The Fear of God

Transcript:

Hello, this is Pastor Don of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective.

For us as modern-day thinkers, one of strangest commands in the Bible is the command to “fear the Lord.” Everywhere in Scripture the fear of God is the presented as the very foundation of true religion— the very beginning of wisdom and knowledge (Proverbs 9:10 and 1:7).

But what does this mean? How could living in fear of another, especially God, be good and psychologically healthy?

Well, we need to understand what we mean by fear. In the Bible, fearing God means to treasure Him above all else—to value and cherish His character, reputation and holiness above everything, even our own lives. The fear of God is not, at its core, a mere dread of divine punishment. Indeed, it is true that God is our ultimate judge and that one day each of us will give an account of our lives to Him. However, obeying Him merely out of a fear of punishment is not to treasure God at all. It is treasuring ourselves. In such case, we are merely looking out for our own well-being.

Rather, God calls us to a different kind of relationship with Him—a different kind of fear. Listen to Deuteronomy 10:

12 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to LOVE him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul...." [emphasis added]

Indeed, if God is our Maker (the very source of all reality!), then He must also be the source of all pleasure and goodness. And so, not to treasure Him above all else would be the very height of foolishness.

Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.

“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good? Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.”
~ Deuteronomy 10:12-16 (ESV)