To Know Him is to Fear Him

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Proverbs 9:10

What exactly does it mean to fear the Lord? The word ‘fear’ that is used in this verse (in the original language) means ‘fear, terror, respect, reverence or an attitude of deep respect tinged with awe.’ I think the fear of the Lord is all of these things. I think it is multi-faceted. I think fearing God means that you are filled with “fear, respect and awe” for God in the right proportion at the right time.

Now, I am going to go out on a limb here and guess that you don't have a problem with the ideas that we should respect God or be in awe of Him. But the idea that we should fear Him, at all in any way, is hard for some of you to accept. But the simple truth is that no one who rightly comprehends who God is can help but fear Him. 

There is no way you can encounter a God who is perfectly holy- as pure as raging fire, a God who is all-powerful - not just the most powerful being but the source of all power in the entire universe, a God who is all-knowing - who knows you and sees you like no one else does, the Creator of the Heavens and the earth- a God who made everything that has been made, a God who sustains all life (even your life) by His Word, a God with no beginning and no end, a God who has always existed, a God who hates sin and will one day judge all mankind, a God for whom all things exist and without whom nothing would exist… it’s impossible for any creature to rightly comprehend who that God is and not quake in their boots, not fear Him, not bow in awe before Him.

It reminds me of C.S. Lewis’ book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. In the book Lewis pictures Jesus as a lion named Aslan. When one of the children in the book finds out that she is going to meet this powerful lion, she is understandably nervous. She asks, 

“‘Is he — quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.’ 

‘That you will, dearie, and no mistake,’ said Mrs. Beaver, ‘if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.’ 

‘Then he isn’t safe?’ said Lucy. 

‘Safe?’ said Mr. beaver. ‘Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.” (Lewis, C.S. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. (Collier Books: New York) 1970, p75-76.)

The girl in the story wanted to think of Aslan as a tame lion, but a lion who could be tamed wouldn’t be very powerful would He? Often, we make the same mistake with God. We want to think of Him as tame, when in fact He isn’t. You can’t control God. You can’t predict what He will do. And He is more powerful than you can imagine. But He is good! And this verse tells you that the first step to wisdom is understanding that your knees ought to knock a little bit when you stand in His presence.

Do your knees ever knock when you think about God, when you pray, when you worship? I’m not saying that fear is the only emotion you should feel towards God. We know that can’t be true, because the greatest commandment in all Scripture isn’t that you should fear God but that you should love Him. And yet… you are also commanded to fear Him.So, make sure you “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind,” (Matthew 22:37) but don’t forget to keep that love holy by mixing in a healthy dose of the fear, respect and awe that He deserves as well.

Unrestrained Worship & Extravagant Love

While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.

Mark 14:3

Verse five tells us that this perfume was estimated to be worth a year’s wages for a day laborer. Jesus and His disciples were itinerant preachers. They lived hand to mouth. They had very little money. They lived among and ministered to the poor. And this woman breaks a jar of this extremely expensive perfume and pours it ALL out on Jesus. That is a year’s wages running down Jesus’ head and beard and on His feet. No one can believe what they have just witnessed. It seems a terrible waste to them. So, they rebuke the woman harshly for doing something that frankly seems stupid to them.

But our love and adoration and worship of God shouldn’t be measured or frugal or restrained. They should be extravagant! Love is sometimes wasteful! And some of us are just too functional for our own good. 

Romantic love is often expressed best through generosity and sacrifice and grand gestures… not through careful moderation or restraint or by making sure to avoid waste at all costs. And the same is true of worship. You ought to express your love and adoration and worship of God in big ways as well. There are no prizes in Heaven for making sure you don’t go too far in your love for Jesus. There's no crown for the person who worships God the most moderately and frugally, who manages to avoid extravagance in their worship at every turn.

The greatest commandment isn’t “Love the Lord thy God as responsibly and reasonably as possible. And never do anything out of your love for God that might seem extravagant to the people around you.” No! The Greatest Commandment is “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and all your strength.” That sounds a bit extravagant by definition to me.

So, don’t be too functional or restrained in your relationship with God. And don’t worry about what other people think about your worship.

The Fear of the Lord Leads to Worship

They were all filled with awe and praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help his people.”

Luke 7:16

In Luke 7 we read about Jesus raising the widow’s son back to life. And Luke 7:16 tells us how the people responded to this amazing miracle. It says, “They were all filled with awe and praised God.” Now the NIV says awe, but most other translations say fear, because the word here, ‘phobos,’ is related to the word phobia. When the people saw that Jesus had the power to raise the dead they were filled with fear and awe, and that drove them to praise the Lord.

When you really get how big and powerful and amazing God is, fear and awe are the only right responses. But fear can push you in two directions. Fear of the LORD can push you away from God, but it can also push you towards Him, especially the kind of fear that includes awe. The awe of the Lord should lead you to worship.

When you see how great God is, you ought to tremble before Him, you ought to stand in awe of Him, and then you ought to fall on your knees and worship Him. It may seem odd at first, but worship is the right response to the fear of the Lord. Why would I worship a God that wasn’t more powerful than I am? Why would I worship a god that I didn’t stand in awe of?

And consider this, Psalm 19:9 says, “The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever.” Think about that. The fear of the Lord endures forever? That means that we will still fear the Lord in Heaven for all eternity. And I believe the reason for that is because the fear of the Lord is part of worship. Even in Heaven we will revere the Lord. Even in Heaven we will stand in awe of Him. And yes, even in heaven, our worship will be mixed with the fear of our Holy God.

So, fear God... but draw near to Him. Tremble at His presence… but fall at His feet in worship as you do. And be glad that God is so fearfully powerful and mighty. Because if He weren’t, He wouldn’t be worth worshipping at all.

Not Yet

This is what the Lord Almighty says: “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house.

Haggai 1:2

After their return from exile, God's people had delayed building God's temple for 18 years! While they lived in houses with panelled walls, God's house had a foundation and no walls. And their excuse, was that the time had not yet come to rebuild. They knew it was God’s will for them to rebuild the temple. 

As Matthew Henry points out, “they didn’t say that they would not build a temple, but, not yet.”* And in this way they deceived themselves and lulled themselves into disobedience. I often say to my children, delayed obedience is disobedience, and I believe that applies to these verses. 

This sin isn’t unique to the Jews that lived 2,400 years ago though, is it? We still do this today, don’t we? Most people don’t say that they'll never get saved; just not right now. Christians rarely decide that they'll never get baptized, but they do tell themselves that they just aren’t ready yet. They need to mature more first. Or they would be too nervous to do it right now, maybe later. And we don’t say that we'll never lead a single person to Jesus, or that we'll never share the gospel with our family member or friend or neighbor or co-worker. We don’t do that. We just convince ourselves that now isn’t the right time. Maybe someday soon.

Is there anything you know you ought to do, anything that God has commanded you to do, that you're putting off? Is there anything you are saying “not yet” to or “maybe one day” to or “when the time is right” to? Delayed obedience is disobedience. Don’t deceive yourself! If God has commanded it, then you should obey it... now. Look for opportunities to obey, not reasons to delay.

*Matthew Henry and Thomas Scott, Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, 1997), Hag 1:1.