What is it that you fear? We fear many things if we are honest with ourselves. See if you do not fear these things:

– We fear death.

– We fear going bankrupt.

– We fear getting hurt.

– We fear growing old.

– We fear losing our loved ones.

– We fear being shamed.

– We fear being forgotten.

– We fear God.

If you want to know what you fear, think about how you have protected yourselves against your fears being realized. We invest in retirement because we fear going bankrupt, for example. We exercise because we fear premature death. We buy cars with latest safety equipment because we fear getting hurt or even death. And then we fear God. We go to church and give offering to not incur his wrath…

Our problem is not that we do not fear the Lord (we do), but that we fear many other things. Of course, it’s natural to fear all those things, but our supreme fear must be that of the Lord. He cannot be just one of many things we fear. He must be the greatest fear we have, for He is the only one who can condemn us to hell forever and also make all other fears realized (or not realized).

In the Old Testament, the nations around Israel feared the Lord, which is good! However, they also feared many other gods. Therefore, they worshipped multiple gods – the true God being only one of them: “So these nations feared the Lord and also served their carved images.” 2 Kings 17:41. 

We do good to fear the Lord. However, we must make sure that that fear must rule all other fears as supreme. Our fear of the Lord ought to make us behave, feel, conduct ourselves in a certain way that we wouldn’t if He weren’t there.

PH