The vast majority of Christians think “Fear of God” is very much desirable for Christians. That is far from the truth.
Many Christians think that if you love God, it’s enough. That is also far from the truth. “Fear of God” is a necessity for all Christians.</span?
It is the awe-inspired reverence, obedience, and worship of God that goes with loving God. Without “Fear of God,” you cannot truly Love God as is required by the commandments. Read further and discover these and other insights on “fear of God”
Seek to grow in this diligently, on a daily basis.
The benefits are simply greatly rewarding and beautiful.
A few important aspects of the fear of God are given below. Click on the topic that interests you and read.
1. Which are the popular verses on the fear of God?
2. What is the difference between the spirit of fear and the fear of God?
3. What does the Bible say about fear of God?
4. Can one “Love God” and still have “Fear of God”?
5. How can we hate evil? How to change our lives?
1. Which are the popular verses on the fear of God?
We know that the fear of God:
is the beginning of wisdom. (Proverbs 9:10)
prolongs life. (Psalm 34:12)
As these are great advantages, it’s important to understand it and grow in this fear!
First, let us read the scripture verses as given in the Bible.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. (Proverbs 9:10 NKJV)
The connection with wisdom is known to many, as it is mentioned directly within the verse. Whereas the connection between wisdom and long life is not known to only a few. It can only be known if we read a few verses together.
Come, you children, listen to me;
I will teach you to fear the Lord [with awe-inspired reverence and worship Him with obedience].
Who is the man who desires life
And loves many days, that he may see good?
Keep your tongue from evil
And your lips from speaking deceit.
Turn away from evil and do good;
Seek peace and pursue it. (Psalm 34:11-14 NKJV)
As you read the above verses carefully, you can know that the fear of God leads to long life, such that he/she sees good…
It points out that the fear of God:
a) keeps your tongue from evil
b) keeping one’s lips from speaking lies
c) turning away from evil and instead leading to doing good
d) seek peace and eagerly pursue and follow peace!
He will fulfil the desire of those who fear Him.
He will also hear their cry and save them. (Psalm 145:19 NKJV)
Yes, you rightly read, our God will fulfil the desire of those who fear Him.
Isn’t the assurance of God hearing the cry of those who fear him
2. What is the difference between the spirit of fear and the fear of God?
Fear of God is good is clearly mentioned above. Grow in it.
Fear of God is a treasure. Increase it.
Wisdom and knowledge will be the stability of your times, And the strength of salvation; The fear of the Lord is His treasure. (Isaiah 33:6 NKJV)
Fear of God is the delight of Jesus Christ. Thus, it’s an important attribute to desire greatly. His delight is in the fear of the Lord, And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, Nor decide by the hearing of His ears; (Isaiah 11:3 NKJV)
A person with Fear of God is drawn near to God, drawn to a closer relationship with God.
But as for me, I will come into Your house in the multitude of Your mercy;
In fear of You, I will worship toward Your holy temple. (Psalm 5:7 NKJV)
We read from this verse that Fear of God draws us near to Him, to worship Him.
Whereas, Adam and Eve, after they sinned, were afraid of God and hid from the presence of God!
When a person does not fear God and disobeys His commandments, they sin. They are separated from God.
The people of Israel had an opportunity to encounter God as Moses did when he came down from the mountain. They were afraid of God and did not want to be in the presence of God. They dreaded the presence of God. Then they said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.” (Exodus 20:19 NKJV) When Moses went to the mountain, they went into idolatry. Being afraid of God, from the ‘spirit of fear’, they were drawn away from God.
Whereas ‘fear of God’ always draws a person near to God. Fear of God is a reverential and loving fear of God.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego trusted God and feared Him only (feared only God). They choose not to bow to any other. Fear of God and trusting God go hand in hand. It makes a person fear no one else. When these three boys were thrown into a fiery furnace, they were not burned or hurt. God and his angels protected them.
Daniel chose to pray to God rather than obey a law of that kingdom that forbade the people in the kingdom from praying to God. Daniel feared God and feared God alone. Fear of God gave him boldness. Even when he was thrown into the lion’s den, he was protected by God.
3. What does the Bible say about fear of God?
It’s a clear and direct instruction.
Fear God. Do not fear man.
A person can sin and displease God. The consequence of sin is separation from God.
After Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they feared God. When God came to the garden, Adam and Eve hid from God as they were aware of their sin and nakedness.
