Why Must We Fear God?

WHY MUST WE FEAR GOD?

“Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.”

(Psalms 86:11; KJV)

What do you fear most in this world? Some people are afraid of satan, so they

give offerings to devils. They are worried that the devil would get furious, so the devil is

bribed first. One prophesied the birth of a great devil on June 6, 2006 bringing great fear

unto believers. Some fear the loss of wealth that they fight to death trying to keep it safe

day and night. They work very hard, go overtime all the time so that they can stay rich.

Many women are afraid of losing their beauty. They are even willing to put on a

lot of make-up that cost them a lot of money. The most important thing is to keep their

youth and beauty. They take on harsh diets and eat very little. Some diet under religious

pretense of “fasting”, but all they want is actually weight-loss. A person in her forties

would be very happy when people guessed that she's still in her twenties. Looks is very

important.

Some time ago, I had the chance to meet with a congregation member of some

city; he said that in the past year his life had been full of anxiety. Before going to work,

that fear hit him. He was very afraid of his manager, because his manager looked for his

mistakes almost everyday. He felt this great stress and pressure constantly at work that he

finally went to a psychiatrist.

Look at the facts of life, those who fear the devil will strive to please the devil,

that way the demon would not bring harm unto them. Those who fear losing wealth will

strive to gain more wealth. Their mind and heart are set on gaining money. Those who

fear losing beauty will praise themselves constantly, worshiping themselves. From all this

we can see that man prioritizes what he fears most. That is why if today you and I fear the

Lord, then we surely prioritize God. Fear of the Lord also contains feeling of respect and

awe to Him. “The LORD confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known

to them.”(Psalms 25:14, NIV).

You must be wondering what it means to prioritize God. What is the true meaning

of “Fear of God”?

WHAT IS FEAR OF THE LORD?

When we try to why some writers of the Bible in the Old Testament often express

a feeling of fear of the Lord, then we are reminded once again that in this case “fear of

the Lord” is not like the fear that one has when one is doing something wrong. Is it then

scary to meet the Lord? Fear of the Lord is not the same as the fear of Adam and Eve

after they ate the fruit of knowledge. At that time Adam and Eve were really afraid of

God because of their sin, such that they hid themselves when God called.

Fear of the Lord is not the like when you are driving and crossing a red light in a

rush. You see the cops behind you starting to follow you, then in fear you stepped on the

gas. Fear of the Lord is not like when on an exam you had the temptation to cheat. You

are worried of getting caught by the proctor, then you are in fear. Fear of the Lord is

nothing like any fears under the conditions described above. If not, then what is it like?

We often misconstrue the phrase “fear of the Lord”; we think of God as being

very mean that we have to avoid Him. We consider ourselves sinful in the presence of

God that we don't have the courage to meet Him. Then we refuse or always blame

ourselves. This is a wrong concept. Fear of the Lord means we honor and respect God in

all aspects of our life. Fear of the Lord also means to glorify Him as God, to praise His

name because He is great and wonderful. It must be emphasized that those who worship

God in praise and glory will not orient their lives in worldly matters anymore.

WHY MUST WE FEAR THE LORD?

I am sure that we must have had our own reasons to fear the Lord. Our main

reason to fear God is because He created us. He controls our lives and we are His.

Proverbs 29:25 says: “Fearing people is a dangerous trap, but to trust the LORD means

safety.” (NLT).

I still remember the Indonesian government under the “New Order”, all staff and

citizens were very afraid of the leaders. We were afraid to criticize or protest. We didn't