For God’s family of faith the fear of the Lord on the resurrection side of the cross means respect, reverent wonder, and awe. It is the response of the soul to the majesty and glory of God that says, “Wow!”
Freed from the penalty of sin and transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light, our journey of discipleship is an invitation to explore the indescribable, unexplainable, and incredible majesty of God. Every day we should be amazed.
Rather than looking at God as a capricious sheriff, the fear of the Lord anticipates seeing something new and wonderful. The writer of Lamentations expressed it this way:
The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning (Lam. 3:22-23 NLT).
The apostle Peter takes the “wow” a step further in his second letter. He tells us that we are to diligently add to our faith such qualities as knowledge, self-control, perseverance, and godliness (2 Peter 1:5+). The biblical concept of godliness has at its root the fear of God. In a previous day it was also called piety.
Godliness can be described as “character and conduct determined by the principle of love and fear of God in the heart.”1 In earlier history it was called piety which Webster defines as a “compound (combination) of veneration or reverence of the Supreme Being and love of his character, or veneration accompanied with love.”2
In other words, godliness expresses reverence with holy living and affection/devotion. It is the response of the soul to the majesty and glory (“wow”) of God.
The implication from Peter’s challenge is that the fear of the Lord can and must be intentionally developed. In fact, we are charged with its development along with such obvious character traits as self-discipline and love.
Therefore, we must conclude that far from being an incidental option, the fear of the Lord is critical to our journey of discipleship. When understood and embraced, the fear of the Lord:
- Turns knowledge into wisdom
- Marveling at both His works and His ways
- Celebrating our dignity while retaining humility
- Seeing awe and wonder in life’s ordinary events
- Keeping a clear distinction between the Creator and His creation
- Accepts all of His revealed nature without distortion
- Preventing the love of God from trumping His holiness
- Keeping the Lion of Judah from becoming the genie of Aladdin
- Replacing embezzlement of His generous resources with stewardship
- Protecting the transcendence of God from being diminished by His imminence.
Reverent wonder seeks to know God as He is; not like we want Him to be. Too often we want God to fit into our mental box so we can manipulate Him for our advantage. We want a God we can control or at least one who is comfortable. We tend to ignore or minimize the traits of God that threaten our picture of what we want Him to be.
The godliness and reverent wonder that Peter refers to, seeks not only to know Him but to please Him. It is an attitude of grateful love and constant devotion. It is a response that honors, respects, and responds to the will of God (John 17:4 NASB).
When we are gripped by reverent wonder, we will be humbled; unable to defend our sinfulness or justify our self-centeredness. When the eyes of our soul see God revealed in his power, greatness, love, compassion, and creative genius, we can only stand in awe and humbly ask the same questions Paul asked when he saw the “wow” of Lord on the road to Damascus: “Who are you Lord, and what do you want me to do?”
If we want to gaze in reverent wonder at the nature of God, we have only to look at Jesus.
“In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word” (Hebrews 1:1-3).
Consider taking extended time to reflect on Christ in all the defining moments in His Story especially His ascension, coronation and final revelation (see TADB 17-22).
Several other ideas I have found helpful to increase awareness of the fear of the Lord:
- Reflect on God’s fingerprint in His design of the cosmos at both the micro and macro levels.
- Reflect on the touch of God in the defining moments of our own life stories.
- Study the lives of biblical characters as they experienced God’s patience, discipline, judgment and wrath as well as forgiveness, noting how the laws of the harvest (e.g. we reap what we sow) played out in their lives.
- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
- Webster dictionary 1828
Wow, Ron! This is exceptional, thanks for this insight, the wonder of God, amazing!
For a few years now I’ve been occasionally writing ahead at the top on my journal pages…”Who are you Lord, and what do you want me to do?” It reminds me to think about that in light of what’s been happening in my life or my prayer life. I agree that it’s easy to make God into what I want Him to be, but when I look at all His attributes it changes my perspective.
Thanks for your blog and the insights you give!