Fearing God
We talk about this struggle constantly. It comes up in Bible study, in small group discussion, one on one counseling, from the pulpit, and most piercing: in the quiet of the night as we are alone with our own thoughts, ….the struggle for who has our heart, who holds our highest affection, who is at the highest in our hearts. People or God.
Fear and high affection go hand in hand. I think I would be safe to say we all understand what “fear of man” produces…
It leaves us exhausted
It seems like it’s never-ending, never fully quenched (of course not, bc every single person has a different expectation)
It’s driven by insecurity and cultivates insecurity
It actually repels, doing just the opposite of what our very hearts long for: to be loved, to be accepted, to be liked, to be praised
…and we could go on and on.
“The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.”
The word fear here is “extreme anxiety, quaking, trembling” - boy, does that ever sound right!
Listen to this beautiful ironic verse found in Proverbs 14:26,
“In the fear of the LORD one has strong confidence, and his children will have refuge.”
The word fear here is “exceeding fear, reverence, dreadful”.
The words “fear” in these 2 verses are very different. The fear God instructs us to have for Him is NOT the fear of Proverbs 29:25.
The fear God instructs us to have toward Him is not asphyxiating, it brings LIFE, but the enemy would have us to believe the opposite.
This is gorgeous irony….
That the God of the universe would bring such an exchange - that when we will place our highest affection, our highest regard in Him, when we fear Him above ALL else, it would cultivate and produce in our very lives a strong confidence?!
We live anxious lives and crave security, we crave peace, we crave a trust. So often our highest affection lies in fearing man. So often we spend our days chasing the wind. I will stand first in this list. It brings just what the Scriptures say: a snare (“noose, hook”). It does not bring peace.
Help us Lord! We are desperate. We live frantic. We need peace. For so many of us, we want to be able to truthfully say and truthfully know, that we fear God above all else. His Word is what we desperately need.
A prayer I prayed a long time ago was this: “God, make me to crave Your Word more than that first cup of coffee when I wake up in the morning” because I DON’T.
His Word has the power to do transformations in us, to change our hearts, to cultivate a fear of God in a way the enemy knows and fights against using the his diabolic weapons of ‘distraction’ and ‘business’.
Help us Lord, to recognize this and to fight to know You more, that our highest affection would be toward You and You alone.
