Fearing God- A Quote

"The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge"

                 Proverbs 1:7                          

As I was reading about fearing God, I came across this quote:

“ that mingled fear and love which, combined, constitute the piety of man toward God; the OT places its emphasis on the fear, the NT...on the love, though there was love in the fear of God’s saints then, as there must be fear in their love now” (Vine's Expository Dictionary quoting Trench's New Testament's Synonyms-pg 230).

Love and fear have always been connected. They've always worked together to make us into whole people. Together (and only together really) our love for God and our reverent fear of Him press us toward His fullness and toward our good and right end—our ultimate goal-being made like Christ. 

Somewhere along the way we stopped allowing these two to be mingled. We want to focus more on the loving nature of our relationship with God, and not on the qualities of God that demand our profound respect. And that produces an arrogant people. Because without fear, we begin to think that God's love and mercy, His Grace, is our right. Without a healthy understanding and practice of Fearing God, we start acting entitled in our sin, annoyed in our suffering, lazy in our service. 

I experienced this over the past week. My home group at church is studying peace and what it means to really know peace with God and experience the peace of God. Romans 5 is one of the places we've been camping out. "Therefore since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand." vs 1-2

To have peace now means we were once at war with God. Tim Keller puts it like this: 

"When we disobey God, there are two things that happen. You not only break His law, but you assume the right or authority to do so; you claim kingship over yourself and your world. But God claims kingship over the same thing. Whenever two parties claim absolute (kingly) control over something, there is war."

How does this apply to fearing the Lord?

When I read about my peace with God, my gut reaction is this, "You bet there's peace with me and God! He is loving. He loves me. Christ died so I could be reconciled to Him. He has to be at peace with me." To get the full effect you need to imagine me saying that with a slightly smug, slightly annoyed look on my face. 

In my gunked up heart, I feel I have a right to peace with God because He is loving. But when I press myself toward fearing the Lord, toward this other, bigger understand of Him, then I am humbled and overwhelmed by this peace I have with God. I am deeply grateful to my big brother, Jesus, who ended the war between me and my good King. I am brought to the throne and I worship with tears and joy.