A Little Scared?
Then you will discern the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God. Proverbs 2:5 NASB
Fear – In Hebrew the word is yare. The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (TWOT) tells us that this word is used in five different senses: 1) the emotion of being afraid, 2) the anticipation of evil without emotion, 3) reverence or awe, 4) religious piety and 5) formal religious worship. What confusion this causes when one English word translates so many different concepts. When we read the Old Testament, how often do we come across this phrase “fear of the LORD” and think to ourselves, “What can this possibly mean? Why should fear be the basis of my relationship to God?” Of course, those questions come from having only one word in English to express all these different concepts.
But there is a sense in which fear is the basis of all of our interaction with God. We see this when the people reacted to one of Yeshua’s miracles of healing. They were afraid. Often they wanted Yeshua to leave them alone. In spite of their recognition that God was acting in startling ways right in front of them, they could not cope with the situation. This gives us a clue to understanding what fear has to do with our reactions to God. Just for a moment, think about this: God made everything. Everything actually stays in existence from one second to the next because God sustains everything. God is in control of everything. God has a purpose for everything. And God will judge everything by His standard. Now imagine that this one insignificant, temporary, finite, fragile being called me stands before the God of everything. This is not like meeting a friend or even a stranger. This is meeting the One who is all-powerful, all-knowing and everywhere at once. The One who for His own reasons could, if He chose, wipe away my existence and the existence of everything else with a single thought. If that doesn’t give you a little bit of fright, then you probably haven’t taken it to heart. Is it any wonder that anyone who came into contact with this God fell to the ground trembling?
The truly amazing fact of Scripture is that this God, whom I rightly fear, actually wants me to love Him. More amazing still is that He loves me. He is not out to get me. He really wants to care for me. Who could be better at that than God? The flip side of my fear of the Lord is the statement, “If God is for us, whom shall we fear?”
Sometimes I think we have heard the “God is love” theology so much that we forget just how big God is. The Bible warns us that it is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Maybe we need to get a good dose of fear before Him. Respect, awe and honor are all tied to falling on our faces when we confront the living God. We might be a good deal more serious about all this if we first realize how fearful the living God could be. Sometimes I wonder if worship shouldn’t begin with trembling rather than hand-clapping. Sometimes I fear that we aren’t afraid at all.
Topical Index: fear, yare, Proverbs 2:5
Malachi 4
16 Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored his name.
17 “On the day when I act,” says the LORD Almighty, “they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him. 18 And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.
Great word Skip! When the Church goes back to observing Torah as prescribed by Hashem, in His order, then, the fear of the Lord will return to the Church.
17 “On the day when I act,” says the LORD Almighty, “they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him. 18 And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.
Hi Robin,
For me the passage from Malachi above seems very “Christian”
Great faith overcomes fear
As much as I like Malachi 4, it is difficult for me to relate to, as a man of little faith
It makes me think of Mother Theresa wandering around in the very dangerous Indian slums
I would be scared to death
Observing the Torah, the presence of God, tends to calm my fears, but it is not easy to do
Everyday life brings more than enough anxiety for me to focus clearly on God most of the time
Yes, I understand your point Michael, but I have a question. Do you study Torah? and in what way do you study? The reason I’m asking is in my experience, most Christians think that reading the Old Testament is Torah study. Not exactly. True, it is the Old Testament, (all of it) but it is set in G-d’s timing. This really makes a HUGE difference when you start to study. You learn so much more than anything that comes from a Sunday morning pulpit and it does not take great intellect, only a willing spirit….as Rabbi Noah Weinberg (OBM0) use to say…anyone can learn Torah…you can go as deep as you want…just do it! Torah is called the Blueprint of Life..it gives you practical ways to deal with everyday life ..most important is to study and observe on the moadeem (appointed time) of G-d.
Michael, I’m not sure if you are familiar with the counting of the Omer, but today is day 9, and it seems to go along with your statement..”Observing the Torah, the presence of God, tends to calm my fears, but it is not easy to do
Everyday life brings more than enough anxiety for me to focus clearly on God most of the time”
Daily Omer meditation
Day 9 — Gevurah of Gevurah: Discipline in Discipline
Examine the discipline factor of discipline: Is my discipline reasonably restrained or is it excessive? Do I have enough discipline in my life and in my interactions? Am I organized? Is my time used efficiently? Why do I have problems with discipline and what can I do to enhance it? Do I take time each day for personal accounting of my schedule and accomplishments?
