Fear the LORD, Don’t Fear Him

I know, that seems a bit of a confusing title to my thoughts this morning. The definition from Merriam-Webster may help clearing it up a bit.

Fear: 1 a: an unpleasant often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger b (1): an instance of this emotion (2): a state marked by this emotion 2: anxious concern 3: profound reverence and awe especially toward God 4: reason for alarm – Merriam-Webster Online

I have to remember that there is fear and there is fear. I have to fear the LORD or have “profound reverence and awe” for Him. I have to recognize Him for who He is and know that He is greater than I and any other. I am in His world and am here to do His Will and not my own.

I also do not need to fear or have “alarm” of His reason for being here. He is great, yet there is no reason for me to worry that He will harm me. God loves me and would certainly do nothing to harm me.

“²⁰Moses said to the people, ‘Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.’” – Exodus 20:20 (ESV)

God had just spoken to the people in a thundering voice and given them the Ten Commandments. The people were not able to see Him and only heard the thundering voice and witnessed the ominous clouds as He spoke. This would certainly instill anxiousness and alarm for me as it did for them. Yet what does Moses tell them but to “not fear” but have “fear of him”.

We have to separate the fear. There is time for reverence and time for alarm. It is up to us to make that distinction. With God, there is no need to have alarm, and we should always have reverence. So I say again as in the title of my thoughts, “fear the LORD, don’t fear Him”.

What is your thoughts on the LORD? Are you running around alarmed that your life is somehow in danger? What if you were to have reverence for Him and know that your life is just getting started with the LORD by your side?

Fear the LORD and be Fruitful

This morning I was led to a simple but impacting passage in Psalm. I was reminded that I am blessed with fear of the LORD.

“Fear: profound reverence and awe especially toward God” – Merriam-Webster Online

Fear in the case that I am speaking is as defined just above. It is the awe inspiring reverence toward God. In my fear of the LORD, I am fully devoted to Him and all that He is. In return for my reverence and devotion, the LORD blesses me and my house.

“¹Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD,

who walks in his ways!

²You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands;

you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.

³Your wife will be like a fruitful vine

within your house;

your children will be like olive shoots

around your table.

⁴Behold, thus shall the man be blessed

who fears the LORD.”

— Psalm 128:1-4 (ESV)

I have to look carefully at the words and meaning of them as I study. I want to ensure that I am on the right thought pattern. It is not said that everyone who fears the LORD will be rich or well off or without challenges. It says that they will be blessed. Being fruitful does not necessarily mean massive procreation or other worldly visuals of “success”. Being blessed and fruitful is being content in knowing that the LORD has provided and will continue to do so even when things seem grim.

Fear of the LORD brings blessing and fruitfulness. I have to remember to fear the LORD and that in doing so, I will be blessed and made fruitful.

What are you doing to gain blessings? Are you out there trying to earn it through your works? What if you just turned to God and demonstrated fear for Him and allowed him to provide and in turn you content with God’s provision and that provision turns to blessing and fruitfulness?

The LORD is Justified

“How can the LORD do this to me? Doesn’t He love me and protect me?” I know that I have thought those words and likely have even said them aloud a time or two (or three, or four…). It is natural for me to think that way, especially when the essence of God is love. But, isn’t He my heavenly father, isn’t it the job of a father to hold us accountable to what is.

“⁴Against you, you only, have I sinned

and done what is evil in your sight,”

— Psalm 51:4a (ESV)

Frankly, to Him didn’t I do what is being called out. I was the one who sinned and any sin is a sin against God. It may have been something simple that “did not hurt anyone”, but it did, God and my relationship with Him. Sin is a wedge between the LORD and me. Where there is sin, there tends to be little to no room for the LORD. Yes, the LORD is light and darkness cannot remain in the light. Yet, with my sin I am doing all there is to cover the light so that the darkness can be prevalent. And just who am I accountable to for the removal of the light, God.

When I have taken action to remove God by sinning, whether intentional or not (as we will sin without really thinking or knowing), I am accountable to that sin and to God. Not the world as one might think. As note above, it may not have hurt anyone in the world and the world has repeatedly said and will continue to say to do what you think is right and what feels good to you.

I have to be concerned with the sin in my life, whether I know about it or not. That sin, where it may not be hurting anyone in this world, it is hurting the LORD and due to that, He is justified in holding me accountable. He has the right to take action against me as I have taken action against Him.

“⁴so that you may be justified in your words

and blameless in your judgment.”

— Psalm 51:4b (ESV)

Just as any father has the right to hold accountable his children for doing things that are outside of what is deemed right, the LORD holds me accountable to do that which is right by Him. Sin is not right by God and therefor any sin is against Him and He should hold me accountable, whether I know of the sin or not. I have committed to Him and in that commitment I know what is right and should be held to that standard by the one that created the standard, the LORD.

What have you done that is sinning against God? Are you even thinking of the LORD as the one you are hurting with your actions? What if you were to accept that all sin is indeed hurting God and that He is justified to hold you accountable, how would you change your actions?

Everlasting Fear of God

As I read this morning in study of the word “everlasting” I was brought to the book of Jeremiah where God identifies His people and that He will be their God. As I get to the verse I was led to, I see that God makes an everlasting covenant with the people and makes it so they will not turn away from Him.

“⁴⁰I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me.” — Jeremiah 32:40 (ESV)

I asked myself, What is the “Fear of God”? Well depending on where you look for the answer, you may get many different definitions, but one thing is clear, it is a full reverence of God.

In the Psalms we see that fearing the Lord means to stand in awe of the living God (Ps. 33:8), to glorify him (Ps. 22:3), and to trust him wholeheartedly (Ps. 40:3). Those who fear the Lord receive his steadfast love (Ps. 103:17) and experience friendship with God (Ps 25:14)! In the book of Proverbs the fear of the Lord is a continual submission to God in humility and faith (Prov. 23:17) and consists of a hatred of evil and the desire to turn away from it (Prov. 8:13; 16:6). — from: “What is ‘Fear of the Lord’?”, https://eccelmira.org/articles/what-is-the-fear-of-the-lord/

As I apply this to the passage from Jeremiah, I see that God was placing Himself in a position of reverence and trust in the hearts of the people. But it also has to be looked at as noted in the Proverbs 8 and 16 “a hatred of evil and the desire to turn away from it”. This everlasting covenant is in place that I might turn to God and away from the evil one. I am so in awe of the LORD that I am only able to look to Him. I am drawn to Him and the love and care and comfort and guidance He has for me. I am looking away from the evil one and all that he brings into this world and focusing my attention on the LORD.

I am thinking of the fear of the Lord and how that applies to my everyday life and into eternity. I am to be with God always. I am to love Him as He loves me, always and forever and without any conditions. He has already done all for me in sacrificial death on my behalf. I am only to give myself to Him fully. As I have full and complete reverence for Him and all that He is, I will turn away from the evil one. I will have complete focus on God and all that He is and gives and accept Him forever.

What does it mean to you to fully give yourself to God? Are you only glancing at Him from time to time? What if you fully accepted the fear of Him in your heart and turned away from the evil one and fully to Him?