9 O fear the LORD, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him.
Fear of the LORD and saintly living are inextricably intertwined. All the saints of the LORD do fear Him. Doubtless, those who are truly His saints are evidenced by their fear of the LORD.
To fear the LORD is, first of all, to live in reverential awe, honour and worship of Him. It also means to live in dread of His wrath against our sins. So those who fear the LORD will not only render unto Him humble, childlike reverence and tremble to offend Him, but will also walk according to His holy laws, and serve Him to glorify Him.
Such fear of the Lord is expected from all the saints of God. Psalm 89:7 declares, “God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.” The only people from whom the LORD expects reverence, honour, worship are His saints. It is for His worship that He has redeemed them from their sins, and it is for the same purpose that He sanctifies them daily by His Spirit and His Word.
God desires no worship from those who live in sin without repentance. He detests the praise of those who live without reverence for His holiness. Jesus expressed His disgust of the worship rendered by such hypocrites in Matthew 15:8-9, by citing the words of the prophet Isaiah: “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”
So we, who have been made righteous by God’s grace through faith in Christ Jesus, should now live our lives in the fear of the LORD. We should never conduct ourselves like those who live without the fear of the LORD. The fear of the LORD teaches us to shun sinful ways and rejoice in the pursuit of holiness. Proverbs 8:13 instructs us, “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.” The fear of the LORD also teaches us to live for the glory and honour of Him. Psalm 22:23 says, “Ye that fear the LORD, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.”
All who fear the LORD are further encouraged with an incredible promise that “there is no want to them that fear him”. All their needs will be abundantly supplied. It is His delight to bless those who fear Him.