Exercise for the day: Make a detailed plan for spending your day and at the end of the day see if you’ve lived up to it.
Michael, I’m not sure if you are familiar with the counting of the Omer
Make a detailed plan for spending your day and at the end of the day see if you’ve lived up to it
Hi Robin,
Well counting the Omer is not one of those things that my memory retains very easily 🙂
But the Sefirat Ha’omer, Hebrew: ספירת העומר
Makes me think of the Odyssey of Homer, which is one of my favorite sefers
Speaking of plans, I’m supposed to come up with an important one for work this weekend
But I have my kids to watch after with my wife out of town and now my dog Max is very ill
He is in the dog hospital, which makes me very sad and tends to distract me from my detailed plan
On page 10 of the Sefer Yetzirah two important points are made for me on a personal level
The Nativ is referred to as a “personal” path as opposed to the Netivot
The other is:
Li
La
Lo
Nabokov must have played on the first and third of the letters
When naming the fictional love of his life
Lo Li Ta
The little girl who ended up naing the foolish old professor to a cross
oops I meant “nailing” the foolish old professor to a cross
oops actually I meant Derekh as opposed to Nativ
A lovely confirmation of what the Lord has been convicting me of as late. To have no fear of God before one’s eyes is repeatedly given as a characteristic of the wicked. My heart quakes at the thought of losing the fear I have and I pray that the Lord would increase my fear of Him. I, too, marvel at the thought that He desires to call us His own. A mystery, indeed. I love the words of David in Psalm 36.
Isn’t it interesting that our culture exhibits the spill over effect of no fear of the Lord in the contemporary phenomenon of children who no longer fear displeasing or humiliating their parents. Do you suppose the two are connected?
Yes! Our relationships with God – often mirror those we have with spouses/parents/ect.
I remember this guy,… who did a lot of naughty things – he said he was looking for a woman who would love him for who he was. What he really seemed to want was someone who would love him, do everything for him, but let him do whatever he pleased.
Do we look for the same in God? Is there a theology that fits this profile?
The evangelical community that preaches a God of love without a God of fear and obedience is responsible for one of the greatest heresies ever invented. A theology of grace divorced from a theology of obligation makes hesed a farce. We might believe we a representing the God of the Bible when we tell others that God loves you just as you are, but unless we also tell them that God demands changes in your life once you accept His love, we have done nothing more than promote a convenient spiritual fiction.
Entitlement theology – God as the spoiling grandparent. Love means that ultimately, I get what I want.
Can this theology stem, at least partially, from a lack of faith that God CAN actually change our nature, our innermost being? Afterall, if we can’t really change fundamentally towards righteousness – then God must still accept us anyways right?
Is this linked to belief in Christ’s physical resurrection? Afterall, if He really was raised from the dead — how can we believe that, yet deny that God can make us into something new?
I might suggest that the theological problems do not stem from a lack of faith that God can change our nature but rather from the teaching that our “nature” is completely depraved to begin with. The Jewish view of Man as the crossroads of the two impulses allows me to understand the place of God’s reinforcements and the guidance of the Spirit and still recognize that I am the one who choses and that I can choose badly even after I know the truth. The idea of sinful nature suggests that even if I choose what is good it has no value while I am a sinner. This seems contrary to all that I know about human choice and about the image of God in men. But this theology allows me to provide an excuse when I am in a “sinful” state.
I certainly agree and the effects are bound to spill into every facet of these young peoples’ lives (much like the fellow described by Gabe). I read an online article about a month ago that was written in response to a teacher speaking out about the way he was treated in a school here in New Zealand. At the end of the article, the writer simply put a thought out as a conclusion. He wrote (roughly): 50 years ago, children were taught that the most important thing was to be obedient. Today, children are taught that they are special and to believe in themselves. Although this might sound “nice”, what this boils down to is that children are being taught that because they are special, they are entitled to do whatever they might dream up. Sadly, no parameters exist in that sort of thinking and the inevitable result is a society comprised of individuals each doing what is right in their own eyes.
no fear of the Lord in the contemporary phenomenon of children
Do you suppose the two are connected?
Hi Skip,
I think that contemporary American society is so far rmoved from the Hebrew worldview
That it would be surprising if children did show fear of the Lord