Every time I kneel down to pray different senses and feelings overtake me. Feeling the presence of God. Feeling His Love. Feeling his Watchfulness. And definitely a mixed feeling of fear and reverence that I am sure all of you have felt. But what exactly does ‘fear of God’ mean biblically? And why should we fear God. Let us explore that in this post.
This following extract from biblestudytools.com is a good explanation to start with:
So, in what sense are we to fear God? The “fear” that brings God pleasure is not our being afraid of him, but our having a high and exalted, reverential view of him. To “fear him” means to stand in awe of him: “Let all the earth FEAR the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world STAND IN AWE OF HIM!” (Ps 33.8).
To fear the Lord is to stand in awe of his majesty, power, wisdom, justice and mercy, especially in Christ – in his life, death and resurrection – that is, to have an exalted view of God. To see God in all his glory and then respond to him appropriately. To humble ourselves before him. To adore him.
So one way of understanding the fear of God is to see the ‘AWESOMENESS’ of God- truly understanding and experiencing his omnipotence- the infinite nature of God.
John Piper ( in this article –https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/what-does-it-mean-for-the-christian-to-fear-god ) distinguishes the fear of God between the Old and New testaments – In the old Testament where the ‘Law’ was the rule of God, God fearing is corresponding with humility and lowliness and sensitivity of heart. It would be insane to think we can just stroll up to the Creator of the universe and have a cavalier spirit. We are blind if we think we can do that without trembling.
The New Testament treats the fear of God as a motive for not turning away from him. We should fear in the sense that we seek refuge from God away from God’s terrible wrath. God’s grace in Christ is the refuge from God’s wrath outside Christ. There is terror outside of Christ, and there is a different kind of trembling inside of Christ. “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you.”Philippians 2:12–13
Below is series of verses from the Bible that describe the fear of God in it’s different dimensions and perspective:
- Fear God as he is a consuming fire– For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. Deuteronomy 4:24
- Fear God that you will not drift away from him- Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Romans 11:19–21
- Do not Fear God in Love- There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 1 John 4:18
- Delight in fearing God- “The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.” Isaiah 11:2–3
- Fear in humility- “By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honour and life.” Proverbs 22:4
- Obedient fear– “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments” Psalms 111:10
- Fear with Courage- For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind”. 2 Timothy 1:6-7
- Fear of sinning– “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way. Proverbs 8:13
Psalm 103 capture the very essence of “fear of God” in its many facets that shows love and not “FEAR”.
Verse 11- For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;
Verse 13- As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
Verse 17- But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children—with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.
Jesus died for us to provide a place where we could enjoy the majesty of God with a kind of fear and trembling and reverence and awe, but not a cowering fear.
