We live in a world dominated by fear. Fear from home invasions, kidnappings, murders, rapes, car-jackings, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, climate change, car accidents, plane crashes, cancers, AIDS, heart attacks, tumors, old age, death. We do everything that we can to try to alleviate these fears: insurance (health, car, life, home, dental, pet), seat belts, air bags, doctors, medicines, mammograms, MRI’s, CAT scans, policemen, firemen, vitamins, botox, 401k, Social Security. But still, even with all of our efforts, we live in fear. Why? Maybe the answer lies in the reality that we no longer fear God.
Psalms 111:10 lays the foundation for our relationship with God. “Fear of the LORD is the foundation of true wisdom. All who obey his commandments will grow in wisdom. Praise him forever!” Proverbs 9:10 reinforces the concept that in order to have true wisdom, we must fear God. “The beginning of wisdom is to fear the LORD, and acknowledging the Holy One is understanding.”
Why would God lay as the foundation for wisdom, a fear of Him? When God gave the ten commandments, Exodus 20:18-21, to the people, they were so afraid of God’s Presence that they asked Moses to speak to them instead. Moses responded and said to the people in Exodus 20:20, "Do not fear (yare’ - verb “be afraid”), for God has come to test you, that the fear (yir’ah - noun “terror”) of him may be before you so that you do not sin." So, God uses our fear of His presence to provide us with a reminder not to sin.
Sin, the word that so many do not want to talk about. Some say, Let us not talk of sin, but let us talk of love. After all, the scriptures declare that “God is Love!” Indeed, it is right there in 1 John 4:8, but keep reading in verses nine and ten. “Herein was the love of God manifested in us, that God hath sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” Webster’s defines propitiation as, “The act of appeasing the wrath and conciliating the favor of an offended person.” God’s wrath toward each of us individually, because of our sin, is appeased through the Son (Jesus). When we are obedient to Jesus’ teachings, then we are reconciled back to God the Father.
But to our modern day sensibilities, the notion of a wrathful God does not seem appropriate. We have a tendency to regard God as more like grandpa, kind and benevolent, always making excuses for us. My own grandfather is a prime example, I could do no wrong in his eyes. If I clipped the hose with the mower, no problem, he would say that he should have moved it out of the way. When my foot slipped off of the brake pedal of the riding mower, and I shredded the neighbor’s sapling tree, then he replaced it without a cross word. Another slip of the foot lead to a crash into a telephone pole, never mind, it was a just a small dent. His way of loving me never held me accountable for my actions.
But is this an accurate description of God? A God that never holds us accountable for our sins? Hebrews 10:31 tells us that, “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” You might be asking, But why should it be so terrifying? The rationalization goes something like this, God loves us, therefore there can be nothing in Him to fear and in some circles, love is perceived to be the only attribute that God possesses. But when was the last time that you made an effort to reflect on who God really is? God is Omnipotent, meaning that He has unlimited authority and power; Omniscient, giving Him complete and unlimited knowledge; and Omnipresent, therefore He is present everywhere simultaneously, including in both space and time.
That description of God is pretty terrifying, when you take the time to really think about it. Now, having said all of that, I am compelled to share with you something else that the scriptures tell us, “For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7) God did not intend for us to live our everyday lives in fear of the physical world around us. Because that kind of fear, if left unchecked, will consume our hearts, our minds and our souls. Instead, God has given us courage (power) in the face of trials and tribulations, the ability to love, even our enemies, and to be strong (sound mind) in our understanding and compliance with the teachings of God’s Word. God has given these attributes to us, so that we might be effective in carrying the Good News to the world.
As we read in the first paragraph, we are inundated with a message of fear on a daily, hourly, and sometimes minute by minute basis. But there is one thing that many people fear more than anything else. Death. Once again the scriptures point us to the correct attitude that we should have concerning death. “Dear friends, don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot do any more to you after that. But I’ll tell you whom to fear. Fear God, who has the power to kill you and then throw you into hell. Yes, he’s the one to fear.” Luke 12:4-5.
The cure for our worldly fears, is to fear the Living God. When we acknowledge His power and authority over all of creation, then we will realize that it is God and God alone, whom we should fear.
Resources:
New Living Translation, New English Translation, New American Standard Bible,
New International Version, American King James Version,
Strong’s 3372: yare’: to fear, revere, be afraid, Strong’s 3374: yir’ah: fear, terror, fearing,
BibleGateway.com, Biblios.com
