If you have ever been at the mercy of the forces of nature and felt your vulnerability, you have experienced a very important emotion – awed fear. It can come during a violent thunderstorm, as the lightning strikes increasingly closer to where you are. It can be if you have been in, as I have, a mild to more severe earthquake, and felt the very ground tremble underneath you. It might have been in the ocean itself, either as a swimmer or as a sailor, and encountering waves, or currents that are too big or strong for you. It may have been in a typhoon or powerful storm, possibly being near a tornado or hurricane area, and hearing and feeling the power of the wind.

During those experiences, you feel something quite significant. You feel your vulnerability before such power. For a brief time, you realise you are in the presence of a power much greater than yourself, and it confronts you with your weakness, your mortality, your insignificance. You realise you are in danger, and your lack of power to save yourself or help yourself fills you with fear. When you come out of that dangerous situation, the relief and gladness is intense.

If that is what it is like to be in the presence of an impersonal power, what is it like to be in the presence of the power that created those things? What ought to be our attitude when we are in the presence of God?

For several weeks, we have been considering the Christian life in terms of its priorities, its process and its position. The great priority of the Christian life is to love God with the heart, soul, mind and strength – which glorifies God, reflecting His beauty. This priority can only be met if we know Him for who He is. Knowing Him is a process. We considered that the process of the Christian life is knowing God by living in His presence. We took some time to consider the process of communing with God; being convicted by Him; confessing our sins; being cleansed by Him, and conforming to the image of Christ which results in more communion, and so the cycle begins again. Then we stopped to ask, how can sinners remain in God’s presence? Even though we have trusted in Christ for salvation, what gives us the right to be in His presence at all, let alone live there? That’s why we took the time to consider the position of the Christian life – being in Christ, as He is in us. We can abide in Christ because in Christ, by grace, we are accepted, secured and completed.

With that in mind, we return to this topic of living in God’s presence. We now understand that we can remain in God’s presence, not because of our works or performance or merit, but purely because of Christ.

But we need to press further. We might understand that being in God’s presence is a matter of communion, conviction, confession, cleansing and conformity, but that’s still sketching it in outline form. We need to add some definition and colour. What does it really mean to commune with God? What kind of attitude should we have before God? What kind of response is fitting for someone living in God’s presence?

The answer to these questions lies in what we want to consider next: the posture of the Christian life. What do we mean by ‘posture’ of the Christian life? A posture is a physical pose or position we adopt for varying situations. Running requires one posture; balancing a basket on your head requires another; tying your shoelaces requires another. The situation determines the posture.

When it comes to the Christian life, there is a certain ‘posture of the heart’ that we must have before God. To put it another way, if we are to live in God’s presence and come to know Him, so as to love Him, it requires a certain posture, a stance, a way of thinking and acting and feeling.

When you are caught in a violent storm, you adopt a certain posture. When you are in the presence of a child, you adopt one posture. When you are in the presence of a policeman, you adopt a different posture. When you are in the presence of a king, your posture changes. And so there is a posture of life that must characterise us, if we are to keep living in God’s presence.

The posture of life that a believer is to have in God’s presence, at all times, can be summarised with that well-known Old Testament phrase: the fear of the Lord. Fearing God, living before Him in a right fear of Him, is the biblical posture for living in God’s presence. Before we begin to explain what fearing God means, we need to defend this statement biblically. Is there biblical evidence that fearing God is the default posture of a believer?

Biblical Foundation for the Fear of the Lord

Well, consider some of the Scriptures that say that fearing God is the first principle, the foundation of all other growth in knowing God.

• The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Proverbs 1:7)
• The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. (Proverbs 9:10)
• The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom, And before honor is humility. (Proverbs 15:33)

In other words, before you can grow in the knowledge of God; before you can grow in understanding or wisdom, what needs to be in place is an attitude, an affection, a way of responding to God – the fear of the Lord.

