Should we be afraid of God? What does the Bible mean when it talks about fear of God? What is this fear?
Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him.
Deuteronomy 8:6
At the beginning of my reconciliation with Christ, I had a hard time understanding what that fear really was. A super important theme that leads us to have respect and zeal for what comes from God.
Shall we talk a little about it?
Being afraid vs. Fear of God
When we know our God and understand who He is, we may be afraid of Him, but we cannot stay in that stage of fright! Why?
According to psychology, being afraid is related to an involuntary and natural reaction that is associated with the survival instinct. It is related to self-preservation (action or reaction to preserve one’s existence).
So if we do things to and from God for being afraid, we are doing it with the mindset to preserve our own life, and not out of love for Him.
That is exactly where fear comes in!
Ok. But what is the fear of God?
“Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore fear God.”
Ecclesiastes 5:7
Through several passages, the Bible shows us that we must fear God and explains what is the fear!
Fear God is to reverence and zeal for His things! The fear of God must not lead us to a position of dread, but a position of love and reverence.
When we understand who God is, we must bow in reverence and do his will because we love him and we understand that his will is good, perfect and pleasant.
We need not be afraid of God, because he loves us, wants our good and has the best for us. However, respect and zeal for the things of the Lord must be rooted in our minds and hearts, lest we sin against Him (Psalm 119: 11).
Without fear …
From the moment we have no fear of God, we don’t take seriously what comes from him and we don’t see how bad the consequences of sin are0. A life without fear of God is a life without love for Him and distant from Him.
If we truly fear God, we will enter into a relationship of deep love for Him. This will lead us to follow the right path and live a life according to His plans.
“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind.”
Ecclesiastes 12:13
Grace and Peace.
May God give me the Grace to fear Him
Amen, keep on blessing us
I believe the message to fear God is a little more involved then just being afraid of God. I think it’s more the Wrath of God and that needs to be feared and I believe what he wants us to learn in the teachings is to fear our sinful ways. Intern I believe by doing that it shows that we are living righteously not out of fear rather out of obedience and by doing so showing how much we love God that way we would reject our own want and worldly temptations to live more Christlike.
If we were to claim to be Christians only fear God when we do repent it would be as the saying ” you’re not sorry you did wrong, you’re sorry you got caught.”
Jesus says ” the most important of the comands is love God fully with all you mind heart and strength “. If we are to love God fully then there is no space left for fear. Just as we are taught in ” there is no fear in love. God loves us and just as the things or people we love we do not want those to fear us when we want them to love us back. If they did it would always raise question of genuineness of the acts and likely only be while in our presence. When things are done out of love they are done because it is right and with care within our hearts whether amongst others or in complete solitude. So I say LOVE GOD. FEAR SIN. Otherwise fall victim to your own demise when you will face Gods wrath and that my brothers and sisters in Christ is a scary thought.
Hey there, my dear!
I believe only in the the teachings of the Bible (teachings of God), and there are many verses that tell us explicitly to fear God (Deuteronomy 6:24; Psalms 31:19; Psalms 112:1; Psalms115:13; Psalms 128:1-4; Proverbs 10:27; Proverbs 19:23; Luke 1:50; Isiah 33:6; Malachi 3:16-17; and the list goes on and on)! The fear of God is not being afraid of Him, it is to reverence him, have zeal for the things that come from Him and do whats He tell’s us todo, for love!
We are also not called to fear sin, we are called to hate sin (Psalms 97:10; Romans 12:9; proverbs 8:13; and the list goes on and on)! We only fear what we respect, so if we fear sin, we are respecting it and that is not whats God called us to do! We must have every sinful way and everything that is evil!
May our God bless you, my dear brother/sister!
God is love, that is why we should love him and his words. He first loved us. So my take is that we should fear him cos there is no body that can love and protect us the way he those. Then been AFRAID. This is a reflex action, as MIGHTY as my God, if I am afraid of him is a sign of respect. And also a sign that I know him and understands his ways. Thanks.
Waoooo. This is so so lovely. I now understand the difference between fear of God and been Afraid of God. I fear God because I reverence and love him. Thanks so much for this write up. God bless you.
