Psalms About Fear

In the fear-filled days of the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Yet today psychiatrists’ couches are filled with people who fear everything from heights to cream-filled doughnuts. Parents fear for their children’s safety when they send them to school, and doors and windows are locked even in the best of neighborhoods.

Some children grow up boasting about their fearlessness. It’s cool to mock everyone in authority—parents, principal, police, or president. Yet many adults find it difficult to relate to God because of fears instilled in them by authority figures, especially fathers, who have bedeviled their past. Yes, it’s a crazy, mixed-up, fearful world.

The Psalms contain more than seventy-five references to fear—more than any other book of the Bible. Most often these refer to fear of God, sometimes to fear of nature, and sometimes to fear of other people.

Here are some references to fear in the Psalms:

FEAR OF OTHER PEOPLE AND EVENTS

Psalm 23:4

I will not be afraid,

for you are close beside me.

Psalm 27:1

The LORD is my light and my salvation—

so why should I be afraid?

Psalm 46:2

So we will not fear, even if earthquakes come.

Psalm 56:4

I trust in God, so why should I be afraid?

What can mere mortals do to me?

Psalm 118:6

The LORD is for me, so I will not be afraid.

FEAR OF GOD, SOMETIMES TRANSLATED “AWE” OR “REVERENCE OF GOD”

Psalm 2:11

Serve the LORD with reverent fear,

and rejoice with trembling.

Psalm 5:7

With deepest awe I will worship at your Temple.

Psalm 22:23

Praise the LORD, all you who fear him!

Psalm 25:14

Friendship with the LORD is reserved for those who fear him.

Psalm 33:18

But the LORD watches over those who fear him,

those who rely on his unfailing love.

Psalm 103:11

For his unfailing love toward those who fear him

is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.

Psalm 111:10

Reverence for the LORD is the foundation of true wisdom.

Psalm 135:20

All you who fear the LORD, praise the LORD!

What’s all this talk about fear doing in the Psalms? Well, neighboring nations were constantly marauding Israel, and in his early days David was constantly on the run. In light of these circumstances, the references to the fear of others are quite understandable. But notice that the psalmists seem to have had an underlying confidence that God is big enough to deal with their enemies, so they left all their fears with him.

But what about the fear of God? Why do the psalmists talk about fearing God, who is supposed to love us?

The more we know about people, often the less we are in awe of them. But the more we know of God, the more awestruck we are. Reverential fear comes upon us. At the same time, throughout the Old Testament the fear of God is linked with his love and tender care for us. Hence, the word fear is often translated “honor,” “awe,” or “reverence.” When Psalm 128:1 tells us that we are happy when we fear the Lord, it sounds like an oxymoron, a contradiction of terms. But it isn’t. Over and over again the Psalms remind us that if we fear the Lord, we need not be afraid of anything or anyone else. Thus, we have confidence in our daily living and joy in our daily walk.

The psalmists also tell us that the fear of God is the beginning of true wisdom, the basis for friendship with God, the key to divine comfort, and the basis for holy living.

So let us come before our great and loving God with reverential fear and trust that he will take care of all our other fears.

O fearful saint, fear not the foe

Who madly seeks your overthrow.

Be of good cheer, your cause belongs

To him who can avenge your wrongs.

GERMAN HYMN, TRANSLATOR UNKNOWN