FEAR OF GOD
[7-minute read]
Humans are plagued by all kinds of fear. We struggle with the fear of rejection, the fear of being wrong, the fear of losing friends, the fear of looking inapt, the fear of criticisms and the list goes on. Invariably, they point to our fear of other people and their opinion of us. Think of a time when you were in a position to help or protect someone but stopped short. Or perhaps you approached someone thinking they could do something for you but they decided to save their own skin instead. Instinctively, the human response to fear is to choose only things that involve the least pain (think personal risk, effort, time) and that give us the greatest personal gratification without remaking ourselves. As such, we avoid doing what is needed and what is ultimately good for our spiritual maturity.
All believers have access to something far more superior and wholesome than human fear. The Bible teaches us about the fear of God. It is a fear that is unlike any fear, anxiety and phobia. To know the fear of God, we need to first know that our God is holy and He absolutely abhors sin and anything evil. A.W. Tozer put it this way: holy is just the way God is. Nothing makes God holy because He is holiness itself. Because God is holy, all His attributes are holy. When we speak of God’s love, it is a holy love. When we mention His justice, it is a holy justice. When we talk about His mercy, it is a holy mercy. When we refer to His Spirit, it is the Holy Spirit. So whatever belongs to God must be holy – including His children (Leviticus 11:44-45 NLT).
Being holy means that God does not conform to any human standards because He is a standard on His own. Because God is holy, how then do we, as His children, respond with a holy fear of God? How is it reflected in our lives and what does it do for us?
In principle, we have a holy reverence for God when our posture carries honour, respect and devotion towards Him. We will find ourselves constantly in awe of Him and amazed by who He is, and not just by what He had done for us in the past. To live with a fear of God also means that we must hate what God hates and love what He loves. There is simply no middle ground. We will not tolerate anything that competes with our intimacy with Him by putting aside convictions and conversations that dishonour and displease Him. We will habitually yield to His teachings, commands and counsel and let them revise and correct our behaviour and choices.
“Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him.” (Philippians 2:12-13 NLT).
Here are three positive understanding of the fear of God that we must keep close to our hearts:
THE FEAR OF GOD IS THE BEGINNING OF WISDOM
Proverbs 9:10 NLT makes it clear that the fear of the Lord is the path to gaining wisdom and good judgment comes from knowing God who is holy. Many people tend to think that a well-developed perspective comes from talking to different people and getting ‘their side of the story’. Relying on the human perspective will only lead us to a greater conflict with the Word of God. Simply put, we cannot use what is measured (humans) to evaluate the standard of measure (God’s Word). How absurd! When we try to acquire wisdom primarily by learning what the current opinions are, what the influencers say, and what award-winning authors write about, quoting this and that person saying this and that without consulting the wisdom of God’s Word, we are ultimately none the wiser. “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God.” (1 Corinthians 3:19). Most knowledge and opinions are value-laden even if they pretend to be neutral, but God is the source of all wisdom that sees through everything (Hebrews 4:12).
In reality, the commands and teachings of God are foundational to our well-being. The more intimately we know God, the more we will want to know His plans and purposes for our lives. If we think that the Bible is nothing beyond a set of prescriptive and proscriptive do’s and don’ts, we will follow its instructions out of our fear of punishment instead of embracing it as a standard for relational, mental and spiritual health. It grieves God to see His children despising His wisdom and counsel and treating them as equal ‘options’ to everything the world provides. The Bible calls such people fools and simpletons (Proverbs 14:15 NLT).
On the other hand, the holy fear of God activates our spiritual senses to what pleases and honours God. Let the Holy Spirit uproot and shake off all that does not glorify God in your life.
THE FEAR OF GOD IS TO FIND DELIGHT IN HIS COMMANDS
Psalm 112:1b asserts that “blessed are those who fear the Lord, who find great delight in His commands.” To be honest, most of us have no problem quoting the Bible about God’s love and His promises. We are happy as long as He keeps His end of the relationship. Yet, we make it optional when the Word calls us to life-shaping obedience! Does this sound familiar to you?
After being set free from generations of oppressive rule, the Israelites who had only experienced life as slaves, were clueless what freedom meant. Therefore, God gave Moses the ten commandments to save them from sin and its death. Ironically, they could submit to ridiculous and unreasonable rules of their Egyptian masters, but they struggled to follow only ten simple rules from God!
You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall make no idols (this includes work, spouse, relationships and family). You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain (when we say “the Lord spoke to me this and that” for personal decisions that we don’t want anyone to criticize). You shall keep the Sabbath Day sacred (for receiving biblical teachings such as your time with BeInReach). You shall honour your father and mother. You shall not murder (this includes malicious gossips and character assassination). You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour (to malign, to lie and bring disrepute). You shall not covet.
Today, some believers still struggle to make these commands normative in their lives because people argue that God’s commands and teachings are restrictive and demanding. They fail to see that God’s commands are for their own good – enabling and empowering them to live in total freedom with God. By contrast, those who have found their spiritual and biblical conviction to obey God do not even need pumped-up rhetoric from the pulpit to keep up their commitment to Him. They are even thankful for human prompting to keep them in a spiritually good place.
But how do you know if you have the fear of God? We can take a cue from Proverbs 8:13: “To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.”
THE FEAR OF GOD IS TO PROTECT YOU
Here’s a thought: “fearing people is a dangerous trap, but trusting the Lord means safety.” (Proverbs 29:25 NLT). The Word of God never cripples anyone but it leads us to a godly perspective that builds a hedge of protection around us, setting us free from all that ensnares and traps us. If anything, the fear of God frees us from being stuck in relational enmeshment, confusion and catch-22 dilemmas.
When the Israelites left Egypt, their hearts were still filled with what became second nature to them as slaves – having a grumbling and complaining attitude about their livelihood. God’s Word to the Pharaoh through Moses was this: “Let My people go so that they may worship Me”. But when they were freed, the people only complained against God! As a result, they were afraid of the kind of intimacy that Moses enjoyed with God. Exodus 20:18-20 tell us that “they stayed at a distance”. To be sure, there is nothing holy about keeping a distance from God. In fact, the fear of God engenders intimacy with Him. Any fear that alienates us and creates a distance between God and us is neither holy nor biblical. Moses got it right when he told the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.” (v20). Talk about a leader with the courage to say it as it is.
What is keeping you from deepening your intimacy with God? Know this: “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” (1 John 4:18)
When we have the fear of God, we will find it unthinkable to keep Him from coming closer. That would simply be terrifying. We will want to be near Him – all the time.
At what point in your life did you stop thinking about the fear of God in your relationship with Him?
This is a summary and reflection based on a virtual BIR Session held on 20 May 2023.
