To Fear Is To Live

The Bible is flowing with scripture that tells us that we should fear the Lord. There is Deut. 6:13: Fear the LORD your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. (NIV), 1 Samuel 12: 24 But be sure to fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you. (NIV), 2 Chronicles 19:7 Now let the fear of the LORD be upon you. Judge carefully, for with the LORD our God there is no injustice or partiality or bribery. (NIV), Luke 12:5 But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. (NIV), Revelation 14:7 He said in a loud voice, "Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water." (NIV) This particular word is written approximately 400 times and additional references made through others. So what does it mean exactly? I have had ideals of this word to only mean: reverence, and awe towards God, but upon farther investigation in The Word and through the Holy Spirit I am understanding it to mean: a sense of impending danger, to be alarmed in such a way to cause a changed course.

In our society today, many rely on the compassionate side of God. They say and do things they know are wrong because they have been taught that we have a kind and forgiving God. And yes that is true, but only to an extent. He is also a just and Holy God and requires that we live a righteous and pure life. In our “outer living” that can only be done part of the time because our actions are intertwined with other people and we are sinful by nature. Therefore it is impossible to remain righteous in action 100%. However, our hearts are to remain pure and focused on God at all times so that the power we pull from comes from the interaction with God and our daily relationship in Him. This will allow us to hear The Spirit more clear when trouble arises and will pull us back when we start to fall. This cannot happen if a life is continually seeking self-motives and ignoring the truths that God has given.

Another term that has recently caught my eye is “hardened hearts”. We see the idea appear in Geneses 4 from Cain after he realized that God wasn’t happy with his offering and in Exodus 17 when the Israelites’ unbelief demanded more. Then there are the disciples that questioned Jesus in Mark 6:52 and again in Mark 8:17. The connections between these two ideas are simple. When we fear the Lord, we rely on the promise that we will not let our hearts harden. He promises to give strength to the weak and protect those who keep His Word. But our part in the process is to believe that we must have complete and total faith in the wrath part of Him as well. He will let our heart be overtaken by our desires if we trust in them more then in Him. The fear is our insurance policy that when sin comes knocking at our door, He will not allow our hearts to become hardened because we are more frightened of the disconnect and the consequences that will come soon after.

God has allowed each of us another day today, which is the perfect opportunity to turn from whatever is coming between a fulfilled life and us. He gave some of His children in scripture the “warning bells” needed to return and seek where they had drifted. Some chose to listen and others allowed the hardened process to continue until they reached their demise. I ask…where are you in this process? Are you tucked safely under His wing or are you drifting in the wind? It is not to late to return now but who knows if you will have another tomorrow. Each will be judge accordingly on their judgment day and all we know for sure is that it is drawing nearer each second we let pass by.

Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before:
"Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts." Hebrews 4:7 (NIV)