Got Fear?
Humility and fear of the Lord bring wealth and honor and life. Proverbs 22:4
I love that Jesus is my friend.
What a friend we have in Jesus.
I love that I can confess daily to Him, throughout the day – and He covers it and helps me overcome.
All our sins and griefs to bear.
But I often wish I understood more deeply the “fear” of the Lord.
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer.
Privilege.
Because He is The King. The Creator.
It seems like the only time I fully understand the “fear of the Lord” (which is the beginning of wisdom – Proverbs 9:10, Psalm 111:10), is when I’m enduring pain or seriously difficult circumstances (like major illnesses or surgeries with my kids) when I remember that the Lord disciplines those He loves (Acts 17:11, Hebrews 12:5-6).
All of that discipline is meant to teach us to trust Him, to turn to Him, and to obey Him.
I often forget, especially when I’m living out my days filled with thankfulness and wonder, that He is to also be feared. When I remember that fact in times of calm, I have trouble reconciling the two ideas in my head and heart. You? In light of the many people suffering this morning in Oklahoma, regardless of their level of faith, I am wondering. I also have been praying for the families and the community – and we lived in Iowa (part of tornado alley) for nearly a decade – we have witnessed the fear of these storms and the destruction that comes with them.
Praying today for comfort for the hurting, and deeper faith and obedience for us all. Dare you to join me in this today. Dare you to join me in fearing the Lord – even though, for me, today, it is a choice. I’m much more afraid of my circumstances sometimes than I am of Him… if that makes sense. And I wonder about that last thought – if I’m irreverent and faithless when I fear my circumstances instead of Him… or if my reaction should be different. I often do have peace and comfort, but is that in absence of fear? I know He never lets go of me, and I am also aware that my fear is frequently sin.
Now I’m wondering if anyone else thinks about these things…
How about you? Do you fear God? How does that show up in your daily walk?
Interested in your thoughts about this part of the journey.
Love to you,
~Nina
And what about “perfect love casts out fear”? Seriously.
The bible also says that “fear has torment” and that “God is love”. It also says that Jesus was the “express Image of the Father”. Jesus was God’s will in action. He is also “the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow” So whats up with the difference between Jesus’s healing and saving and all the seemingly unanswered prayers now? One of the best ways to understand this and the rest of the Bible is to look up the original text. Biblecc.com is excellent if you don’t have a concordance. The Bible doesn’t contradict itself, so it’s important we study things that don’t seem to make sense. Do God and Satan work together? Does God embrace the things of the devil to “help” us? What authority, if any, do we have over our own lives and/or the spirit world? What exactly did the cross accomplish? These are essential, foundational things to know. Without them you will flounder through life never knowing what to expect from a “schizophrenic” God who blesses you one day and sits back watches your toddler die the next. We owe it to ourselves and our families to study the Bible.
For me fearing God is having a true reverence for Him and the things of God. He is my King, my Creator, my Lord, not my “homeboy”, not my sugardaddy in the sky.
I think sometimes people can think that God is just the man upstairs, some weak God, or a God that likes to punish us. But that’s not true! In Psalms it tells us He has no pleasure in wickedness. That is actually the verse I believe God gave me when I found out my 21 yr old sister had luekeima. And I felt that God was telling me that He wasn’t looking down on my sister at all glad or happy that she had cancer. That He was also sad about it. That just truly helped me and I was able to tell her that. She felt like God was punishing her in someway or another.
The Amplified version of Prov. 22:4 says
The reward of humility and the *reverent and worshipful* fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life.
He’s a loving Father that doesn’t raise his hands in frustration when we fail or fall…He’s our Daddy that opens His arms and waits for us to fall into them.
Yes, I struggle the same. I am a faith-walker, gifted with this early in life, I just believe and don’t need or desire to find the boundaries.
I choose joy, it’s hard some days, it’s harder when I’ve failed Father and know He loves me anyway.
Yet, I am reminded of Job – basically all of chapters 38-42.
“Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind: “Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words? Where were you when I laid the foundations of this earth?”
“Who kept the sea inside it’s boundaries?”
“Have you ever commanded the morning to appear and caused the dawn to rise in the East?”
“Can you direct the movement of the stars?”
“Is it your wisdom that makes the hawk soar and spread its wings toward the south?”
“Are you as strong as God? Can you thunder with a voice like His?”
Job 42: 1-4 Then Job replied to the Lord: “I know that you can do anything,
and no one can stop you. You asked, ‘Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?’ It is I—and I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me. You said, ‘Listen and I will speak! I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.’ I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes. I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance.”
Quickly my reverent fear of God comes forth. It’s not something I remember in my daily walk but because our lives have been turned upside down and that emotion is still raw, I remember that He is …. He is the I AM.
My thoughts and prayers are with the victims in OK, with the owners of the damaged land all across, with those facing more storms as this system keeps moving. Life’s storms are raging everywhere – may God show us His mighty saving power!
~katy
I don’t think choosing to be joyful is a counter to realizing the omnipotence of God. I think it’s looking up and saying “Listen, I know what you can do, but I thank you for loving me anyways. I am ready for the trials, Lord, because I trust that you know what better than I do what I/my family/this world needs. I can’t see the big picture and you can.” And I don’t think God picks on people – he doesn’t exert his power only on the people who really need to be reminded of his power. Our God is a loving God, but he’s also jealous for our hearts. It isn’t in his will for people to get sick, die, hurt, suffer, but we live in a fallen world, so all of these things happen. They are all a consequence of our own actions. It’s searching for his will in the midst of trial that is the journey to finding joy. At least that’s my few cents.
Fearing God is a odd concept. I’m struggling to trust his plan for me/us and more times than not I think he just doesn’t care. I know this is not true, but when you are going through constant struggle it seems to be. With the horror going on in OK right now our own problems are so minor. Prayers to all in OK. 🙁
To me to “fear the Lord” is to have a healthy respect of who He is and who I am — He is my Lord, my Creator, my sustainer. I need HIM! And that gives me a healthy respect for His power yet His wonderful grace and love toward me. I do not “fear” Him because He might do something bad to me — I am in awe that He has chosen to use His power and His love for my benefit. I am in AWE of His goodness!
Amen!
I am right there with you Nina. My husband and I had this very conversation a week ago, I ask him how am i suppose to fear God ? he looked at me and kinda smirked, I said i understand what he is capable of and live for him and respect him. But the fear part is hard for me to grasp. Mind you I’m still a baby feeding on milk and honey. I have so much to learn, but I really struggle with the fear part.
I came across ur post because one if my friends linked it to fb. To me, ur perspective is interesting and encouraging. I fear the Lord ALL the time. One of my biggest struggles is believing that God is good. I believe it with all my mind, but I cant convince my heart that he will protect me. I was blessed to come accross this post since I have been praying on this subject for weeks. Fear of God is a different thing than trusting him, and Im praying that he will show me how to have balance.
Lauren, I encourage you to look over the past blog posts here, by Nina. I believe that you will find much more encouragement. Welcome to this journey of Respect and I will be praying for you. ~katy