{"id":241,"date":"2021-09-29T15:17:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-29T15:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/2021\/11\/09\/fear-of-the-lord\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T19:58:50","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T19:58:50","slug":"fear-of-the-lord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/fear-of-the-lord\/","title":{"rendered":"Fear of the Lord"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There\u2019s this phrase in the Bible that tends to kind of freak people out: \u201cFear of the Lord.\u201d <\/strong>And we can\u2019t just forget about it, because it\u2019s one of those phrases that appears over and over again<\/a>, throughout the books of the Bible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of the heroes of the Bible are described as fearing the Lord. Joseph, Job, the midwives who saved Hebrew babies in Egypt, early Christians in the book of Acts, people who strive to follow God \u2013 they are all described as fearing the Lord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what\u2019s more, in scripture we are often told<\/em> to fear the Lord:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In many places we hear that \u201cthe fear of the Lord <\/strong>is the beginning of wisdom\u201d (cf. Psalm 111:10, Proverbs 1:7, 9:10)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Proverbs we hear: \u201cThe fear of the Lord <\/strong>is a fountain of life,\u201d and \u201cThe fear of the Lord<\/strong> is life indeed; filled with it one rests secure and suffers no harm.\u201d (Prov. 14:27, 19:23).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When someone is baptized, we quote from the prophet Isaiah, praying for \u201cthe Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord<\/strong>\u201d (Isaiah 11:2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that\u2019s just brushing the surface of the Bible recommending we \u201cfear the Lord.\u201d As the books of the Bible use this phrase, it\u2019s very clear that we\u2019re supposed to understand \u201cfear of the Lord\u201d as a good thing. But don\u2019t we hear that word \u201cfear\u201d and feel it as a bad thing? Or, at the very least, a confusing thing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know I\u2019ve had many conversations with folks wondering what exactly \u201cfear of the Lord\u201d is supposed to mean. And I think it\u2019s a question that comes up so often because fearing God sounds like the opposite of so many of the other messages we get in Church \u2013 and in the Bible:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martin Luther taught that we are to be convinced in our hearts that we have forgiveness of sins and peace with God by grace alone (in his Commentary on Galatians<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Psalms say: \u201cThe Lord our God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love\u201d (Psalm 103:8).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And we love to sing: \u201cWhat a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So fearing the Lord \u2013 that sounds like the very thing we\u2019re trying to leave behind as we learn to trust God and the grace of God!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So sometimes in these conversations, when we\u2019re trying to suss out what exactly it means to fear God, we say something like, \u201c \u2018Fear\u2019 doesn\u2019t mean be afraid of God, it\u2019s more like respect,<\/em>\u201d and that definitely points us in the right direction. But I\u2019ve been starting to think: maybe that\u2019s too light of an understanding \u2013 at least, depending on our definition of \u201crespect.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fearing God is tied to recognizing God\u2019s holiness. And holiness is more than being good and pure and perfect. Acknowledging God as \u201choly\u201d means being overwhelmed by how great and powerful and utterly unique God is. It means standing in awe of how totally beyond us God is. It means taking in that we are mortal and fragile and limited; that it is not us, but God, who really has power and wisdom and goodness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve heard people use the analogy of the sun: the sun is the biggest and most powerful thing in our solar system. There is nothing else even remotely like it in our corner of the universe. It is an indispensable source of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is also dangerous. Even here on earth, 92 million miles away from the sun, if we spend too much time outside, the sun can burn us and leave us hurting for days. It can do serious, lasting damage to our skin. We\u2019re not even supposed to look at the sun. But the sun isn\u2019t dangerous because it\u2019s evil or out to get us \u2013 it\u2019s dangerous because of all the things that make it good and life-giving. Its light. Its heat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God is like the sun, but more. Totally different than anything else we know. The source of all life. Powerful in ways we can\u2019t even imagine. And dangerous to us because of that power, that goodness, that other-ness. Dangerous to our egos, to our way of life. God is bigger and more incomprehensible than anything; God is beyond everything in the universe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s what we\u2019re confessing when we call God \u201choly.\u201d (For more on this, see The Bible Project\u2019s video Holiness<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And when we really recognize God as holy \u2013 as powerful, as totally beyond us, as dangerous because of God\u2019s goodness \u2013 that is when we fear God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re living in terrible times. Times of uncertainty, anxiety, fear. Times of poverty, sickness, and death. COVID-19 is something we don\u2019t understand and don\u2019t have control over. It makes us feel small and weak and powerless. In a way, this pandemic is reminding us of all the painful, embarrassing truths about being human that we strive to overcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But when we do feel small and powerless, the Spirit leads us to lift our eyes and hearts to our holy God. The one who is not overpowered by a virus. The source of all wisdom. The power we cannot comprehend.*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And when we recognize that holy God, may we sit for a few breaths in that truest moment of fear of the Lord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then may we find comfort as we start to remember the things we do know about our holy, transcendent God: God chooses to bind even God\u2019s holiness to God\u2019s love for us and for all creation. God is not only beyond us; God is with us. God cares for us. The one power in the universe that is entirely beyond this terrible situation \u2013 that power looks on us with compassion and works great works among us now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fear the Lord. Remember that God is holy. And <\/em>remember all the stories of God at work for good in this world. And so, take heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pr Kate<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pastor Jim<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Pastor Kate<\/a>\u00a0take turns writing weekly devotions for the Chapel of the Resurrection.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*For more, see Walter Brueggemann, \u201cReaping the Whirlwind,\u201d in Virus as a Summons to Faith: Biblical Reflections in a Time of Loss, Grief, and Uncertainty<\/em> (Eugene: Cascade Books, 2020).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s this phrase in the Bible that tends to kind of freak people out: \u201cFear of the Lord.\u201d And we can\u2019t just forget about it, because it\u2019s one of those phrases that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":752,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-katherine-museus","category-csl-newsletter-devotionals"],"acf":[],"author_meta":{"display_name":"","author_link":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/author\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2021\/11\/fear-of-the-lord-300x150.webp","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Katherine Museus<\/a>","CSL Newsletter Devotionals<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Katherine Museus<\/span>","CSL Newsletter Devotionals<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 5 years ago","modified":"Updated 10 months ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on September 29, 2021","modified":"Updated on January 2, 2026"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on September 29, 2021 3:17 pm","modified":"Updated on January 2, 2026 7:58 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12095,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241\/revisions\/12095"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}