If the posture of the Christian life is the fear of the Lord, then we would expect Scripture to say that the fear of the Lord should always characterise us. In fact, that’s exactly what it does say.

• Do not let your heart envy sinners, But be zealous for the fear of the LORD all the day; (Proverbs 23:17)

The book of Ecclesiastes ends this way:

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. (Ecclesiastes 12:13)

Your whole duty, the whole of man, is to live in this kind of relationship with God, to live before Him in this kind of posture.

Common Objections to Fearing God

However, even with the biblical case in front of them, many people are still not convinced that the posture of the Christian life should be one of fearing God. They will usually have three objections.

Objection 1: Fearing God is not in our culture.

Perhaps someone might say, well, that was how things were done in that ancient Hebrew culture. We’re different, we’re modern, we’re relaxed, we’re computer-savvy – we don’t bow down and scrape.

Well, to answer that, let’s ask another question. When our culture wants to show deep respect and reverence, what are some of the signs that it does so? How does it show great and deep respect and fear?

One example you can find in Washington DC at a place called Arlington National Cemetery. There you will find the Tomb of the Unknowns, or the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It is a memorial to the fallen American soldiers of World War I and II, Korea and Vietnam, whose remains have been unidentified. Watching vigil over this memorial is a platoon of 30 soldiers. 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, these men unceasingly guard this tomb, in 27 hour shifts. When a guard is on duty, he walks exactly 21 steps, turns, faces the tomb, and waits 21 seconds and then walks back 21 steps. Twenty-one is the military’s highest honour. For an hour in winter, and for half an hour in the blazing heat of summer, the soldier guards the tomb, in his dress uniform of 100% wool. As to preparation for each shift, a soldier takes six hours to prepare his uniform, steaming it, placing each piece of brass precisely measured. Shining the specially made shoes takes four hours. When the guard is changed, a simple but powerful ceremony takes place at which watching tourists are asked to stand and be silent. Most don’t need to be asked, they just sense the reverence of the occasion.

Our culture still knows how to express reverence. Our culture still knows how to express a sense of deep respect. Our culture understands reverence. You see it in the courtrooms. You see it at funerals. The question is why don’t we see more of it in church?

Objection 2: That was the Old Testament, we’re in the New.

Such is the shallow state of Christianity that it is not unusual to hear a professing Christian saying something like, “We mustn’t fear God! We must love Him! Fearing God is the Old Testament God. The New Testament God is a God of love.”

The Bible is not a fragmented book with two gods – one Old Testament and one New Testament. It is the same God throughout. We are told to fear God in a number of New Testament Scriptures:

• 2 Corinthians 7:1: Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
• 1 Peter 1:17: And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear;
• 1 Peter 2:17: Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.

Though we clearly see God’s judgement in the Old Testament, we probably see it even clearer in the New Testament – both at the cross, and in the book of Revelation.

It is in the book of Hebrews 12:28-29 that we read the following:

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. For our God is a consuming fire.

The point the writer is making is: if those people had fear for a God who shook the earth, what kind of fear should we have now that we know even more about God’s plan – that He will shake the heavens? Fearing God is definitely a New Testament reality, as much as it was an Old Testament one.

Objection 3: Fear is a negative emotion, and shouldn’t be in our relationship with God.

Isn’t fear a negative thing? Doesn’t John tell us in 1 John 4:18 that perfect love casts out fear? Didn’t Paul tell Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:7: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7) Isn’t Jesus recorded as having said ‘Fear not’ at least seven times in the Gospels?

The answer is yes, all those things are true. But since Scripture does not contradict Scripture, we must reason there is a kind of fear God does not want us to have, and there is a kind of fear He does want us to have. In fact, you see these two ideas in one verse in:

Matthew 10:28: “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Here is a simple way to understand this. The difference lies in the meaning of the affection of fear – not all fear is the same.

