"Fearing the Lord is about having a healthy respect for him."
That has been the prevailing teaching on fearing the Lord, in my experience anyway. But as a logophile (I had to look that one up), that has never set well.
I do not fear police, but I do a have a healthy respect for their ability to penalize my behavior. My son does not have a 'healthy respect' for monsters. He fears them. There is a substantial difference. If the text meant healthy respect, I'm guessing that it could have done a better job expressing that.
I am not just a lover of words, I am also a lover of God's Word. And the above theory fairs no better there. Encounters with God consistently involve people completely paralyzed by 'healthy respect' to point that they die, become like dead people, or think they will die for it.
Then there passages like Jeremiah 5:22 "Should you not fear me?" declares the LORD. Should you not tremble in my presence?" Trembling does not result from respect, but from fear.
The motive behind the theory is legit. God is love, not a monster. What do we fear of Him? How do we fear him and have faith in what he has said about forgiveness and sonship?
Good questions, but twisting what fear is does not solve it.
Perhaps we should look again at what we are taught about fearing God.
"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline." (Proverbs 1:7)
Did you notice that fear is the beginning place of wisdom? Might it not be the ongoing dwelling place of wisdom? Might wisdom lead us eventually, humbly and faithfully away from fear.
"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." (1 John 4:18)
This is not dogma. It is merely a thought that needs to be tested against the hearts and minds of other Spirit-Dwellings and against the rest of Scripture. The context of that 1 John passage seems to support it.
Posts
1 comment:
I think the question we have to ask and answer is, "From what are we fearful?" What about God should send us trembling? The epilogue of Ecclesiastes seems to think it is God's judgment (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).
But there seems to more to it than just a fear of annihilation. Wise living is godly living. Wise people live out God ordained and proscribed lives (at least the wisdom literature seems to indicate).
So, I think you are getting close when you talk about wisdom teaching us our place in the scheme of things compared to God's. Such a hierarchy does not discount the role of love in the relationship, but reinforces the conciliatory efforts of God. Yes, God could judge and could destroy and a wise and fearful attitude keeps such a fact in mind. But such a fact does not negate God's love for us.
Post a Comment