Living in Fear

Fear of the Lord can be a touchy subject.

We all love the depictions of God as baby Jesus in a manger, and the loving Father that rescues us, and the Holy Spirit who lives within us making us all warm and fuzzy when we worship, right?

But when we hear that we are not only to love God, but also to fear Him… well that’s not as fun. Sometimes, I even see myself getting indignant with God and thinking, “I am a child of God and I can go boldly to His throne room without fear!” (Hebrews 4:16)

And that’s true, but we have to hold that closeness and intimacy with God alongside a reverent fear of Him. And when we do that well, it’s really a powerfully beautiful thing!

Fear motivates us to action. Think about the last time you were afraid of something. You either fought it off, or ran from it. When I see a gross, giant bug in my house, I stop whatever I’m doing and kill it. (Or i get my husband to kill it for me)

The object I fear becomes my only focus until the fear is gone. I am compelled to act on my feeling of fear, and that’s a good thing. It’s our body’s way of warning us when something might be dangerous.

Now let’s apply this concept to the fear of the Lord.

When we fear God, He becomes our sole focus, and no other fear matters.

When we fear God, we don’t have to fear anything else. That’s why all 365 times the bible says “do not fear” it’s immediately followed with some characteristic about God. Here’s a few examples:

"After these things the word of Adonai came to Abram in a vision saying, “Do not fear, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” - Genesis 15:1

“So Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid, for God has come to test you, so that His fear may be in you, so that you do not sin.” - Exodus 20:20

"Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” - Deuteronomy 31:6

“The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” - Psalm 118:6

“...with confidence we say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What will man do to me?” - Hebrews 13:6

Take a closer look at each of those scriptures and see if you can find the common thread of why we are told over and over not to fear…

because God is our shield

because God is refining us

because God goes with us

because God never leaves us

because God is on our side

because God is our helper

You could search through scripture and find so many more examples of why we need not fear, because of who God is! He doesn’t try to calm our fears with the reassurance that “you got this!” because, let’s be honest, we don’t. He does, and He knows that the only way to get past our fear is to look to Him.

“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” - 1 John 4:18

I don’t know about you, but that one hits me hard. When I’m afraid of a confrontation, a financial concern or just a bug in my house - that means I have not been perfected in love. I’m shutting off God’s love and not allowing Him to fill me with it.

If we would allow it, all of our fear would be cast out. We just have to let Him fill us with His perfect love, and let ourselves sit in awe and wonder of who He is.

But how do we really do that? Like day to day? Well, let’s take another look at what God’s Word says about it.

“Tell God, "Your works are wonderful! Your great power makes your enemies bow down in fear before you.” - Psalm 66:3

“Dear friends, we have these promises from God. So we should make ourselves pure—free from anything that makes our body or our soul unclean. Our respect for God should make us try to be completely holy in the way we live.” - 2 Corinthians 7:1

“So we should be thankful because we have a kingdom that cannot be shaken. And because we are thankful, we should worship God in a way that will please him. We should do this with respect and fear…” - Hebrews 12:28

“Knowledge begins with fear and respect for the LORD, but stubborn fools hate wisdom and refuse to learn.” - Proverbs 1:7

“Never envy evil people, but always respect the LORD.” - Proverbs 23:17

“The LORD'S holy people should fear and respect him. Those who respect him will always have what they need.” - Psalm 34:9

Next time you’re feeling afraid, try one of these out! Tell God how great He is and watch your mind become consumed in awe as your fears flee. Worship wherever you are and see how it shifts the whole atmosphere. Seek knowledge and wisdom in God’s word, make yourself pure, respect God, and watch how He provides, not what you want, but what you need.

So again, fear of God excludes fear of anything else, because God is bigger than everything else, and He’s in control of it all. If that’s not a comfort, I don’t know what is.

I’m not going to lie, I had way too much fun looking up scripture for the post, which is why there’s way more than normal. But hey! Even this just skims the surface of what God’s word says about fear, why we don’t need to be afraid and what it means to fear Him. I promise, you don’t have to look very far to find a passage about fear in the bible - it’s been a natural part of the human condition since Creation. I challenge you to go searching for more and see what you learn from it!