When I was younger, the notion of fearing God seemed contrary to the notion of loving God. Do you know what I mean? Have you felt this, or do you still wonder about it? That’s what this post is about: the apparent conflict between both loving God and fearing Him at the same time.
I’d like to start where I always like to start; what does the Bible say about this? So, here are a few verses about fearing God to get us started:
Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
Proverbs 1:7, NLT
“I, Wisdom, live together with good judgment.
Proverbs 8:12-13, NLT
I know where to discover knowledge and discernment.
All who fear the Lord will hate evil.
Therefore, I hate pride and arrogance,
corruption and perverse speech”.
So we can see that the beginning of wisdom and knowledge (according to the Bible) rests in having a fear of the Lord (God, Jesus, the Creator). But isn’t fear a damaging thing? Isn’t it an emotion that is ultimately destructive to our psyche?
Actually, there are different kinds of fear. So I went to Psychology Today’s website and found this definition of fear:
An anxious feeling, caused by our anticipation of some imagined event or experience.
Psychology Today
They went on to talk about different kinds of fear, but I’m going to address this topic from another angle. The different kinds of fear I’m going to discuss are:
- Healthy Fear – Being anxious or apprehensive about the possibility of personal injury or harm to ourselves in some way. Like physical harm, mental harm, harm to a loved one, harm to our way of life (like losing a job), basically any kind of injury that is rational and can be expected by any normal, sensible person.
- Unhealthy Fear – Being anxious or apprehensive, or even debilitated (locked up, immovable) because of an irrational fear. In other words, fearing something that either could not harm you or is so unlikely that it isn’t worth thinking about. One day, I saw this in someone who was afraid to walk on a sidewalk that had worms on it, for example. Instead, she walked around the building to avoid even looking at them. We sometimes call this fear a phobia.
- Fight or Flight – I put this in a category of its own because this one will really get your adrenaline flowing. It’s more intense than number one and has immediate consequences. It is healthy – for a brief time – but if a person lives in this state for very long, it becomes very unhealthy. PTSD comes to mind regarding extended periods of fight or flight.
- Fear without anxiety – This is the kind of fear that is less often discussed these days. It’s the kind of fear that the Bible talks about. Many people would not even have this cross their minds when discussing fear. It’s like beholding the enormity of a force before you (like the ocean, or a storm) and realizing that you have no power over it. Rather, it can toss you like a rag doll. We call this “Reverent Fear”.
And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time here as “temporary residents.”
1 Peter 1:17, NLT
When I was a child, I had a reverent fear of my father. My children, when they were younger, also had a reverent fear of me and my authority over them. Likewise, when we understand that God has all of the power and we have none, it produces this kind of reverence toward Him. It’s like respect but with the knowledge of real-word consequences.
Unfortunately, many people, when confronted with this understanding (of God’s power over them), react in a different way; they become resentful that they are not the final authority in their lives. This is the beginning of death, foolishness, regret, sorrow and all things bad. When people refuse to acknowledge God’s superiority and authority over them, they will find out in the end that no amount of denial is going change that simple fact. You WILL be confronted by your Creator. He WILL judge your life and how you responded to His authority over you.
Reverent fear is a healthy fear. It isn’t in conflict with love. My children love me, but they still have that reverent fear of me. This is how I view my relationship with my God. I love Him (more than myself or my own life) and I also fear Him. I revere Him for His awesome power, knowledge, wisdom, presence, and it’s a bit intimidating to know that He knows more about me than I do myself. My memory fades, while His remains perfect. I can fool myself, but I can’t fool my God. He is the shelter that I run to, and it is the greatest comfort in my life to know that He is my ultimate destination – for all eternity.
YET, at the same time, I have this rational, logical fear, without anxiety, about meeting Him for the first time face to face. This is because of my certain knowledge that He is perfect and I am anything but perfect. His righteous essence demands payment from me in ruining our perfect relationship that He desires. He wants a perfect relationship that He cannot have with an imperfect being (me, as I am now). I know that I cannot restore myself to perfection (not that I ever had it). I am utterly powerless to do anything that is adequate in making myself acceptable to God. This brings a bit of fear. But it is a healthy, rational fear.
But thanks to Jesus (God in human form), I don’t have to fix myself. Jesus came into the world as one of us and fixed our relationship with the Father of creation. He paid the debt that I can never pay. This is the foundation of trust that I have in God. It is why I fear Him and why I love Him at the same time. I’m just a squeaky little thing, on a tiny blue planet, in the midst of a small universe that could fit in the “palm” of its infinite Creator. And yet, with all of His enormity and power, He pays full attention to little ol’ me all of the time. How humbling! How inspiring of awe, wonder, fear and love! He fills me. He calls me. He guides me. He corrects me. He cares for me. And because of this, I’m all His. He owns me.
I hope that you will learn what it is to both fear and love God with all of your heart (as I do). Because this is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge. It is how we come into a right relationship with our awesome Creator, and through the cross of Christ.
“Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell. What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.
“Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But everyone who denies me here on earth, I will also deny before my Father in heaven.”
~ Jesus (Matthew 10:28-33, NLT)
Fear God. Love God. Seek God. Serve God.
In Him,
Gary
