On the Fear Of the Lord

"The LORD's instruction is perfect,
reviving one's very being.

The LORD's laws are faithful,
making naïve people wise.

The LORD's regulations are right,
gladdening the heart.

The LORD's commands are pure,
giving light to the eyes.

Honoring the LORD is correct,
lasting forever.

The LORD's judgements are true.
All of these are righteous!

They are more desirable than gold--
than tons of pure gold!

They are sweeter than honey--
even dripping off the honeycomb!

No doubt about it:
Your servant is enlightened by them;
There is great reward in keeping them."

Psalm 19:7-11



When we worship God, do we include God's instruction, His laws, His regulations, and His commands on our list of things we praise and honor Him for? What about His judgements? Do we love them like great treasures of gold or like honey dripping from the comb? When we open up the scriptures, do we rejoice to discover we will read Deuteronomy, where thousands of God's laws to His people are recorded?

My guess is, probably not, no, and nuh-uh.

But before God entered the world clothed in flesh, His people knew Him as the Law Giver. Broken laws meant disfavor with God, punishment, and death. People were wise to fear Him. People still are.

Christians today don't like this word, "fear." They say, well, what that word really means is respect. True, respect is surely part of it, but why can't we just take it as it is written? I think everyone knows what it means to be afraid. It's a very simple concept, one we can all grasp, so why change it? Why explain it? Is it because it makes God look bad when we say He is to be feared? No, indeed. God is God, and He IS to be feared. Every Christian knows that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." So, isn't this "fear" we read about in the holy scriptures something we should cultivate?

In every single encounter that people had with an angel or a messenger from heaven, the first thing out of the mouth of the angel or messenger was "Do not be afraid." Why? Because the person immediately became afraid when they came face to face with a being from that heavenly place.

When heaven shines a light on us, it is the right response to tremble in fear. It is the ONLY response.

Every man, woman, and child created by the hand of God knows that God sees our hearts, and that our hearts are no good. No. Good. Inside of us there lies a wickedness that is immediately revealed the moment we enter the presence of God. This wickedness manifests in a an endless variety of ways. It leads us to let our friends down, to fail to follow through on promises, to neglect responsibilities, and to lie. We steal from God, burn with hate, and lust after things and people.

It is good to take stock of the ways we have failed to live righteously. Truly. It is good to allow the Holy Spirit to open up all of our layers of denial and falseness, to burrow down to the truth of us. It is good to feel acutely our wretchedness, to let it soak us through with truth.

Thinking about fearing God, and treasuring His judgements, commands, instruction, and regulations like one might treasure a chest filled with gold, has lead me to the radical conclusion that we are indeed richer than the richest man if we fail to achieve God's standard. Wait, what? We are LUCKY if we experience failure on uncountable occasions. Let's get honest here. Let's admit our failures, which stem from a heart that is both wicked and ignorant of the ways of God, to ourselves and to God. If we tell the truth, I think most of us can say that if left to our own devices, we tend to screw things up pretty royally. It's just a matter of time before we end up saying a desperate prayer on a bridge as we contemplate jumping in to the freezing water below, like George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life. That's where that road ends, my brother. Every. Time.

Sometimes, we miss the mark. Other times, we purposefully pursue our own interests, in spite of what God thinks about it. But do not forget, my dear one, there is wickedness there, deep down in the secret dark places, and GOD SEES IT ALL. If we examine ourselves, we will fear God's judgment of us. If we get honest with God, we will tremble before Him. And, if we cease to struggle against admitting our rebellion, ignorance, and utter weakness, we will indeed receive in its stead revival, gladness, wisdom, understanding, and great reward-- that is, we will receive God Himself, the very greatest prize.

It is a fact that we do not deserve to be forgiven. We do not deserve our terrible indebtedness to be paid in full.

Like the psalmist, let us thank the Lord of Hosts for showing us-- through His LAW-- just how wretched we truly are, in our propensity to make big mistakes, in our outright rebellion, and in our wicked desire to hide these parts of ourselves. Let us thank Him for the tremendous weight that is lifted when we understand God is God, and we are not. Indeed, "the greatest favor we can do for ourselves is to cultivate the fear of the Lord (Ray Comfort)." The psalmist knows that when we measure ourselves against God's standard of holiness, we are freed from the struggling, the lying, the denying, and the falsehood that rules our every motion. Because we can't measure up. There is no righteousness in us.

Indeed, our very being is revived when we understand our right place in relation to God. In our fear of the Lord, the seed of wisdom is planted in us. Our hearts are gladdened, because we are not meant to be gods, only sheep. We are healed of our blindness.

And so, praise Him for His perfect instruction! Thank Him for His faithful laws! Worship Him for His right regulations and His pure commands! Let us honor the God of the universe for His true and righteous judgements, and hold His Law as dear to our hearts, a treasure that even still we do not understand the depths of its value. When we are right where we ought to be in relation to our Maker, everything changes. Automatically, our thoughts, our attitudes, our words, and our actions toward others become captive to giving God worship, and really, truly, there is no better peace. And so, let us yoke ourselves to Christ like lowly oxen, and humbly walk where He leads. Let us. Let Him. Rule us. And, let us not forget to remember the great cost our Father paid for our rescue from ourselves.