Today I’m still continuing a look at the fear of the Lord, with a brief conclusion. Tomorrow, I will wrap it up. If you haven’t been following these posts, you can start back at Sat. Jan. 7 for Let’s Start at the Very Beginning – or to some groundwork laid before that on the 5th and 6th.
For the non-Christian the fear of the Lord is truly, and rightfully, a very scarey thing (Luke 12:4-5). It is definitely not something they want to think of. It reminds them that in the end, they will not get away with anything, and they will pay the wages of their sin, which is death and hell. Not a fun subject to discuss, but the truth of our existance.
But for the Christian, the fear of the Lord is a truly humbling thing. It is still recognizing that we have sinned, that we are deserving of hell just as surely as the non-Christian, for “all have sinned” and the “wages of sin are death”. But we willingly see that God is God and He is Just. Because in that we can trust His faithfulness to ALL His Word.
We are humbled that He chose to, not ignore our sins, but to pay the wages of them Himself. That His mercy was longsuffering. He didn’t execute the penalty of our sin upon us immediately, but in His goodness, He was patient to bring us to repentence.
The fear of the Lord is an awesome thing. Even though it means much more than awe or reverence for Who God is, it truly includes such. For when we fear the Lord, we do truly stand in awe of Who He is, and we do truly reverence Him to the utmost.
With this foundation laid, I will wrap up this topic tomorrow, Lord willing.
