Ps 33:9

“Unless fear disciplines our life, it is impossible successfully to attain holiness in body.… In him who fears there is not want, that is, he is failing with regard to no virtue who is prevented by fear from every absurd act, since he falls short of nothing good that belongs to human nature. As he is not perfect in body who is lacking in any necessary part but is imperfect because of what he lacks, so also he who is disposed contemptuously about one of the commands, because he is wanting in it, is imperfect in that in which he lacks. But he who has assumed perfect fear and through piety shrinks beneath all things will commit no sin because he despises nothing; he will not experience any want because he will possess fear sufficiently in all things.”

“"O fear the Lord, all you His saints, for there is no want to them that fear Him" [Psalm 34:9]. For many therefore will not fear God the Lord, lest they suffer hunger. It is said to them, Defraud not; and they say, Whence can I feed myself? No art can be without imposture; no business can be without fraud. But fraud God punishes: fear God. But if I should fear God, I shall not have whence to live. "O fear the Lord, all you His saints, for there is no want to them that fear Him." He promises plenty to him that trembles, and doubts, lest haply if he should fear God, he should lose things superfluous. The Lord fed you despising Him, and will He desert you fearing Him? Attend, and say not, Such an one is rich, and I am poor. I fear the Lord, he by not fearing how much has he gained, and I by fearing am bare! See what follows; "The rich do lack and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing" [Psalm 34:10]. If you receive it according to the letter, He seems to deceive you, for you see that many rich men that are wicked die in their riches, and are not made poor while they live; you see them grow old, and come even to the end of life amid great abundance and riches. You see their funeral pomp celebrated with great profusion, the man himself brought rich even to the sepulchre, having expired in beds of ivory, his family weeping around; and you say in your mind, if haply you know some both sins and crimes done by him: I know what things that man has done; lo, he has grown old, he has died in his bed, his friends follow him to the grave, his funeral is celebrated with all this pomp; I know what he has done; the Scripture has deceived me, and has spoken falsely, where I hear and sing; "The rich do lack and suffer hunger." When was this man in need? When did he suffer hunger? "But they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing." Daily I rise up to Church, daily I bend the knee, daily I seek the Lord, and have nothing good: this man sought not the Lord, and he has died in the midst of all these good things! Thus thinking, the snare of offense chokes him; for he seeks mortal food on the earth, and seeks not a true reward in heaven, and so he puts his head into the devil's noose, his jaws are tied close, and the devil holds him fast unto evil doing, that so he may imitate the evil men, whom he sees to die in such plenty.”

“By the authority of the Psalm: Fear the Lord, all you his saints, for there is no want to those who fear him: therefore being in want and fearing God do not stand together. To that which is first objected to the contrary, that there is no want to those who fear God — it must be said that want is twofold, namely bodily and spiritual: but that word is understood not of any want whatsoever, but of spiritual want. And that this is true appears from what immediately follows: The rich have wanted and have hungered: it is clear that this is not understood of a lack of material riches; it remains therefore that it is understood of a want of spiritual goods, which although it exists in the rich, nevertheless does not exist in those who fear God, because fear is the beginning of wisdom, of which it is said in Wisdom 7: All good things came to me together with her, etc.”

“Then when he says, "Fear," he first exhorts to the observance of divine fear. Second, he assigns the cause of fear, at "For there is no want." Third, he makes the cause manifest, at "The rich have been in need." He says therefore, "The Lord is sweet and gentle." But to whom? To those who fear him. Therefore, "Fear the Lord, all you his saints." And he says "saints," because no one can be holy unless he is God-fearing. And he says this because fear is necessary not only for those ascending to holiness, but also for those remaining in it: Sir. 27: "If you do not hold yourself steadfastly in the fear of the Lord, your house will quickly be overthrown." And also because nothing so empties holiness as pride; and fear is a restraint upon pride: Sir. 7: "He who fears God neglects nothing": Sir. 40: "In the fear of the Lord there is no diminishment." The reason why one should fear, he adds: "For there is no want for those who fear him." This is explained in multiple ways. First, concerning the want of spiritual goods: Is. 33: "The riches of salvation are wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is his treasure." If therefore the fear of the Lord is a treasure, there is no want for those who fear him. Likewise, concerning bodily want. For it sometimes happens that one who fears God has little; but it does not happen that he is destitute. One is destitute who considers himself lacking; those who fear God are content with what they have: Phil. 4: "Everywhere and in all things I have been instructed," etc. Likewise, God comes to the aid of those who seek him in their need. But Augustine objects in his Sermon on the Mount, because the Apostle says, 1 Cor. 4: "Even to this hour we hunger and thirst and are naked." How then is there no want for those who fear him? And he says that God is both nourisher and physician. A physician, however, withdraws nourishment from the sick and makes them hunger and thirst, because it is expedient for health. So God, according to what is expedient for our salvation, sometimes sends want, sometimes confers riches, sometimes grants length of days, sometimes brings brevity.”