Why Should We Fear God?
Introduction
The Bible tells us that it is our “whole” duty to fear God for He is great and mighty above all creation, above heavens and the earth. He alone is God in all eternity. We should fear God because He is Love. God 's nature is love and no one can love like God, who loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son Jesus to die for the sins of the world
In Ecclesiastes 12:13 Solomon advises us that it is our duty to fear God and keep his commandments. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, so wise people fears the Lord and obeys His words. When we fear the Lord, we acknowledgment that he is the creator, most powerful and unpredictable God. That he is our first love, our savior, redeemer, deliverer and shield.
What is the fear of God?
The bible says it is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge. If you want to be smart in the words that you speak and the actions you take, then you need the fear of the Lord. So, the fear of the Lord is the knowledge of God Himself. When you fear God, you have decided that you want to know Him and His ways.
When we study Proverbs 8:13, we see there what the fear of God truely means. It practically says that the fear of God has some responsibilities attached to it. Fear of God is more than mere profession of faith, as many people do today. I have heard people saying "I fear the Lord", which is very good on itself, but should be followed with some positive actions. It says:
The fear of the LORD is to hate evil;
Pride and arrogance and the evil way
And the perverse mouth I hate.
It then means that, when you fear God, you hate what He hates. You hate sin. You say, "What is the fear of God?" It is the hatred of sin. Beloved, if you fear God, what that fear of God is, is a hatred of sin. Not sinners, sin. We love people but we hate the sin they commit. If you do not have hatred for sin, then you don't fear God yet. To fear Him is to hate sin and every sinful ways.
When you fear the Lord, your hope is in Him for protection and provision. That faith drives everything you are doing. You have made up your mind to learn of Him and walk in His ways, doing those things, which are pleasing to Him. When you fear the Lord, you do not envy what the world is offering or what they say is cool or neat or sharp or wonderful or tremendous for you. You do not envy it. You do not want anything to do with it. The world is passing away.
The fear of the Lord is to hope in the Lord. It is hope in the Lord. You know that what He has promised will come true. You know He is able to make all grace available unto you, so that your efforts are rewarded and you have enough to eat and drink. Hebrews 6 says that hope is a sure anchor of the soul. That anchor is Jesus Christ.
Reasons to fear God
The bible says it is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge. If you want to be smart in the words that you speak and the actions you take, then you need the fear of the Lord. So, the fear of the Lord is the knowledge of God Himself. When you fear God, you have decided that you want to know Him and His ways.
When we study Proverbs 8:13, we see there what the fear of God truely means. It practically says that the fear of God has some responsibilities attached to it. Fear of God is more than mere profession of faith, as many people do today. I have heard people saying "I fear the Lord", which is very good on itself, but should be followed with some positive actions. It says:
The fear of the LORD is to hate evil;
Pride and arrogance and the evil way
And the perverse mouth I hate.
It then means that, when you fear God, you hate what He hates. You hate sin. You say, "What is the fear of God?" It is the hatred of sin. Beloved, if you fear God, what that fear of God is, is a hatred of sin. Not sinners, sin. We love people but we hate the sin they commit. If you do not have hatred for sin, then you don't fear God yet. To fear Him is to hate sin and every sinful ways.
When you fear the Lord, your hope is in Him for protection and provision. That faith drives everything you are doing. You have made up your mind to learn of Him and walk in His ways, doing those things, which are pleasing to Him. When you fear the Lord, you do not envy what the world is offering or what they say is cool or neat or sharp or wonderful or tremendous for you. You do not envy it. You do not want anything to do with it. The world is passing away.
The fear of the Lord is to hope in the Lord. It is hope in the Lord. You know that what He has promised will come true. You know He is able to make all grace available unto you, so that your efforts are rewarded and you have enough to eat and drink. Hebrews 6 says that hope is a sure anchor of the soul. That anchor is Jesus Christ.
Reasons to fear God
There are many reasons to fear God that may not be related to his judgement. If you think that fear of God exists only because of judgment, you are wrong. God must be feared and those that will come come to Him must honour Him. Those that will come near to Him must respect, honour and worship Him the Almighty God, creator of heaven and the earth.
1. You did not create yourself, so to honour your creator is the least thing a living soul should do. To fear Him could mean different thing to different people, but to God, it means that you should reverence Him, believe Him and His Word and obey them. It also means that you will be diligent in serving Him, because many who served God carelessly died in the process. The two sons of Aaron and the men that were carrying the Ark are examples of people that died due to careless acts around God.
2. The two sons Aaron were among the Elders of Israel that went to see God and had banquet with Him in Exodus 24:9-11, yet, when they offered strange fire unto the Lord, which the Lord did not ask them to do, they were killed on the spot by fire from the throne of God. But today, some of those behaviours are no longer "Death sentence" offenses because of the shedding of the blood of Jesus at the cross of Calvary.
3. Another reason why we should fear God is because He protects us from some very serious problems. Proverbs 14:26 says,
In the fear of the LORD there is strong confidence,
And His children will have a place of refuge.
We are leaning on God's everlasting arms. "Oh God, You are our shield and our fortress. You are the lifter up of our head" (Psalm 3:3). And there are so many wonderful declarations of God's protection. "The Lord is a sun and shield. He will give grace and glory. No good will He withhold from those who walk uprightly".
The Lord will deliver us and the fear of the Lord protects us. In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence. If you understand that it is putting your confidence in God, in who He is and not who man is, then you realize how you can have strong confidence-no matter what happens.
If you really fear the Lord, you cannot be afraid of man and what man can do you you. That's the confidence we have in Him, that when we call upon Him in prayer, He hears us, and if He hears us, He will answer us.
3. Another reason why we should fear God is because He protects us from some very serious problems. Proverbs 14:26 says,
In the fear of the LORD there is strong confidence,
And His children will have a place of refuge.
We are leaning on God's everlasting arms. "Oh God, You are our shield and our fortress. You are the lifter up of our head" (Psalm 3:3). And there are so many wonderful declarations of God's protection. "The Lord is a sun and shield. He will give grace and glory. No good will He withhold from those who walk uprightly".
The Lord will deliver us and the fear of the Lord protects us. In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence. If you understand that it is putting your confidence in God, in who He is and not who man is, then you realize how you can have strong confidence-no matter what happens.
If you really fear the Lord, you cannot be afraid of man and what man can do you you. That's the confidence we have in Him, that when we call upon Him in prayer, He hears us, and if He hears us, He will answer us.
Command to fear the Lord
Psalm 33:8-9 - Let all the peoples of the earth fear the Lord; ... for he spoke, and all creation came to be.
Psalm 65:8 - Those living at the ends of the earth fear your wonders
Jeremiah 5:22 - Should you not fear me and tremble in my presence?
What it means to fear Him
Over and over in the Bible we are exhorted to fear God, to have the fear of the Lord, to live in godly fear. But why should we fear God? To fear the Lord is to obey His word and be in reverence always. Know that He is everywhere present and therefore abstain from any acts and behaviours that are not godly.
This is the kind of fear that make us walk uprightly. It causes us to fear to sin against Him, because we do not want his offend Him, rather we want to please Him with our faith and works of faith.
When we fear the Lord, we deliberately run away from sin because of the reproach it brings and because God cannot behold sin, so sin causes separation, which we do not want to experience.
What does your God require of you?
In Deuteronomy 10:12-13, Moses once asked the children of Israel and says “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good?”
One of the things the Lord require from us is to fear Him, to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way and speaking evil. To love Him with all our heart, all our soul, and all our strength, and to keep His commandments. When we weigh our words and actions on the scales of godly fear, then we gain wisdom and understanding and virtue, because then we learn and do God’s will. A lack of godly fear leads to us doing our own will.
If we truly fear God, this brings us into a deep personal love relationship with God. It is written: “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.” Luke 4:8. This relationship we have with Him will be carried on into eternity. "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.” Hebrews 12:28.
God is the source of all knowledge and truth.
What mankind knows is what God has revealed to them. All other knowledge and truth is a great mystery. All wisdom and knowledge that is good comes from the Lord, with wisdom is understanding. Fear God because he is a great mystery, you cannot understand or anticipate what he will do next. Proverbs 24:21 says “My son, fear thou the Lord and the king: and meddle not with them that are given to change:”
One reason to fear God is that He is the most powerful person and force in the universe. The all-powerful God is to be feared and revered. In 2 Kings 17:36, the bible say “But the Lord, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and stretched out arm, him shall ye fear, and him shall ye worship, and to him shall ye do sacrifice.”
Atmosphere for holy Living
Fear of God creates the atmosphere for holy living. No one can live right without the fear of God in his spirit. When God visited the children of Israel, one of the reasons for His coming down to their camp was that they may fear him and not sin. In Exodus 20:20, Moses said unto the people, Fear not "for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.”
Before sin entered the world, fear was still the proper response to God. To fear the Lord was commanded and expected from the children of Israel who were directly under the control and leadership of the Almighty God. They saw God as their Commander and Father and every word and instruction from God was to be obeyed and offenders treated according to the Law.
Miraculous events.
The miracles of God show His greatness. He is the God that does great things. He dried up River Jordan, as it is written in Joshua 4:23-24 - so that you might always fear Him, the Lord.
Jonah resisted His instruction to go and warn the people of Nineveh and was on the verse of disobeying Him, when the Lord confirmed that His word will not fall to the ground. Has He spoken it, it must come to pass. Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, but the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea and there was a mighty tempest in the sea that troubled the ship he was travelling with, and he was discovered to be the cause of the trouble and thrown into the sea and the sea calmed down, from its rage and the men feared the Lord exceedingly and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord and made vows.
Then God prepared a great fish to swallow him and keep him alive for three days, during which time he repented and prayed unto the Lord. The Lord spake unto the fish and it vomited Jonah upon a dry land ,,,right there in Nineveh. You must fear the Lord, for the word that has gone out of His mouth would not return to Me void, but must accomplish the purpose for which it was sent. So, Jonah was commissioned again by God to go and deliver His warning to the people of Nineveh which he did. Jonah 1 &2.
FIRE...
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