When Moses went up to the mountain, the Israelites feared God after they heard the thunder and lightning. In both these instances, God did not want man to stay away from God.
Proverbs 8:13 says. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way. And the perverse mouth I hate. Perverse speaking is deliberately deviating from what is regarded as normal, good, or proper. It is persistently holding to what is wrong. So one needs to hate pride, arrogance, evil ways, and perverse speech.
One should not tolerate these behaviours within oneself. The hatred and intolerance should be extreme. Since God hates it, we should be intolerant of this behaviour. Only self-examination in God’s presence will reveal these weaknesses within ourselves. When we seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance, He can help us identify instances.
Jesus Christ clearly mentions that the fear of God alone is required. Read Mathew 10:26-28 “But don’t be afraid of those who threaten you. For the time is coming when everything that is covered will be revealed, and all that is secret will be made known to all. What I tell you now in the darkness, shout abroad when daybreak comes. What I whisper in your ear, shout from the housetops for all to hear!
“Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
We need to fear God only. This verse gives a powerful instruction that we do not have to fear man, nor to fear any sickness, adverse circumstances, or even evil. Rather, we need to trust only in God. Never leaning on our understanding and having an awe-inspired fear of God only. Empowered with this truth, we can walk in freedom from every lie of the enemy. Knowing that our God is Lord. He reigns and rules over all our lives all the time!
4. Can one “Love God” and still have “Fear of God”?
The Bible points to the 10 commandments, given in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. The lawyer, a Pharasee, asked Jesus which is the great commandment. He who was expected to know this was most likely testing Jesus.
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”
37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. (Matthew 22:36-38 NKJV)
Following the first commandment may sound simple, but it’s important to understand that it mentions loving God with all of our heart, all of our soul, and all of our mind. When I examine my life, I find that I am far away from obeying this great commandment.
When we truly love God, we obey His commandments. The following verses clearly mention this in black and white. Obedience to Gods – His commandments and His will is a clear sign of loving God.
“If you love Me, keep My commandments.” (John 14:15 NKJV)
“He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him. (John 14:21 NKJV)
“If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.” (John 15:10 NKJV)
As we concluded, loving God requires obedience.
Now let us find out about the “fear of God”. We know fear of God and Wisdom are closely related from the verse below.
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. ( Proverbs 9:10 NKJV)
We also know that wisdom is to obey the laws and commandments.
5 “Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess. 6 Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ (Deuteronomy 4:5,6 NKJV)
We also read that the wise person and the wise son obey laws/instructions from the following verses.
“The wise in heart will receive commands, But a prating fool will fall”. (Proverbs 10:8 NKJV)
“A wise son heeds his father’s instruction, But a scoffer does not listen to rebuke”. (Proverbs 13:1 NKJV)
Thus Wisdom is to obey commandments.
Also, Loving God means to walk in obedience.
Fear of God encourages us to obey commandments, which comes from truly loving God.
Thus Loving God and Fear of God go hand in hand.
These relationships are covered in the Bible and we can find that love and fear go hand in hand in these relationships. As children, we love our parents, while still having a loving and reverential fear of them. Married people quite often say they love their spouse, yet still maintain a loving fear of their spouse. A fear that guides them into a stronger relationship, making certain that both of them follow the commandments relating to marriage.
5. How can we hate evil? How to change our lives?
Understanding evil from the perspective of the verses in the Bible will clarify this.
Exodus 20:3-5 says that we should not have any other God. “You shall have no other gods before Me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me.
Giving God Lordship over our lives is necessary in making the powerful verse transformative of our faith and life. Reflecting on this verse in the presence of the Holy Spirit will help us to observe this command with greater understanding.
This is a progressive journey. In the beginning, we may feel we are already at the destination. But as we press on, we get to understand the need for change in the way we consider situations and matters in our lives. When we spend time in the presence of the Lord, the Holy Spirit will highlight the existence of fear in our lives, which God does not want us to have. By the abundant love of Jesus Christ, we can come from this kind of fear. In its place, we begin to trust in God.
Thus, we grow in our journey towards our destination of fearing only God. This way, we get into a process, a journey of growing in the fear of God.
Loving God involves all of our heart, all of our soul, and all of our mind. Jesus replied, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ (Matthew 22:37) This necessarily implies hating what God hates with all of our heart, all of our soul and all of our mind.
