The Worship of Fear – Psalm 64

Psalm 64 expands the application value of perennially comforting truths celebrated in Psalm 27, where David asks himself rhetorically “Whom shall I fear?”. In spite of the surrounding encampments of enemy armies, if the Lord remains his light and salvation, fear of his own destruction is a laughable proposition. This is a personally consoling meditation for this war weary poet as he resolves to remember ultimate victory belongs to his fiercely convenantally loyal Lord and therefore, God alone is to receive the worship of fear. These principled musings are extended in Psalm 64 to all men collectively, not limiting this appropriate response to the psalmist individually. At the final tally, the one, true, sovereign will receive His due – He alone will be the object of the fear of all men, because He alone is the sovereign of all happenings now and forever. (Is 45:23, Rom 14:11, Is 45:20-25, I Peter 4:5, Phil 2:9-11). If Ps 27 answers the question: “Whom shall I fear”? Ps 64 answers the question: “Whom shall all fear?” We additionally note in our text today that a greatly understated, often unrealized, benefit of the judgements of God is the fear of the Lord returning to the consciousness of a people...