“Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord.” Acts 9:31
Note how peace, strength, encouragement in the Holy Spirit and growth in community all coincided with the people also living in the fear of the Lord.
One might protest that peace and fear cannot, in the popular current phrase, “co-exist.”
And yet, clearly they can—and have—to great benefit!
I read news reports on how technology has increased, not decreased, our sense of alienation and isolation from others.
Any community we do happen to belong to is framed now in the confines of a 3 by 5 inch window of Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter and Instagram.
Just sit and watch as people go by on a busy sidewalk and notice how many mothers are pushing strollers with iPhone in hand, or individuals are walking along with their heads down, engrossed in checking their text messages.
And yet, depression and suicide are on the rise. The opioid crisis doesn’t seem to be going away. And millennials are seeming to surprise everyone by being no different than those who came before them, smoking and drinking all the way.
A very well-known but apparently ignored nugget of wisdom is “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
The church in chapter nine of the Book of Acts broke the chain of insanity when they feared the Lord.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” Proverbs 9:10
Why?
Because fear of the Lord, properly understood, is respect (and we come to this conclusion by reading the Bible cover to cover).
Unfortunately, many people have a multitude of images and emotions that play across their inner movie screens when they hear the word fear: memories of haunted houses, scary movies, being home alone, and of overly strict, perhaps even abusive parents, schoolmasters, teachers, and other authority figures.
But to understand the fear of the Lord, one must look at the entirety of Scripture.
We see a differentiation between the fear of God and other human fears in Matthew 10:
“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign the members of his household!
Therefore do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops. 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. Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.” Matthew 10:24-31
This passage contains some of the most compassionate messages in Scripture: while indeed there is much to fear in the world, specifically, people who could hurt or even kill us, we are not to fear them because our fear of God is stronger.
How’s that?
Yes, we are to fear (awe, respect) the One who will reveal and make known all evil.
In the meantime, we are not to fear things and people in the world, but focus instead on listening to the Holy Spirit, and engaging with God’s Word, growing in grace and knowledge of Him, who is the caretaker and protector of not only our bodies, but our souls as well.
Many people end the reading or hearing of this passage at verse 28, the part about hell. That is merely a tactic to avoid a right understanding of Scripture in its full context so that they can self-righteously let themselves off the hook for having anything to do with the God of Christianity.
But the very next lines are, as I already mentioned, dripping with the compassion of God:
"Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.”
This is our “get out of the jail of fear free” card!
While many people grumble and “pooh-pooh” the idea of fearing God, preferring to instead create a God they can merely like, the God we are to fear frees us from all worldly fear!
Think of what you fear most.
Now think of all the little fears that pebble your walkway.
Now, why do humans go on in life having no problem, apparently, carrying all these worldly fears inside of them, and even participating in activities that make them fearful (we still drive in cars, go to work, read newspapers and watch the news, in spite of the fear these things elicit), when they won’t do the same for God?
It is because the fear we have of worldly things is a different kind of fear, and deep down we know it.
The fear of God is not the same fear as that of getting in a car accident. It is not the same fear as that of being shot on the sidewalk. It is not the same fear we have of our boss firing us at work. It is not the same fear of North Korea dropping a bomb on our neighborhood.
This illogical reaction to “the fear of God” is similar to the fact that every religious thought leader in history is intellectually accepted by almost everyone, and allowed to be discussed in almost any type of conversation, except for Christianity’s Jesus.
Try it once: bring up Buddha, Allah, the Dalai Lama, maharishis, Hindu Swami, etc. and everyone will intently draw close and murmur “Mmm, yes, quite interesting indeed.”
But bring up Jesus in a conversation and everyone suddenly has a need to clear their throats and find the restroom.
I digress.
But the fear of the Lord has a following like that.
Nobody wants to go there, so they don’t. And it results in them missing out on the compassionate freedom God is imploring us to receive as His gift to us: freedom from the daily fears that exhaust and overwhelm us and keep us awake at night.
"Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.”
God is saying here, “Fear me” and all your fears will recede. “Fear me,” the one who loves you more than anyone, and who can protect you and keep you even if the worst happens and your body ceases to walk the earth.
God knows when and why each sparrow falls. We are more valuable than sparrows: God knows when and why we fall, even at death. And He is there to catch us in His loving arms, here and now and there and then.
Why would a passage on fearing God also contain an overwhelming statement of His mercy and concern for us if our fearing Him meant being afraid of Him? It means we can fear Him in the sense of His power—in creation, in ongoing events, in each individual’s life—in the sense of His authority and economy—for our good and well being (not to be at all confused with prosperity).
“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgement; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19
Does that sound like a tyrant God—a God whose love for us gives us confidence—not fear— in the day of judgement through Christ?
David captures the compatibility of the fear and love of God in Psalm 23:
The LORD is my shepherd,
I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside quiet waters.
He retires my soul;
He guides me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You have anointed my head with oil;
My cup overflows.
Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” Psalm 23
This is the love for God which entails the proper fear of God. It is the love of God that in the fear of God resulted in this contritely spirited prayer of David after he sinned:
“Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness;
According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity
And cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions.
And my sin is ever before me.
Against You, You only, I have sinned
And done what is evil in Your sight,
So that You are justified when You speak
And blameless when You judge.” Psalm 51:1-4
Look, we already know, deep down, our transgressions.
And if we don’t discern them specifically, we know them, especially before we are saved, generally in a downtrodden, never ceasing attempt at self-actualization to make up for our vaguely or acutely perceived shortcomings.
As Christians, the Holy Spirit and God’s Word will delineate the ares in our life requiring attention. As Christians, we can go to God in contrition, knowing that He knows what we know and only He can make it right.
“Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me." Psalm 51:10
That is the proper fear, out of a deep and abiding love for God, that brings transformation to our hearts and minds. And it is what brought the transformation of an entire community in Acts 9 so that it “enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord.”
copyright Barb Harwood
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