Psalm 34, Part 3 of 4

Verses 9-16

9 Fear the Lord, you his saints,

for those who fear him lack nothing.

10 The lions may grow weak and hungry,

but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

11 Come, my children, listen to me;

I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

12 Whoever of you loves life

and desires to see many good days,

13 keep your tongue from evil

and your lips from speaking lies.

14 Turn from evil and do good;

seek peace and pursue it.

15 The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous

and his ears are attentive to their cry;

16 the face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.

Two posts ago, we saw that David’s instruction in the first three verses was “PRAISE THE LORD!”. Last post, David was telling us Look for the Lord.



Today, he’s telling us: Revere the Lord

This section is, like this entire Psalm, directed to his saints—those who know Him as Lord and Savior.

David gives us a three step formula for revering the Lord:

· Be honest (verse 13)

· Be good (verse 14a)

· Actively pursue peace (verse 14b)

As a res
ult of our reverence (respect) for Him, His eyes and ears will be attentive to us.

But, verse 16 tells us the face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.

The Lord takes rebellion very seriously! Which side of the Lord’s personality to YOU want to be on: the one that watches and hears us and protects us or the side that must punish our sin?