Humans interestingly seek a kind of safe fear. Humans, on a fairly regular basis, seek to almost reproduce that emotion of being overwhelmed, of being terrified, so long as they know they will actually be safe and come out of it fine.

One example is amusement parks. At amusement parks, all sorts of death defying rides are built so as to simulate what would be a very vulnerable, terrifying, dangerous situation – all with the knowledge that it is in fact safe (or so they tell us). If humans didn’t want this emotion of fear combined with safety, amusement parks would go out of business.

Further examples can be seen in the thrill-seekers of today. Increasing numbers of people want to do rock climbing, para-gliding, abseiling, and a host of other adventure sports and pastimes. Many times, it is because of the thrill, the risk, the fear that it causes, combined with the knowledge that there is a measure of safety in it.

So not all fear is bad. Different kinds of fear exist. There is the fear of horror and there is the fear of awe.

The fear of horror is the fear of something you hate: fearing an attack, fearing a disease, fearing an enemy. The sense of deep threat to yourself, which you want to escape at any cost, is a horrifying fear. To an unbeliever, God elicits the fear of horror – and He should. He will destroy them with an unquenchable wrath if they keep rejecting His mercy. He will turn out to be the worst foe; the biggest problem; the most dire threat they have ever faced.

Awe, on the other hand, is the fear of something you love. It is the fear of something bigger and greater than you, but which does not, at least for the moment, endanger you.

This kind of fear is what the fear of the LORD is to a believer. God is mighty and great, but this greatness is extended for us, and not against us. It comes to us with the goodness of God in Jesus Christ.

This desire points to something in the human soul. Humans were made to experience this feeling of great awe. The Bible teaches us that this emotion finds its ultimate fulfilment in knowing God. The Bible teaches us that we were made for God. And to that end, there is a gaping hole in our souls that TV and music and gadgets and sports and books and entertainment and travel and work and money will not fill. Our thrill seeking is like a dull ache, an itch that reminds us that our culture is not fulfilling the grand theme of our souls – to be overwhelmed by a force and power far greater than us. Our media and commercial culture feeds us a steady diet of banality, shallowness and triviality; it is silliness, shallowness, foolishness. The ads are silly and shallow. The sitcoms are silly and shallow. The soapies and series are silly and shallow. Though we stuff ourselves with this till we are full, the groaning in our souls reminds us that we have not been nourished. We were made for far greater experiences than the TV offers us.

This experience is the fear of the Lord. Believers in Christ have the opportunity to live in this state and find their souls satisfied by the joy of fearing God. The fear of the Lord is the consummation of the experience that every soul is looking for when we go thrill seeking.

That is why the Bible keeps commending the fear of the Lord as a delightful thing.

• The fear of the LORD prolongs days, But the years of the wicked will be shortened. (Proverbs 10:27)
• In the fear of the LORD there is strong confidence, And His children will have a place of refuge. The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, To turn one away from the snares of death. (Proverbs 14:26-27)
• The fear of the LORD leads to life, And he who has it will abide in satisfaction; He will not be visited with evil. (Proverbs 19:23)
• By humility and the fear of the LORD Are riches and honor and life. (Proverbs 22:4)

Those three objections do not really hold water. Fearing God is a New Testament command, it is something we still understand in our culture, and it is not a destructive affection at all. Nothing could be more delightful than to live in perpetual fear of the Lord.

Why is the Fear of the Lord So Little Understood Today?

If the fear of the Lord is so fundamental to Christian living, why is there so little of it today? Why is it so poorly understood?

Sixty years ago, a scholar wrote this:

“When one hears the chatty pulpit prayers that sometimes pass for worship, when one sees people saunter gaily into the church, talking with their neighbours about a business deal or about last night’s party, when one sees the casual, careless air of many a church service, he feels like stopping the whole business by asking some searching questions, “Just what are you doing? Who is this God you are worshiping? Why should he listen to you, or be pleased with your bad hymns set to even more atrocious music?”

