The Fear Of God

Psalm 34:11 Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

I am sure so many in the faith are still confused by this statement. They face a like-pole magnetism effect when they read one part in the Bible saying ‘Draw near to God and He will draw near to thee’ and then find another saying ‘The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him.’

How can I draw near something I must fear?

The Hebrew word for fear is YIR’AH. It also means awe, reverence and respect.

It doesn’t mean we must be afraid of God in a manner that we hide from Him (like Adam did), or that He’s out to get us off guard. That’s primarily what the law caused. For when men broke any of the ten, or any of the 613 other laws of the Mitzvah, they were expectant of God’s judgement. By default the literal fear, was inevitable.

I mean, in His anger, He caused the earth to swallow up three thousand people who rebelled against Moses. Mercy was sometimes non-negotiable with Him.

In the Garden of Eden, we see an expression of love between God and Adam. That is the way He yearns to relate with every single one of us. When Adam was afraid, God asked Him why. The sequel to that was the eviction from Eden’s garden, but God missed companionship. And so, as generations came out of Adam, He set a plan to have us all eligible to commune with Him having dealt with the sin that stood between us and Him through Christ.

The Yir’ah of God gets new meaning therefore. For when grace came, many threw away the wrath of God; and so think He is all lovey dovey even when they continue to embrace sin.

But not to get in too deep with what’s ethical, if yir’ah also means ‘to respect’, then I have a solution to the contradiction. If you have crossed over beyond the veil; and are in a relationship with God as clearly indicated as that existing between the man and woman in Song of Solomon, respecting goes beyond presence of the other lover.

There was a point the man was locked out the house. He knocked persistently, but the woman was asleep and lazy to open the door. It was long after the man left that she rose up to go look for him.

If it was today’s setting, in an African culture, and the woman was in her right mind, it’d be contemptible. But because a spouse remembers perhaps how hard it was to win over the in-laws from the other side, she’d do her best to be in line, to avoid the whole ‘we warned you about her!’

Even if the husband works in a different country, or region far from the woman, she does her best to keep her ring on, acting in the most way appropriate.

Now turn over, and apply that to God.

Sadly, many are living for the moment when He will be visible. Many forget that His invisibility doesn’t mean His absence. Thus, even behind locked doors, we must be so conscious of His presence. If we are one with Him, we must be aware, that He is with us if we engage in sin, or in righteousness.

I’ll compare Him to my African parents. My uncle has raised us up in such a strict manner, that even when he is away, I hear his voice or imagine his picture; saying what he would have said if he was where I was. This yir’ah has taught many to (for example) abstain from sex before marriage.

What would my parents say? They’d be thinking.

Both my parents’ siblings have had most give birth out of wedlock, and that’s a pattern my parents were strongly against. Now that we are grown, and are living far from home, we carry the consciousness of what they would not want us to repeat, and so, we avoid so much anything that would end us in a state as such.

This matter crosses into areas such as dress code. Partly, influenced by our parents’ upbringing, and also; the holiness DNA.

Some christian girls dress up and expose some body parts and one can clearly tell they didn’t mind whatever their Heavenly Father would say about it! The Holy Spirit helps us voice the Invisible Father’s heart however, for He is His Spirit, and so He knows what He (the Father) thinks.

I hear His conviction most of the time. About what I should wear, what I should not say, what conversations I should not engage in, what movies to quickly switch off … and so much more. This means; even if I have not seen God physically, or if I’m the bride of Christ, and He is away in Heaven (like a husband working upcountry), I must still live in a way that honors Him.

In summary, the fear of God is like the sun. When you travel while looking at it, it seems to be looking at you, never losing sight of you. Even if you are in a building or in a valley, you are still CONSCIOUS that the sun is shinning. Even if it rains, or night befalls … you are knowledgeable that it’s just the earth that has turned its back to the sun, but the sun didn’t move an inch.

Being conscious that He is with you and in you, always, (and not only on Sundays when you come to a church building) positions you by default, to act according to His convictions: from decency to public presentation. We like blaming girls for being indecent, but many guys wear erotic or salacious attire in public.

When attending a Maverick City concert last year, one of the guy backups had a shirt on unbuttoned till below the chest.

There was nothing holy about that!

Personally, I have been so convicted about public presentation especially in this social media era, where, men preach the love of God in vests, exposing their vascular pecs. In the long run, the listener gets distracted by many other things except the main message.

When I imagine myself preaching that way, I literally see God’s eyes cutting through me. For those who do it, I’m not condemning them, that is why I stress the word ‘personally’ … keeping in mind that we have been raised in cultures divers and our consecrations are all individualistic.

Even before I wonder what God would say, I know my friends and family would text concernedly about it. But moreover, His word is clear about external adornment.

God being invisible, yet present is what made Joseph flee when Potiphar’s wife threw herself on him. It is why the Hebrew boys refused to bow down to the statue of Nebuchadnezzar. It is why Daniel refused to stop praying thrice a day. Of course all these landed the subjects into some sort of trouble, but God honors those who fear Him!

When we respect Him, with covenant devotion (like how I mentioned a wife’s commitment to a far-away-husband), He honors us; for we have set our hearts on Him (Psalm 91:14).

But we have not only respected Him. We have pleased Him. Hebrews 11:6 says the only thing that pleases Him is our faith; and faith is the evidence of things unseen. When we dress right, talk right, act right, we show evidence of His holiness: an invisible God, dwelling amongst a visible people.

And when we please Him with our living (for faith without deeds is dead), He promises rewards.

No wonder Joseph was elevated to the second highest office in Egypt. No wonder the Hebrew boys and Daniel were honored in a manner akin.

So, in a world where you are tempted to take bribes, to be corrupt, to create a third lane on the road, to take the extra change when the vendor has given you more than is yours …keep yir’ah-ing and obeying the Invisible God and acting according to His private convictions. Your reward from Him will be seen publicly by the whole wide world!

The fear of the Lord is the invisible factor that will restrain or convict one from both visible or invisible entices of sin. It is what will keep your spouse from harlotry. It is what will keep your child from waywardness. It is what will keep your employee streamlined. And it is what will keep you from all these things, if you are all those things … without unnecessary threats or surveillance being exercised or exerted your way.

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

Psalm 34:9-10 O fear the LORD, ye his saints: For there is no want to them that fear him. The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: But they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing.