[PhilThreeten] A Fear of the Lord Beyond Fear

[PhilThreeten]

I was talking with some believers this past week about ‘fearing God.’ I’ve always wrestled with this. Not because I don’t think that God is worthy of fear – He is. Its just that most of the time when I hear what believers have to say about the fear of God it just comes down to being frightened of Him.

Now I don’t doubt that in our sinfulness, coming before the presence of God is a frightening thing. We see this in Adam and Eve, in Isaiah, and in the disciples. Because of our sins, coming face to face with God is a frightening event.

But here’s what provides such hope. God doesn’t want it to remain that way. In the case of Adam and Eve, He seeks them out! He shows them that He is still, even in their sinfulness, their provider. God also provides for Isaiah by bringing the coal to cleanse him so that Isaiah would be prepared to be the prophet that God wanted him to be. One of the most repeated phrases that Jesus tells people in the Gospels is ‘Do not be afraid.’

Coming face to face with God is a frightening event…but God does not seem content to leave it at that. He seems to want something else out of our relationship with Him. An understanding of God based solely on the fright that creatures have before the Creator is inadequate.

The normal description of the fear of the Lord that I’ve heard is that it is being awed with or respecting God. Now, much like being frightened by God, this is not incorrect as much as it is insufficient. I can be awed by someone and respectful from a distance. Nor does this awe and respect necessarily change who I am. But the fear of the Lord goes beyond this since the fear of the Lord is life changing.

So, I offer this as an understanding of the fear of the Lord. The other day, we were telling my son that he needed to take a shower before going to bed. His response was that he wanted to take a shower in the morning before he left for school. Anyone who has attempted to get a six year out of bed, fed, clothed, combed, and out the door understands the complexities of adding any additional events to this schedule – not to mention the bustle of other children in this mix.

Trying to graciously counter this request, we asked him why he wanted to shower in the morning. It was a simple answer. Daddy does. My son wants to be like me. Knowing who I am, that scares me to some degree, but it is what it is. In his world, to not do it the way that Daddy does it is the wrong way. There is a fear – albeit, at his age, irrational - in his little life that says that it should be done the way that Daddy does it because he wants to be like Daddy. He fears that doing things differently than Daddy is just not the way that things should be done.

Now notice how this goes beyond fright. Though there are times that I will use discipline to help him understand the best way to go, he’s not changing his shower schedule because he fears punishment. Notice also how this goes beyond awe or respect – he’s not just saying, ‘Wow…my Daddy is a great guy because he showers in the morning.’ No…this is something different that drives my son to fear what is different than what I do or who I am.

I would suggest this is closer to an understanding of the fear of the Lord. A mature fear of the Lord doesn’t cower before God in fright. Oddly enough, those who ought to cower before God’s justice don’t because they don’t know Him and those that do know Him have no need to cower because they have been justified. A mature fear of God goes beyond awe and respect at a distance.

A proper and mature fear of the Lord is one that says, ‘I want to do – think – feel – be such and such because that’s what my Daddy does.’ May we all look like our Daddy.

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Posted by PhilThreeten to PhilThreeten at 11/13/2006 03:18:00 PM