Coming to Grips with the Fear of the LORD
The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes. Psalm 36:1
The psalmist indicated his own insight as to why there was so much wickedness. They sense no fear because of their sin. They are part of those who say in their hearts “there is no God” (Psalm 14:1). If there is no God then there is no wrath of God against sin. Mankind today lives so deceived and influenced by the pleasures of this world and the love of self and sin that he is no longer afraid of God.
Obviously, those who are without Christ ought to tremble for fear of God’s wrath. Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross… (Psalm 119:119a). Then the psalmist wrote, My flesh trembleth for fear of Thee; and I am afraid of Thy judgments (Psalm 119:120). I am assuming that there was some sense of awe at the judgments of God against the wicked. It would seem that this should motivate us to share Christ with those not yet protected by the blood of the Lamb.
However, in thinking about this, it occurred to me that there ought to be some fear within every believer. God told Isaiah, “…to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at My Word” (Isaiah 66:2). He values those who are humble, contrite and obey His Word. We can also translate the Hebrew word for trembling as fearful or reverential.
As Christians, do we actually fear the LORD? We tend to emphasize the word “reverential” and say that we fear the Lord. However, when was the last time you trembled at the presence of the Lord? Or should it be asked, have you ever trembled at the presence of the Lord? I sense that our man-centered theology and our entertainment type services have pretty much eliminated our fear of God. Instead of worshipping Him for Who He is, we have created in our minds a God Who is subject to all our needs. It is more “all about us” instead of “all about Him.”
When we are out of fellowship with the Lord, we certainly ought to fear Him knowing that whom the Lord loves, He disciplines (Hebrews 12:6). A little healthy fear is actually very beneficial. After the sin and death of Ananias and Sapphira in the early church, Acts 5:11 states, And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things. After hearing about the conversion of Saul who became Paul, Acts 9:31 states that the believers in the churches of Judaea, Galilee and Samaria walked in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost. In their minds, what God had done in the life of Saul was an incredible miracle. Notice in this text that when we have a genuine fear of God, we can also count on the comfort of His Spirit.
One of the reasons for a lack of fear in the body of Christ today is the lack knowledge concerning the Person of God. Many fail to have a clear vision of Who God is and What He might do. In fact, many Christians have boldly declared that they could boldly sin knowing that God would forgive them. What some of these have failed to recognize are the consequences of sin. Shall we continue in sin, that grace may about? God forbid. How shall we, that are DEAD TO SIN, live any longer therein (Romans 6:1-2)? When we face the consequences of sin, we feel that God has let us down and that we do not deserve His chastisements. We need a sober awareness of Who He is, what He loves, what He hates, and the consequences of sinning and rebelling against Him.
Give this matter some thought today. Ecclesiastes 12:13 reads – Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: FEAR GOD, and keep His commandments; for this is the whole duty of man. We do not have to fear the judgment of God relating to eternal death as do the unsaved (Luke 12:5; Hebrews 10:31), but we must never think we can escape the natural consequences of sin. Many Christians who allowed sin to reign in their lives have our Lord set on a shelf as far as being useful to Him. To be used of God is one of the greatest blessings in the world. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge (Proverbs 1:7). To fear God is to walk faithfully in all His ways, serving Him, loving Him, respecting Him, submitting to His will, manifesting His name, worshipping His Person and glorifying Him.
George Stiekes held successful pastorates in churches in Michigan and Washington among other places. He currently resides in North Carolina and blogs at Reverent Reflections. We recommend his ministry and republish his material by permission.