What Is Fear Of The Lord?

If one wants to gain real insight to God, it begins with fear of the Lord (Prov. 1:7). If you want wisdom from God, you must have fear of the Lord (Prov. 9:10). Our walk with God relates directly to our fear of the Lord. I am seeing more and more stressing away from the fear of the Lord. Look at our assemblies, the number that want to entertain through drama and other external means to try to motivate people. We are loosing the fear of the Lord and when one looses that, we will cease to be honored by God's presence. Just ask Uzziah, King of Judah (II Chron. 26:16-21). What is fear of the Lord? What does it mean?

Some place fear of the Lord as afraid, like a cowering away from because of danger. That's not the fear of the Lord. Fear of the Lord is a reverence, a high respect and regard for another. Jesus said, "Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matt. 10:28) Man is incapable of harming our souls but God is able to harm the body and the soul and because of His power and might, we need to fear Him, reverence Him, knowing His position over us. He alone holds our destiny. In Malachi, the Lord spoke plainly about the honor that sons showed their fathers and servants their masters but they show little regard for God in their worship to Him. They respected their governors but no respect for God in their sacrifices. God warned with the attitudes they held, treating Him as less than common man, they would ask Him for His favor and to be gracious? Would He accept any of them kindly? (Mal. 1:9-10) They had no fear of the Lord and God states He will not accept their worship and curse them because of their lack of reverence for Him.

Several years back, while living in West Virginia, we went to Charleston, the state capital to visit the governors grounds. While in the library, several plain clothed officers came in, looking around at each of us. In a few moments, Governor Jay Rockefeller walked in. There was complete silence in the room as he walked over to us, shook our hands and visited with us. Everyone stood in awe as we were in the presence of the Governor. That was reverence and respect for an office of a powerful man. What about God? We come into the assemblies with a half hearted approach, handing out coffee and donuts like we were at the movies, looking like we just came in from a walk in the park with our shorts and sandals on. Reverence and respect for the Lord is tainted and lost. I am not dictating attire. I am speaking of how we approach a holy and powerful God! WE ARE THE BODY OF JESUS, not some show or a movie theatre! How many of us, if we were in the presence of the President would be sloppy in our dress, cutting up and joking, slapping him on the back and acting like we were in the presence of some ordinary person? We would never do that! What about God? He is more powerful than anyone in the entire universe and yet we treat our worship of Him like some type of common person holding an entertaining production so we can be moved. Our daily lives have lost sight of whose presence we stand in. We have lost the fear of the Lord. You loose fear of the Lord and the Lord's word becomes less important but psychology, relaxation, fun stories and the like become central. When that High Priest under the Law of Moses entered the Holy of Holies, there wasn't hooting and hollering going on. There was a sincere, heart felt sense of awe and reverence as the worshipers outside stood in prayer, waiting for the High Priest to emerge with words of acceptance. That Roman soilder that stood before the cross at the death of Jesus exclaimed without any form of entertainment, "Truly this was the Son of God!" What he witnessed led him to the fear of the Lord! He has the ability to save and destroy!!!

The Hebrew writer reminds us that the Lord is going to shake this earth, the created things but the things which cannot be shaken will remain (Heb. 12:27). We have received from the Lord a kingdom which cannot be shaken! What are we to do? "...let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire." (Heb. 12:28-29) Reverence and awe is a great description of fear of the Lord. That is what is missing in many of the people of God today. When Moses encountered God at the burning bush (Ex. 3), he was instructed to remove his sandals because he was standing on holy ground. Moses hid his face and realized he was standing in the presence of the Lord God Almighty and it was not in the presence of ordinary man. God's presence made it holy and Moses showed great reverence and awe as he stood in fear of the Lord. What about us? Do we really see ourselves in the presence of this Almighty powerful Lord who holds our eternal destiny in His hand? Our salvation was not cheap and the lack of fear of the Lord cheapens the death of Jesus that allows us fellowship with our God. With the lack of reverence in our worship, we take the precious blood of Jesus that purchased us and turn it into something less than our Lord God intended. People want to be moved in their worship! People want to be motivated! You can do it through man's way with the entertainment mode or you can fall before our holy God, knowing you were not redeemed with perishable things. The heart of God is in His Son and only by His Son are we allowed into His presence. We need to show some reverence and awe for standing in the presence of our powerful, loving, holy God!