(The Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. XI (New York: Abingdon Press, 1955), 751)

Our problem today is that instead of worshipping God as He is, we keep trying to remake Him in our own image. Not too long ago, a book was published with a very interesting title: The Trivialization of God: The Dangerous Illusion of a Manageable Deity. To think that God, the deity, is manageable is what the world wants you to think. You can have Him when you want to. He can Shepherd you, satisfy you here and there – but on your terms, at your convenience. God is manageable. The book says that this is a dangerous illusion. It is an illusion – like the magician who makes you think something has disappeared when it really hasn’t, so the world presents the illusion that God is a manageable deity. Because in the end, that manageable deity, you thought you could switch on and off, will judge you (and everyone else) for every good and evil work.

This fear of the Lord will only return when we stop making God in our own image, and devote ourselves to seeing God as He is in the Word of God.

“These things you have done, and I have been silent; you thought that I was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.” (Psalm 50:21)

God is not like us.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

The fear of the Lord comes when we embrace God as He is, even the parts that make us uncomfortable. If we keep editing what the Bible says of God, we are not being honest. We are actually becoming idolaters, taking bits and pieces of Yahweh to make up a new god that will make us feel good.

People who want to love God as He is, are interested in knowing Him as He is. That means they embrace not only His goodness that comforts them, but also His greatness that humbles them.

In science you have both the centripetal force and the centrifugal force. If you tie a rock to a string and swing it above your head, both forces are in effect. The centripetal force pulls the string toward you, while the centrifugal force pushes the stones outward. Both forces must be present for there to be that tension that makes it possible to swing it above your head. In the same way, both sides of God must be present in our mind for us to have a healthy view of God – His goodness, and His greatness.

We need both, and both in balance.

Meditation on the goodness of God without meditation on the greatness of God will lead to us becoming familiar, unappreciative of grace, cocky and shallow in our understanding of Him. It’s precisely this overemphasis that has led to the flippant, superficial Christianity we see so much of today.

Meditation on the greatness of God without meditation on the goodness of God will cause us to lose hope, to fear wrath, to avoid God instead of turning to Him, to revere Him from a distance, but never enjoy Him.

What is the Fear of the Lord?

Here is a definition: The fear of the Lord is the humbled and delighted response of your soul when you contemplate both the goodness and the greatness of God.

The fear of the Lord is the humility that you feel when you contemplate His supremacy. The fear of the Lord is the brokenness and contrition you feel when you contemplate His holiness. The fear of the Lord is the submissiveness and yieldedness you feel when you contemplate His Lordship. The fear of the Lord is the hunger and desire you feel as you contemplate His beauty. It is not simply one affection – it’s many. But like the colours of the spectrum combine into white light, so the affections of humility, repentance, submission and hope are all present when someone honestly considers himself in light of God, as He is. And that is inevitable if you are truly living in God’s presence. You are living in the presence of the Supreme, Holy, Sovereign and Loving God.

In many ways, the fear of the Lord in the Old Testament is a synonym for walking by faith in the New. Those are not opposite terms but rather overlapping, near-synonyms for one another. You live in God’s presence, by faith believing Him to be supreme, sovereign, holy and glorious, and so you live in His presence by faith, in an attitude of humility, confession, obedience and seeking communion. The cycle of communion, conviction, confession, cleansing, conformity, is a cycle of faith that does not happen if one is not responding to God with humility, broken contrition, submissiveness and hopeful seeking.

The various sides of the fear of the Lord – humility, contrition, submission and wholehearted seeking are, in fact, all elements of faith. Humility is a part of faith. Obedience is a part of faith. Repentance is a part of faith. Seeking God is a part of faith.

The posture of the Christian life is a life of fearing God, a life of faith. As we live in His presence with this attitude of fearing Him, or responding to who He is in faith, we will experience the cycle of knowing Him and thereby coming to love Him more.

Next week, we will begin considering the first expression of this posture of the Christian life.