The Fear Of God
The other day I stumbled across the following passage as I was having my daily devotions:
"You alone are to be feared. Who can stand before You when You are angry? From heaven You pronounced judgement, and the land feared and was quiet- when You, O God, rose up to judge, to save all the afflicted of the land. Surely Your wrath against men brings You praise, and the survivors of Your wrath are restrained. Make vows to the LORD your God and fulfill them; let all the neighboring lands bring gifts to the One to be feared. He breaks the spirit of rulers; he is feared by the kings of the earth." (Psalm 76:7-12, emphasis added)
This really got me thinking about whether we in today's society truly have a fear of God. How many times have we been told that to fear God really just means to have a healthy respect for Him, not to actually fear Him? Looking back through the Old Testament, it would appear, that at least at times, the people truly feared God and what He was capable of. I think of the plagues in Egypt, the Flood, and Sodom and Gommorah, and believe that events like these were more than enough to instill a certain fear of God in people. When Abraham was about to sacrifice his son Isaac, an angel of the Lord appeared to him and told him, "Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son."(Genesis 22) Could it be that Abraham feared God enough that the loss of his son paled in comparison to the consequences that disobedience to God would bring? Whenever angels, who are merely created beings who serve in the presence of God, appeared to people, they were almost always terrified (Mary, shepherds, women at Jesus' tomb). How much more terrified would they be of God Himself?
I am not by any means suggesting that our actions should be motivated out of fear; I wholly believe that our actions should be motivated out of our love for God and our love for others. However, it does appear to me that we are missing something when it comes to the fear of God. How many of us can actually say that we have been in fear of God? We have felt many emotions directed at God, but fear? I think that part of the problem lies in the advances of science and technology in this day and age. We no longer view natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina, as an act of God, but simply as extreme weather phenomena with reasonable scientific explanations. In our attempts to find an explanation for everything, we often leave God, the Creator of all life, out of the picture. It is much harder to fear something when there is a reasonable explanation for it. I do not know what it would look like to live in fear of God, or even how to learn to fear God. However, it does appear that there is a key ingredient missing from our faith, and that is a fear of God. How many of us attempt to justify our sins by telling ourselves that we can just ask for forgiveness after the fact, because God is a loving God. A fear of God might make us think twice before falling into these sins. Maybe I'm missing the point, but these are simply just some of the thoughts that have been rolling around my head these last couple of days. I gladly welcome any insight into this subject, since it is a topic about which I have little or no understanding.
Until next time,
Tyler
"You alone are to be feared. Who can stand before You when You are angry? From heaven You pronounced judgement, and the land feared and was quiet- when You, O God, rose up to judge, to save all the afflicted of the land. Surely Your wrath against men brings You praise, and the survivors of Your wrath are restrained. Make vows to the LORD your God and fulfill them; let all the neighboring lands bring gifts to the One to be feared. He breaks the spirit of rulers; he is feared by the kings of the earth." (Psalm 76:7-12, emphasis added)
This really got me thinking about whether we in today's society truly have a fear of God. How many times have we been told that to fear God really just means to have a healthy respect for Him, not to actually fear Him? Looking back through the Old Testament, it would appear, that at least at times, the people truly feared God and what He was capable of. I think of the plagues in Egypt, the Flood, and Sodom and Gommorah, and believe that events like these were more than enough to instill a certain fear of God in people. When Abraham was about to sacrifice his son Isaac, an angel of the Lord appeared to him and told him, "Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son."(Genesis 22) Could it be that Abraham feared God enough that the loss of his son paled in comparison to the consequences that disobedience to God would bring? Whenever angels, who are merely created beings who serve in the presence of God, appeared to people, they were almost always terrified (Mary, shepherds, women at Jesus' tomb). How much more terrified would they be of God Himself?
I am not by any means suggesting that our actions should be motivated out of fear; I wholly believe that our actions should be motivated out of our love for God and our love for others. However, it does appear to me that we are missing something when it comes to the fear of God. How many of us can actually say that we have been in fear of God? We have felt many emotions directed at God, but fear? I think that part of the problem lies in the advances of science and technology in this day and age. We no longer view natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina, as an act of God, but simply as extreme weather phenomena with reasonable scientific explanations. In our attempts to find an explanation for everything, we often leave God, the Creator of all life, out of the picture. It is much harder to fear something when there is a reasonable explanation for it. I do not know what it would look like to live in fear of God, or even how to learn to fear God. However, it does appear that there is a key ingredient missing from our faith, and that is a fear of God. How many of us attempt to justify our sins by telling ourselves that we can just ask for forgiveness after the fact, because God is a loving God. A fear of God might make us think twice before falling into these sins. Maybe I'm missing the point, but these are simply just some of the thoughts that have been rolling around my head these last couple of days. I gladly welcome any insight into this subject, since it is a topic about which I have little or no understanding.
Until next time,
Tyler
posted by Bassmaster Fehr @ 4:32 p.m.
3 Comments:
At December 14, 2005 11:35 a.m.,
gospeloflove said…
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”
Good blog, you made some interesting points. You’re right when you speak of the fear of the Lord meaning more than just a healthy respect. Fearing the Lord can keep us from sin and protect us from His wrath and punishment. I think the reason that we, as Christians, often just speak of it as a healthy respect is because we believe Jesus took the punishment that we deserved. So now we consider ourselves (because of His promises, mercy, and grace) to be children of God. Not just the people of God as the Israelites, but He calls us His children. Should a child fear there parent? His word also says, “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” I believe that when we inherit the life and sonship, that we find only in Jesus, our relationship to God changes. This by no means put us on an equal footing with Him though. He is still our Lord and Master, but now He tells us not to be afraid. We are to fear Him because of who He is, yet who He is allows us not to fear Him. I think that we should still fear Him as far as our sinful nature is concerned, but as for our spirit, if it is abiding in His love and bearing fruit, we will hear Him beckon “welcome good and faithful servant come and share in your masters happiness”. Truth is.... how could we not fear God. I’m afraid of many things I don’t understand and He is so beyond me that for all eternity I’ll never understand Him. It seems to me that there are three main things which make the dread of the Lord absent in this world: a lack of knowledge concerning who God really is, foolish pride combined with arrogant ignorance, (and the better of the three) a perfect love from God and His spirit within us that lets us cry “Abba, Father” and lets us approach His throne of grace. Yet, I think that now, if I saw Jesus in His glory, I would undoubtably (like John did in Revelation) fall on my face like a dead man until He picks me up and says with love “fear not.”
At December 16, 2005 2:28 p.m.,
Anonymous said…
yay! Tyler I can comment now, thank you!!!
Good blog... I have often pondered this myself. Do I fear God as I should... I've come to the conclusion - not really. I wish I did. I guess it's all part of the maturing process though right? Having a right view of God, which HAS to include a healthy, blow your mind type fear of Him. Every so often it's like I get a glimpse of who He really is, not shrouded in all the Propoganda His followers and others that call themselves Christians are putting out... and I almost feel I can't take it - It really sahakes me. But it's wonderful. It just makes me love Him more.
oops gotta run!
At December 16, 2005 2:30 p.m.,
Anonymous said…
I meant shakes, not sahakes just then.... OOOPS!
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