consider the life of a top predator. Is physical strength and power his key to abundance? Is life at the top of the food chain the escape hatch for life’s troubles? No, indeed. Even youth, vigor, and strength fail to deliver true abundance.

But those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.

This provides a great contrast. Seeking the Lord—not running from Him or cowering beneath Him or shaking my fist at Him—provided true comfort as I suffered, along with many good things. Grappling with my heart to see God’s hand in this, I remembered,

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9).

God’s Word freed me from needing to understand how my circumstances were good. I could trust the wisdom and purpose of God.

As I waited for a triage nurse to advise me, my mind ran to “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1). In my disturbing circumstances—and all the unknowns—I would not walk alone. A kind and personal Shepherd held and guided me.

While my husband drove me to the hospital, and held my hand and prayed, my parents and sisters cared tenderly for our boys. They all were a picture of 1 Thessalonians 4:9, “Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another.”

There on the emergency room gurney, in the pain, blood, and loss, a whole network of prayer and care upheld me and made me weep as God’s family loved us through the grief of a miscarriage. Perhaps it is in our moments of deepest pain that the true abundance of seeking, fearing, and belonging to God shines the brightest.

Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

Such is the God we long for our children to know and serve. David’s invitation to “Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord,” becomes a fitting prayer for them:

Come, my little ones given me by God; come, next generation who is learning how to navigate life, listen and learn where true abundance is found. May you too find everlasting joy and abundance of life as you walk in the fear of the Lord.

For Reflection

How do you define “the fear of the Lord”?
In what ways does the fear of Him cause us to humble ourselves before God? How does it draw us toward God?
Have you seen or experienced the Lord’s abundance in the midst of difficulty, suffering, or loss? What were some aspects of grace that were uniquely present?