Imagine the dead of winter, driving on a back road late in the evening. A heavy snowfall has begun. The road is slick from rain the night before and suddenly the car begins to skid across black ice. How would we respond? If we are honest, we do not know how we would react until we are in the situation itself. In theory, we would be calm and collected. Yet, this is not reality. Out of fear, our initial response to danger is rapid and employed with minimal thinking. For many, the reaction is a sudden exclamation of “Oh, my God! Help me!” This response to sudden danger is reflective of something happening in the heart. The person is afraid of what God is going to do to them as their life ‘flashes before their eyes,’ because the present instability shakes them into reality: the only one in control is God. Thus, for both the Christian and Agnostic alike, there is a fear of danger and a fear of judgement present in this situation. While God is the final judge, that is not all of who He is.
This same fear of judgement has crept into the church and has distorted theological perceptions. Most notably, this thinking has perverted the fear of the LORD. I was recently talking with a close friend about how he viewed the fear of the LORD. Puzzled and confused, he told me that fearing the LORD was one of his most profound theological questions because he did not understand why we should be afraid of a God that is supposed to love us so much. This perfectly encapsulates the modern Evangelical mood toward the fear of the LORD.
The contemporary perception of fear is to be afraid. Therefore, when someone says that we are to fear God, it automatically equates that we should be afraid of God because of what He could do to us. This logic says there is an intrinsic posture of fright that we must take because if we do not, we will experience the divine retribution of God. The contemporary church has fused the fear of God with the fear of punishment, perpetuating that thought for the sake of control and power. This is manipulation of the sinful human nature to force pious living. This fear of punishment directly correlates to a fear of hell, and successfully instills an anxiety about doing wrong. The worry toward what God could do has become the theological reality of slamming on the brakes while on ice. It is impetuous. Although many hold this warped view of God, the fear of the LORD is a reverent posture and a picture of a right relationship with God in order to understand the Creator and how the world is designed to operate.
Prior to engaging in an interpretation of biblical text, it is important to note that there are different words for the word ‘fear’ in the Hebrew language. Specifically, when looking at the fear of the LORD as a reverent posture, we encounter the Hebrew yare’ (יָרֵא). In English, this word translates as fear, which is accurate, but does little for the contemporary reader. Yare’ literally means to fear, revere or stand in awe of. It is from this definition that we will examine several texts to ascertain further insight into the fear of the LORD.
In the poetic and wisdom literature of the Bible, the first place we run into yare’ is in the Book of Job. The introductory verse contains yare’ as an affirmation of Job’s integrity: “There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil” (Job 1:1). This verse emphasizes the character of Job, a man who reflects the characteristics of one who is “wise” in Proverbs. Job is “blameless and upright,” just as the wise man is described to be (Proverbs 2:7; 2:21). Further analysis of the wise man in Proverbs shows that turning from evil is an intrinsic facet of wisdom and therefore, fearing the LORD (Proverbs 3:7; 8:13; 14:16). This is undoubtedly a direct echo of the posture Job has before Yahweh.
Another place we see yare’ in poetic and wisdom literature is in the Psalter. The individual lament of Psalm 22 provides further acumen into a reverent posture as an inherent aspect of the fear of the LORD: “You who fear the LORD, praise Him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify Him, and stand in awe of Him, all you off-spring of Israel!” (v. 23). However, why should we fear the LORD according to this verse? The subsequent verse holds the answer: “For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden His face from Him, but has heard, when he cried to Him” (v. 24). It is because of God’s faithfulness, justice, and mercy that we are to fear Him. These attributes of God are things that can only be recognized in a reverent posture: remembering what God has done, remembering His heart for the weak, remembering His mercy.
This is further reflected in Psalm 33:8, “Let all the earth fear the LORD, let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him!” Hebrew poetry often recapitulates what the first line communicates in the second line. Knowing this, we see that fearing the LORD and standing in awe of Him are synonymous. Awe here is not intended to paralyze, resulting in a fetal-like fright, though it certainly can produce this. Rather, awe is the profound, abiding, reverential posture that unravels because of the reality of the object beheld. This is epitomized in Isaiah 6:5, which reads, “So I said: ‘Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The LORD of hosts.’”
The fear we ought to have is not crippling but enabling. Proper reverence before God demands humility, the acknowledgement of holy ground, and the repentance of sin; in which the only response appropriate is to fall on the ground worshipping the King of Kings. By wading through the text, we have seen that a reverent posture is ingrained in the fear of the LORD. Though we have alluded to it, there has been no explicit commentary on how this posture of reverence is cultivated. With Job, we saw that he had developed a fear of the LORD because of his conscious efforts to “turn away from evil.” Thus, we can conclude that the fear of the LORD can also be lost. As we have said, the posture of reverence is necessary in the acquisition of the fear of the LORD and without that proper reverence, it is difficult to recognize the reality of God’s faithfulness, power, and love. However, developing reverence is a discipline that is practiced and conscious, like turning away from evil. It is deliberate and fueled by a deep-seated love for God. Hebrews 12:8 reads, “Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe…” Reverence is aroused through gratitude and acknowledgement about what God has done. In turn, we gain an incredible confidence about who God is and thus who we are.
If we look at 1 John 4:18, we encounter another definition for the word fear: “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” Obviously, the word fear used by John is different than the Hebrew yare’. The fear here is the Greek word fobos (φόβος), which literally means to be put in fear, dread or terror. This definition is affirmed by John as he mentions that the fear in which he is talking about “has to do with punishment.” The perfect love of God, which is recognized through proper reverence, casts out cowering fear of retribution. The fear of the LORD enjoys the majesty of God, confident in the perfection and reality of who he is, which is evoked through a posture of reverence.
Blessings,
Keegan White
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