Fear of God?

The Bible says the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. I believe this type of fear is respect to the point of knowing that He could full well take you out but chooses instead to love you and allows you to get to know Him and be molded into His image.

As His children we do not need to be terrified of Him, such as like an abusive parent. But we do need to understand that He says what He means and He means what He says.

There are ramifications to disobedience. The law of reaping and sowing is in motion constantly. For good and for bad. If we sow disobedience then we need to know that we will reap disobedience. That can manifest in many ways. And that should strike in us the type of fear that would keep us from doing what we know to be destructive to us. The scripture says, all things are allowed but not all things are beneficial. We are free to do what is right and no longer a slave to sin.

As His children, we have the priviledge of repenting and being welcomed into His arms with full forgiveness. Our sins to never be remembered against us.

He pulls us up out of the muck, sets our feet on a solid rock and lights the path so that we will no longer stumble. We have no need to be in terror of this God as long as we're walking with Him.

As far as material to read, I'm only familiar with the Bible. Get a concordance and look up all the times it references fear of the Lord. Then ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the understanding.

Be blessed.

Quaffer

Excellent reply Quaffer!

Fear does mean fear. But not like you fear a tyrant. When I was a child, I was afraid to disobey my Dad. But when I got scared, or worried, or had a problem to solve or wanted to have fun, I went to Dad. I loved Him and he loved me. But I was scared to disobey him. To me, he was the biggest dude around. He could handle anything!

So it is with God. I love him and fear him. But not the kind of fear that has torment. No, it is the kind of fear that keeps me from evil.

Blessings,

Mark

quaffer and mark,

your understanding about this
is obviously enlightened.
ty

"The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom." (Proverbs 1:7).

It's not just something you can naturally do. It's something earned by prayer and study of the Bible. Let's continue with Proverbs.

"My son, if you receive my words, and treasure my commandments within you" (2:1)

If you accept the Bible as the authoritative word of God and you delight in obeying His law.

"So that you incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding" (2:2)

If you listen for wisdom and set your goal to obtain it, using discretion to determin what is wisdom and what is foolishness,

"Yes, if you cry out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding" (2:3)

Prayer to God for wisdom and understanding,

"If you seek her as silver, and search her as for hidden treasures" (2:4)

If you work as hard as men work to find gold,

"Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God." (2:5)

The fear of God is the beginning of all knowledge, and once these things are done, only then will you actually understand it.

Let me witness my personal experience with this, and I'll greatly simplify it so this isn't a huge post. I lived in sin all my life. One day God put the thought in my heart, "God may condemn me to eternal hell." Of course, this scared me, so I began to search the Scriptures to understand more about God. The more I understood Him, the more I loved Him. However, the more I understood Him, the more I feared Him! Our God is a mighty, allpowerful, sovereign Lord of heaven and earth, and your soul is in His hands. The Bible makes it clear that He condemns many many people to hell and saves only a few. This brings much fear to me!

Now because of this fear, I seek to understand the sovereign God that is in control of my life and soul. Yes, the fear of the Lord is most defently the beginning of wisdom, and to know God is eternal life (John 17:3).

I'm disagree with the thought that we are not to be terrified by our almighty God. It is certainly not a sin, and I believe that is the heart of what the fear of the Lord means--a true trembling fear. Of course, this fear evolves into awe and amazment when one understands that the love of God was set upon him. No, I'm afraid I'd have the same reaction as Moses had when He saw God on Mt. Sinai (Heb. 12:21).

There are many Proverbs and Psalms that obtain to the fear of God.

Mounts said:

I'm disagree with the thought that we are not to be terrified by our almighty God. It is certainly not a sin, and I believe that is the heart of what the fear of the Lord means--a true trembling fear. Of course, this fear evolves into awe and amazment when one understands that the love of God was set upon him. No, I'm afraid I'd have the same reaction as Moses had when He saw God on Mt. Sinai (Heb. 12:21).

There are many Proverbs and Psalms that obtain to the fear of God.

Click to expand...

Good post Mounts, and I agree whole heartedly with you. The fear that a Child of God should not have that I was referring to is as if God is a tyrant.

I speak with many Christians who live in fear that God is going to wipe them out because they make a mistake. If they fall down, they think He stops loving them and that He's disappointed with them, and that they are just unforgivable....they live defeated lives because they don't understand God's love and affection for them. . .and that is so far from the truth.

Quaffer

Indeed, the word translated fear in the NT is where we get our word phobia from. But as Qauffer states, you cannot love a tyrant. It is OK to fear God with trembling. But fear that torments God's child, is not from God. The fear you have for a tyrant is not the same kind of fear you have for God. But fear is much more than respect.

Blessings,

Mark

good post mount.

l

Quaffer said:

The Bible says the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. I believe this type of fear is respect to the point of knowing that He could full well take you out but chooses instead to love you and allows you to get to know Him and be molded into His image.

As His children we do not need to be terrified of Him, such as like an abusive parent. But we do need to understand that He says what He means and He means what He says.

There are ramifications to disobedience. The law of reaping and sowing is in motion constantly. For good and for bad. If we sow disobedience then we need to know that we will reap disobedience. That can manifest in many ways. And that should strike in us the type of fear that would keep us from doing what we know to be destructive to us. The scripture says, all things are allowed but not all things are beneficial. We are free to do what is right and no longer a slave to sin.

As His children, we have the priviledge of repenting and being welcomed into His arms with full forgiveness. Our sins to never be remembered against us.

He pulls us up out of the muck, sets our feet on a solid rock and lights the path so that we will no longer stumble. We have no need to be in terror of this God as long as we're walking with Him.

As far as material to read, I'm only familiar with the Bible. Get a concordance and look up all the times it references fear of the Lord. Then ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the understanding.

Be blessed.

Quaffer

Click to expand...

I totally agree with this statement