I’ve been thinking recently about the fear of God—puzzling over it periodically since I was a kid, actually. How can it fit with trusting God? With loving God? In the 19th century it was high praise in Christian circles to call someone a God-fearing woman, or man. That’s not a compliment you hear much any more.
In this question there are some things that are important to remember.
There are many kinds of fear.
The fear that is in this verse is the fear that helps us understand the "respect" that we need to have for our Creator God. The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Ps. 111:10; Proverbs 1:7; Proverbs 9:10.
The Israelites were coming out of 400 years in Egypt. They had forgotten who God was for the most part.
They were used to the gods of Egypt and the ceremonies that accompanied those gods in order to worship them. They were used to fearing the retribution of the humans that served these false gods and how much they had hurt and lost at their oppressors hands.
The had been enslaved by the Egyptians when there was a pharaoh that knew not Joseph. Exodus 1:8;
God needed them to understand that He was and is not like those false gods.
We are sinful people just like the Israelites were.
As you read through their stories you will see that as they learned about God.
That they needed to remember how Holy He is and how unholy they were.
This fear is not the fear of retribution that we think of from some civil authority.
God is merciful to those that repent and reform.
God does not wait in the wings to crush us and then laugh as a diabolical power house over us.
God has warnings for us. Tells us what the wages of sin is : Romans 6:23;
He does not want us to be lost but sadly many will be lost due to their own choices. Our God NEVER FORCES. Only satan forces. We are free Moral Humans and if not guided by a loving God and His Moral Laws we will be lost.
There is a statement that really says something about fear... "The only thing that we have to fear is that we forget how God has led us in the past". This goes straight to the deep meaning of faith which is tired to our understanding of how much God really wants us in Heaven and the New earth.
Our greatest "fear" should be that we allow ourselves to doubt that we serve a loving and compassionate God and put the labels on Him that satan has put on Him for over 6,000 years.
I have a book that I am going to bring over that you might enjoy.
Satan tempts us...
God tries us...
This book is called THE REFINERS FIRE, by Gavin Anthony
Here is the link to the 13 part Adult lessons that this book is tied to.
These help explain how we can love, respect, and not cower before our God of love and power.
We are told to Come boldly before the Throne of Grace. Hebrews 4:16;
Justification is forgiveness for past sins,
Grace covers us while we are on our way to Sanctification=made Holy by the working of God the Holy Spirit to change us to be fit for heaven. (We are told that this is the work of a lifetime).
There is an end to Grace.
We can understand why bad things happen to good people and the purpose in the bigger plan for us to be changed from the inside out to be fit for our heavenly homes and for the New Earth.
As the Bible tells us, A leopard cannot change its spots. Jeremiah 13:23;
So God is the only one who can change us into what we need to be to go to heaven, then He covers us with His Atoning Blood so that we will be presentable to stand before the Father in Heaven.
The old saying ...
God loves us the way we are (When we come to Him) , but He loves us too much to leave us that way.
Carolyn,
Writing this piece must be quite a challenge but comes across as if you didn't have Covid Fog.
I pray daily that your recovery is a a successful journey and you will feel normal again soon.
To me, the word 'fear' used in scripture does not mean anxiety and terror but a powerful love of God.
When we love someone to the depth of our heart we feel an intense emotion.
Fear then, would mean we are drawn closer to our God and His will and not distanced further away.
Thank you for your prayers, Joan. I appreciate them very much.
Yes, it took me ten hours, spread out over two weeks, to write this. And I never could entirely say what I wanted to.
That's very interesting, equating the love of God and the fear of God. I will be thinking about that for a while! Thanks for sharing it.
In this question there are some things that are important to remember.
There are many kinds of fear.
The fear that is in this verse is the fear that helps us understand the "respect" that we need to have for our Creator God. The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Ps. 111:10; Proverbs 1:7; Proverbs 9:10.
The Israelites were coming out of 400 years in Egypt. They had forgotten who God was for the most part.
They were used to the gods of Egypt and the ceremonies that accompanied those gods in order to worship them. They were used to fearing the retribution of the humans that served these false gods and how much they had hurt and lost at their oppressors hands.
The had been enslaved by the Egyptians when there was a pharaoh that knew not Joseph. Exodus 1:8;
God needed them to understand that He was and is not like those false gods.
We are sinful people just like the Israelites were.
As you read through their stories you will see that as they learned about God.
That they needed to remember how Holy He is and how unholy they were.
This fear is not the fear of retribution that we think of from some civil authority.
God is merciful to those that repent and reform.
God does not wait in the wings to crush us and then laugh as a diabolical power house over us.
God has warnings for us. Tells us what the wages of sin is : Romans 6:23;
He does not want us to be lost but sadly many will be lost due to their own choices. Our God NEVER FORCES. Only satan forces. We are free Moral Humans and if not guided by a loving God and His Moral Laws we will be lost.
There is a statement that really says something about fear... "The only thing that we have to fear is that we forget how God has led us in the past". This goes straight to the deep meaning of faith which is tired to our understanding of how much God really wants us in Heaven and the New earth.
Our greatest "fear" should be that we allow ourselves to doubt that we serve a loving and compassionate God and put the labels on Him that satan has put on Him for over 6,000 years.
I have a book that I am going to bring over that you might enjoy.
Satan tempts us...
God tries us...
This book is called THE REFINERS FIRE, by Gavin Anthony
Here is the link to the 13 part Adult lessons that this book is tied to.
This starts with the first lesson
https://itiswritten.tv/sabbath-school/2022-q3-lesson-1-the-shepherds-crucible
These help explain how we can love, respect, and not cower before our God of love and power.
We are told to Come boldly before the Throne of Grace. Hebrews 4:16;
Justification is forgiveness for past sins,
Grace covers us while we are on our way to Sanctification=made Holy by the working of God the Holy Spirit to change us to be fit for heaven. (We are told that this is the work of a lifetime).
There is an end to Grace.
We can understand why bad things happen to good people and the purpose in the bigger plan for us to be changed from the inside out to be fit for our heavenly homes and for the New Earth.
As the Bible tells us, A leopard cannot change its spots. Jeremiah 13:23;
So God is the only one who can change us into what we need to be to go to heaven, then He covers us with His Atoning Blood so that we will be presentable to stand before the Father in Heaven.
The old saying ...
God loves us the way we are (When we come to Him) , but He loves us too much to leave us that way.
Hugs, clk