Does fearing God make me smarter... or is it just smart to fear God?

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge." Proverbs 1:7

You know what I love? A warm, welcoming, loving God who leads me tenderly.

You know what makes me uncomfortable? A Holy God who stirs fear in my heart.

You know what I find in the Bible? Both.

In the name of all that is rational and logical, how can that even be true? My head hurts. I feel confused and shaken. My mind is spinning like Marty McFly upon the realization that his mom had a crush on him before he was born. Things just don't feel right in the universe. How could I fear the one whom I love? Better yet, "Why should I fear the one who loves me?"

The thing is, God is both. He is tender and He is unwavering. He is both merciful and just. His relationship to us is personal and singular in nature and yet He offers that relationship to all people. Ehhh... still having some trouble keeping up? Me too.

I've been adopted into God's family by the grace of His Son Jesus and I've known Him on a personal level since I was fifteen. He has held me tenderly in times of heartache and He has rescued me from times of certain disaster. We have danced together in the sheer joy of His love and He has buoyed me as I stepped out on faith. He has spoken to my heart in the stillness of the night and He has called me back home after seasons away. My relationship with Him is personal. I am walking with God and pressing on toward the goal but I am still growing in that relationship, and an area that I am growing in is fearing God.

I know it sound odd. How can fear be an area of growth? Fear is negative, fear is something that we spend time fighting... or at least avoiding. A relationship with God should help us avoid fear, not introduce fear - what gives? I think that the obstacle is wrapped up in the one word, "fear". So let's leave that behind for just a moment.

Let me put it another way, I have not spent a significant amount of time or energy diving into the fullness of God. In fact, I have spent most of my life diving into the ways in which God can make me full.

I have benefited from His unending mercy and grace and my life is full because of Him. In fact, I am forgiven and free. Still, there is so much more to be had in God and the deeper dive is found in forgetting self. Leaving self behind is accomplished by realizing who God is and who I am not. When we begin to realize who God is, we begin to realize that He is Holy, He is powerful, He is all-consuming. In short, He is God, and we are not.

"In God, you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that- and, therefore, know yourself as nothing in comparison- you do not know God at all. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you." C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Are we looking down or are we looking up? When we look up, we see God who "shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb" (Job 38:8) or God whose very presence alongside Moses on Mt. Sinai almost obliterated Moses into manna crumbs. (Ex. 33:15-23). His robe alone is enough to fill the temple (Is. 6:1), just the voices of those who surround him are loud enough to cause an earthquake in the temple (Is. 6:4). When we look up, we see a God who is the beginning and the end (Rev. 1:8). He is the essence of perfection and power. How could you not fear God?

The wisest man who ever lived said that if you desire knowledge, fear the Lord. (Proverbs 1:7)

But then the Bible continually says, 'Do not fear'. Some folks say that this phrase appears 365 times in the Bible- one reminder for every day of the year. That could certainly be true- this phrase appears numerous times. So how can the Bible say, "do not fear", but oh yeah... "fear"? It's that word again. Proverbs 1:7 is not about terror or fright. We have to dig deeper.

I was blessed to grow up with good parents and I always felt safe, but it was certainly not because they fed me chocolate cake when I broke the rules. My parents believed in the punishment fitting the crime. Because of that, there were many painful experiences that were to the benefit of my growth as a young man. There were moments of anxiety waiting for my dad to come home to face the music. There were many times I knew that the experience would hurt, but I knew my dad would never hurt me. If this was not true in your house, know that you are loved by a good and perfect Heavenly Father who would never seek to do you harm but will walk with you through the pain. I was never frightened of my dad, but I did respect and admire him.

When Solomon tells us to fear the Lord, he is speaking of reverence. He is reminding us to stand in awe of the Lord. When is the last time that we looked at God in awe? (Take a moment here.) When did you last get short of breath during prayer after engaging deeply with God?

How long has it been since you took in a sunset, a sunrise, the stars in the night sky, the detail on the back of a ladybug or the beauty displayed on the petals of a flower and you were drawn to reflect on how incredible the creator must be?

Wake up- here's where it gets good!

God is absolutely worthy of our fear, He does as He pleases when He pleases (Psalm 115:3), but - listen closely now- He is not in need of our terror. If we were His enemy, our terror would be justified. But Jesus died for us and God loved us before we were even aware of the magnitude of that gift. Even more- even while we were against God... even when we cursed Him... even when we said that Christ could never love someone like us... when we acted like His enemy, God loved us. (Romans 5:9-11)

And get this! God's wrath, (you know, the thing that we should fear; the thing that should consume us), was poured out on his own son. The one who should have given the punishment, instead received the punishment. The one who should have exacted terror on His people, instead accepted the terror on behalf of His children. (Romans 3:21-26)

That means, in God's goodness and mercy, He transformed the one thing that we fear the most: Death.

Instead of holding death over our heads as the punishment for guilty sinners, God used the cross of Christ as the gateway to paradise. (1 Cor. 15: 55-57)

To see God as superior, holy and worthy of all praise brings us to an understanding of who God is. To have understanding of who God is brings us a deeper joy in the grace that has been showered upon us.

Truly, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge."

If you feel like there is a hole in your heart and you would like to know God, then ask Jesus Christ to come into your life right now. God loves you. Jesus died for you- so that you could be part of God's family. Admit your sin to Him - admit that you're empty - and ask Him to come into your life now and fill you up. Ask Him to be your Lord. Amen.

If you prayed that prayer- or one like it- let us know. Contact us and we can direct you on where to go from here.

wes@cross2community.com

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