One of the Bible passages that rocked my world, so to speak, when I first came across it is this:
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”
It’s found a couple of times in the Psalms and Proverbs. It is something that seemed simple and complex at the same time, yet made perfect sense for me when I was beginning my walk with God. Right off the bat this notion of “fear” did not disturb me. This verse made me realize there was a basic reality: Good and Evil, God and the devil, heaven and hell. I understood it as this: awesome reverence for The Being who had ultimate power over the earth, and men and women.
Along with the Lord’s power over all people and things, there is also His Love. And early on I sensed and knew that, so that while the notion of fear was sobering and humbling, it was not some kind of hopeless terror. I know many people nowadays don’t want to associate God and fear together. It’s hurtful and confusing for them to do that, and they can’t fathom a compatibility in it. Maybe they have had genuine grounds to “fear” fear. Perhaps somewhere in their background they had cause to fear an authority figure or parental figure and they can’t bring themselves to associate that notion with a loving God. I can understand that, but it can only go so far, and I’ll attempt to explain why. There is a good kind of fear, and it’s a fear that keeps us alive. Fear causes us to be cautious when faced with real danger, and to avoid harm and preserve our health.
I know it’s not fashionable or popular in our current cultural climate, even in the church, to have sermons and teachings refer to hell and punishment. You know, the fire and brimstone stuff. I suspect that many in today’s culture would hold in disdain the conversion of a soul who clung to God’s salvation for fear of eternal damnation in hell. As if somehow such a conversion is not as legitimate as one who came to the foot of Christ’s cross in gratitude and recognition of His sacrificial love. I say both are saved, saved, saved and that’s what counts! After all, our faith in the Lord is not to remain some static notion. It is to be a growing relationship. So that when we initially turn to God, whether through fear of hell or realization of His Unconditional Love, we grow in our grace and knowledge of Him and begin to understand all the facets of His character, which encompass both of those notions and many others.
John explains this concept in his first epistle, chapter 4, it‘s a pretty amazing passage. God has wanted this kind of reciprocal love from mankind all along: a love relationship, not one of mere fear or robotic obedience. In love there has got to be some respect. To put it into our human relationships, in those we love the most - our spouses, children and parents - we’d like some mutual respect and appreciation. We ought not to enjoy walking all over each other! If we have a tender heart, we fear intentionally hurting our loved one. We fear it might cause a rift in our relationship and we don’t want to hurt the one we love. It’s the same way with the Lord, we ought to have a tender heart that fears a separation from Him. Reverential fear causes us to respect and preserve.
Elsewhere in the New Testament we are told by Jesus not to fear someone on earth who can cause us bodily harm, but to fear only God who has authority to cast both body and soul into hell. Then He immediately goes on to say that the Lord knows whenever a little sparrow falls to the ground, and the number of hairs on each person’s head and that each person is more valuable to Him than a flock of sparrows. And He says it just like that, in that particular sequence and order, which I think is interesting in itself. So, where there is a warning of hell, there is a reinforcement of love and grace to reassure that there is safety and rest in the Lord. But we must cling to Him, and keep our end of the bargain by believing in Him and being faithful to Him. A little fear of hell is good, if it keeps you on the straight and narrow! As long as you realize you have a Heavenly Father that knows and loves you intimately, and has provided you with a means of escaping that horrible place that was never intended for you in the first place!
In ending this post, I leave you with a quote I heard this week that got me thinking. I’ll paraphrase to the best of my recollection:
“For the Christian this earth is the only hell they will ever experience; for the unbeliever this earth is the only heaven they will ever see.”
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