Learning the Fear of God
Psalm 34:9 states:
Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
When most people hear the phrase “fear of the Lord”, the image that comes to mind usually involves God executing judgment on those who do not properly give Him the respect that He deserves. To others, this phrase usually involves a fear of punishment, of hell, of wrath, and of damnation. For the sinner, this would be the proper way to understand the fear of the Lord because there is nothing but condemnation to those who have rejected Christ (cf. John 3:18, Romans 8:1) and to those who are coming to Christ, this sort of fear is usually the first work of the Law upon the conscience that brings a person to genuine repentance and living faith in Christ. However, for the believer, what is the fear of the Lord? Is it more than the fear of punishment by disobedience? From my meditations on the topic, the fear of the Lord is very much related to our fellowship and relationship with Christ.
Just as much as earthly fathers relate differently to their children when they young than when they are adults, so does Our Heavenly Father relate to us very differently when we are newborn babes in Christ than when we are mature in Christ. The expectation of an earthly father for their children when they are young is quite different than the expectation for their children when they grow older. Most small children cannot relate to their father in a deep, intimate way as when they become adults and since fathers know this, they have smaller and lesser expectations of the children. Our Heavenly Father treats us the same way when we are young in Christ and His major expectation of us when we are young is that we obey His commandments. When we are young, the depth of fellowship with our Father is initially very shallow because we are newborn in Christ and so, as little children, we relate to our Father by following the commandments that He gives us and trusting Him in the small matters that He presents us with. This is verified by the various statements that Jesus made to His disciples.
If you love Me, keep my commandments. John 14:15
He who has My commandments and keeps them, he is it who loves Me; and he who loves Me shall be loved by My father; and I will love him, and will disclose Myself to him. John 14:21
As small children in Christ, we understand what it means to reverence God by obeying His commandments in much the same way that small children please their fathers by obeying their instructions. As young believers, we show our reverence and honor for God by taking sin seriously and abstaining from it. As young believers in Christ, there is nothing wrong with this picture. However, it is our Father's desire that we relate to Him in a much deeper way than simply keeping ourselves pure from sin as we grow older in Christ. The problem is that our Father finds very few individuals who desire to relate to Him on a much deeper level. For many believers, their understanding of God is much more of a servant-master relationship than a father-child relationship and so the only way that they can show that reverence for Him is through obeying His instructions. For this reason, for many believers, living in the fear of the Lord becomes a source of dead works, which God rejects. The reverence that God desires is intimate fellowship. He desires a reverential affection and devotion to Him, not on the basis of impending punishment, but on the basis of loving Him and knowing Him as a Father. He desires a deep reverence that is founded on the reality that our life and our rest is established in Him. David was a man who understood this and to him, the holy fear of the Lord was much deeper:
The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant. Psalm 25:14
Like as a father pities his children, so the LORD pities those that fear him. Psalm 103:13
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments. Psalm 110:10
David knew that God's intimate thoughts and ways are with those who reverence Him deeply and furthermore, to the person who honors God in this way, He will show this person His covenant of abundant grace. This is an encouragement to those of us who desire to live in the fullness of the New Covenant. He will reveal to us the New Covenant life that Christ paid for us through His blood when we honor and reverence Him with our life. What is also very interesting is that usually Solomon is credited for saying “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”. However, this is first quoted by David, who is Solomon's father. This shows that Solomon probably learned aspects of God's nature and character from his father David and through observing the life that his father lived, Solomon can learn what it means to fear and honor God. I do not view this as a coincidence- Paul states in Ephesians that fathers should raise their children under the instruction and fear of the Lord (cf. Ephesians 6:4). Likewise, older believers should instruct younger believers to fear the Lord based on observing their life in God and not based on simply obeying various commandments.
It is statement worth repeating that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Every aspect of understanding spiritual matters and understanding God rest upon a proper reverence of the Lord. It is the foundation and basis of all spiritual activity and the root and source of our relationship with God. Unless a man understands this properly, all of the spiritual knowledge he gains will amount to nothing. A believer who does not understand the proper reverence of God will live his entire Christian life following Biblical instructions without any revelation of Christ or mature relationship with His Father. However, when one seeks to know and honor God in the proper way, he will discover that His Father will commune with Him and share His life with him. This man will discover God's intimate ways, in much the same way that Jesus knew the Father. Listen to the words of Jesus:
You are My friends, if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. John 15:15
This passage states that before the disciples became mature spiritually, Jesus called them slaves- meaning that Jesus hid many things from the disciples about our Father and gave them only the bare necessity to live spiritually. However, as the disciples began to walk more and more with Him, Jesus shared more and more of His heart to them, until the point where Jesus declares that they are His friends. This is the ultimate compliment to a believer- when God calls you His friend. To this person, God withholds nothing from Him, but freely and lavishly gives Himself to Him (because God has seen this person give all of himself to Him). Are you currently experiencing a spiritual life that appears to be limited in depth, but full of more and more knowledge? Then it is quite possible that you haven't understood how to reverence God properly. Our Father is searching the earth looking for those who will worship and reverence Him properly (cf. John 4:23). Do you still relate to God as a servant who attempts to honor Him only through works of obedience? If so, I suggest that you meditate on the reality that you are His child, not His slave. He desires more than just obedience from you... He desire fellowship with you and a living relationship with you. As the reader, I pray that you understand our Father's desire that you do not become satisfied with a servant relationship with Christ, but that you learn the fear of the Lord.
Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
When most people hear the phrase “fear of the Lord”, the image that comes to mind usually involves God executing judgment on those who do not properly give Him the respect that He deserves. To others, this phrase usually involves a fear of punishment, of hell, of wrath, and of damnation. For the sinner, this would be the proper way to understand the fear of the Lord because there is nothing but condemnation to those who have rejected Christ (cf. John 3:18, Romans 8:1) and to those who are coming to Christ, this sort of fear is usually the first work of the Law upon the conscience that brings a person to genuine repentance and living faith in Christ. However, for the believer, what is the fear of the Lord? Is it more than the fear of punishment by disobedience? From my meditations on the topic, the fear of the Lord is very much related to our fellowship and relationship with Christ.
Just as much as earthly fathers relate differently to their children when they young than when they are adults, so does Our Heavenly Father relate to us very differently when we are newborn babes in Christ than when we are mature in Christ. The expectation of an earthly father for their children when they are young is quite different than the expectation for their children when they grow older. Most small children cannot relate to their father in a deep, intimate way as when they become adults and since fathers know this, they have smaller and lesser expectations of the children. Our Heavenly Father treats us the same way when we are young in Christ and His major expectation of us when we are young is that we obey His commandments. When we are young, the depth of fellowship with our Father is initially very shallow because we are newborn in Christ and so, as little children, we relate to our Father by following the commandments that He gives us and trusting Him in the small matters that He presents us with. This is verified by the various statements that Jesus made to His disciples.
If you love Me, keep my commandments. John 14:15
He who has My commandments and keeps them, he is it who loves Me; and he who loves Me shall be loved by My father; and I will love him, and will disclose Myself to him. John 14:21
As small children in Christ, we understand what it means to reverence God by obeying His commandments in much the same way that small children please their fathers by obeying their instructions. As young believers, we show our reverence and honor for God by taking sin seriously and abstaining from it. As young believers in Christ, there is nothing wrong with this picture. However, it is our Father's desire that we relate to Him in a much deeper way than simply keeping ourselves pure from sin as we grow older in Christ. The problem is that our Father finds very few individuals who desire to relate to Him on a much deeper level. For many believers, their understanding of God is much more of a servant-master relationship than a father-child relationship and so the only way that they can show that reverence for Him is through obeying His instructions. For this reason, for many believers, living in the fear of the Lord becomes a source of dead works, which God rejects. The reverence that God desires is intimate fellowship. He desires a reverential affection and devotion to Him, not on the basis of impending punishment, but on the basis of loving Him and knowing Him as a Father. He desires a deep reverence that is founded on the reality that our life and our rest is established in Him. David was a man who understood this and to him, the holy fear of the Lord was much deeper:
The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant. Psalm 25:14
Like as a father pities his children, so the LORD pities those that fear him. Psalm 103:13
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments. Psalm 110:10
David knew that God's intimate thoughts and ways are with those who reverence Him deeply and furthermore, to the person who honors God in this way, He will show this person His covenant of abundant grace. This is an encouragement to those of us who desire to live in the fullness of the New Covenant. He will reveal to us the New Covenant life that Christ paid for us through His blood when we honor and reverence Him with our life. What is also very interesting is that usually Solomon is credited for saying “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”. However, this is first quoted by David, who is Solomon's father. This shows that Solomon probably learned aspects of God's nature and character from his father David and through observing the life that his father lived, Solomon can learn what it means to fear and honor God. I do not view this as a coincidence- Paul states in Ephesians that fathers should raise their children under the instruction and fear of the Lord (cf. Ephesians 6:4). Likewise, older believers should instruct younger believers to fear the Lord based on observing their life in God and not based on simply obeying various commandments.
It is statement worth repeating that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Every aspect of understanding spiritual matters and understanding God rest upon a proper reverence of the Lord. It is the foundation and basis of all spiritual activity and the root and source of our relationship with God. Unless a man understands this properly, all of the spiritual knowledge he gains will amount to nothing. A believer who does not understand the proper reverence of God will live his entire Christian life following Biblical instructions without any revelation of Christ or mature relationship with His Father. However, when one seeks to know and honor God in the proper way, he will discover that His Father will commune with Him and share His life with him. This man will discover God's intimate ways, in much the same way that Jesus knew the Father. Listen to the words of Jesus:
You are My friends, if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. John 15:15
This passage states that before the disciples became mature spiritually, Jesus called them slaves- meaning that Jesus hid many things from the disciples about our Father and gave them only the bare necessity to live spiritually. However, as the disciples began to walk more and more with Him, Jesus shared more and more of His heart to them, until the point where Jesus declares that they are His friends. This is the ultimate compliment to a believer- when God calls you His friend. To this person, God withholds nothing from Him, but freely and lavishly gives Himself to Him (because God has seen this person give all of himself to Him). Are you currently experiencing a spiritual life that appears to be limited in depth, but full of more and more knowledge? Then it is quite possible that you haven't understood how to reverence God properly. Our Father is searching the earth looking for those who will worship and reverence Him properly (cf. John 4:23). Do you still relate to God as a servant who attempts to honor Him only through works of obedience? If so, I suggest that you meditate on the reality that you are His child, not His slave. He desires more than just obedience from you... He desire fellowship with you and a living relationship with you. As the reader, I pray that you understand our Father's desire that you do not become satisfied with a servant relationship with Christ, but that you learn the fear of the Lord.
posted by The Emissary at
3:12 PM
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