I grew up in the church. Literally. I think that my Mother gave birth to me on a pew. And I’m not joking, I actually believe that. I have no proof, but I know it’s the truth. Anyways, I was in church a lot. And I listened to boring preaching. A lot. Most of which I tuned out as I drew pictures of Batman on the Hymnals. That said, I remember hearing multiple preachers deliver sermons about the fear of God. They would all talk about the same concept; how fearing God is not being afraid of Him, it is simply being in awe of His presence. Then I would read the Bible and see that in any narrative where someone directly encountered God, they did not seem to only have this awe - but they are were stricken with terror. If you look, almost any time that an angel of the Lord reveals themselves, they say the words “do not be afraid.” Why would they say this to the people if they weren’t truly afraid? I don’t think that they would. Therefore, I propose that there has to be an element of terror in having a healthy fear of the Lord. In fact, the Hebrew root word of fear is Yirah; which means - 1) Terror 2) Awe / reverence. So terror is not an element of fearing God, it’s the definition.
Thinking the that fear of the Lord is not only awe/reverence, but also terror has been very eye opening for me. It has led me to the realization that the fear - terror - of the Lord should be the driving force in our lives (and ministries). A healthy fear of the Lord not only includes awe/reverence, but also terror. For clarity’s sake, I will refer to one as terror-fear, and the other as awe-fear. After processing through that I have realized that if I truly am terrified of God, then nothing on this earth should scare me. No trial, no temptation, no situation. God is bigger than them all, so if I fear Him, then I should not be afraid of anything else.
That led me to think of the distinction and correlation between faith and fear. I propose that faith is the externalization of our internal fear of God. When it comes to the nature of God, faith and fear are not opposites, but allies. When we truly fear God we are not afraid of anything else. So taking steps of faith becomes natural and almost easy for us, but only as long as we keep this perspective.
Therefore, when we face unexpected situations - or storms - in our lives, our battle is not against that situation, our battle is actually against perspective. When we lose perspective, we lose the battle. When we keep perspective, we win the battle. Situations are conquered by our ability to keep perspective, and that perspective is rooted in a healthy fear of the Lord.
That said, there is still another aspect in having a healthy fear of God. To be afraid of God is to be in awe of Him. If faith is the externalization of our internal terror-fear of God, then I propose that zeal is the externalization of our internal awe-fear of God. So to lack zeal for God is to lack awe-fear of Him. This is not as much a battle of perspective as it is a battle of consistence. If awe-fear of the driving force behind our zeal, then the more consistently we are in God’s presence, the more consistent our zeal for God will be. Think about it: the less that we seek the presence of God, the less consistent our zeal is for Him. Therefore, the opposite is true; the more we seek the presence of God, the more consistent our zeal is for Him. The externalization of our awe-fear is zeal.
With this in mind, we should be able to answer the question; “do I have a healthy fear of the Lord?” All you have to do to answer the question is look at your life. Do you lack faith? Do you lack zeal? To lack either of these areas is to lack fear.