Thank you for teaching me more of God’s word, I love this and may God increase your wisdom in his words.
Good is good all the time.
Hi Brothers and sisters,
I thank you so much for those vers. The y really herpme… May God bless you more and more!!!
I’m presently in hospital with my husband who’s kidneys failed and had a heart attack. Iv been here since Sunday. My husband giving up and wants to die. Your article beautiful written and remind me that I have fear and reverence for His presence and thus cover my situation with praise toward Him. He is God and I am not.
Prayers for you and your husband. May the peace of God have His perfect way in your life.
Hi Dora!remember God won’t let you in this situation yourself, hi will be always with you dear.
Lovely…God bless ..you young man
Amen. Keep spreading the word Leo. God bless you more🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾
A place of belonging, for His WORD prevails & doesn’t return void💓👀
Wholeheartedly communioning with God✡demonstrates pure heartedness & directs relationship between our Creators🕊will & human desire to be more like His purposes’ 🕆fo our Father
Thank you.
Well said👍😇🙏
Very timely. God bless you. More grace!
I always thought that the fear of God was the respect for God Has one of the bloggers has noted. There are a lot of scriptures that talk about. The ones the claim to be Christians aren’t really the ones that are saved. So let us all. Be mindful. That although the gift of Salvation is free. We must follow what Christ said. And try to follow as he leads.
I’m sure that this message I read is so rich because I believe it’s coming from Above👏👏👏
This topic has always created confusion among Christians, I have seen many paralyzed by fear to make a move in their lives because they think they would lose their salvation. But that’s dangerous as Jesus said: I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance.
Like to read that a young man can see how important is the respect for the things of God, and I fear Him because his mighty power, His presence all over the universe and my little mind not able to comprehend all his love and mercy for the human race. Thanks Leo for your blog.
Amen and Amen!
God is our Father, it is no difference from being afraid of what dad would say. I love righteousness. It the way to fall in love with goodness.
Thanks leo Blessed
Thank you! And God bless you, I sure needed to know this! To help me understand the love of God is fear him!
Timely. Good. Thank you. God bless you.
Very deep article. You can save people with this May God bless you as you continue doing his work.
George
God bless you! This is just what I needed
Wise words from someone so young. Thank you and may God bless you.
A very good point. The bible clearly says that our God who sent His Son to die as a propitiation sacrifice to save us from the eternal consequence of our sin, also judges unrepentant sinners (see Heb 10:26-31).
So it follows that we who are saved must be afraid of incurring Gods wrath by deliberately turning away from God and returning to thr sinful way of life that we had been saved from.
Thanks be to God that it’s never too late to turn back to God and receive forgiveness. He is the God of second chance!
(1John:1:8-10)
May jesus and God bless you🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
REMOVING from what it is helps things no better. Precisely the Greatness of God, His Righteousness, Bountiful Mercies, His Kindness and the Undying Love to Mankind are just few out of things that made God Awesome. Hence the term ‘Fear’ here, could meant being dreaful in all ramifications, be it Physical, Spiritual, Mystery or whatever, the radiance is just all encompassing. He must be feared an obeyed. He must be referenced in our respect for being high and above our imaginations. Think of when Moses went up on the Mount to take the Ten Commandment, no one was allowed to come close, not even to touch the mountain. Such are the preference of His Holiness to be dreaded by Man and not to be lowered for man’s Insubordination. A Child who highly referend his Parent will fear operating outside the confined of their Instructions. That’s exactly what it’s.
Thank tour Leo
Most Christians stand meanwhile in job and have Double fears. One fear gainst laws of government and society behaviour rules. Other one fear gainst or respect with demands christ jesus demanded to imitate from him or his students and followers…
Gott zum gruß amen
Thanks for sharing this information
God bless you Leo
It’s awesome to be in love with Jehovah Yawheh. Reverencing God allows Him to minister to us in a extraordinary way.
NO enough words to explain it!! But let’s desire to be God’s friends and worship Him in truth and in the spirit.
Thank you, Amen to what you said!
Thank you Leo.
This is a very nice article.God bless you.
Awesome bro
Well this sounds good but it says work out your salvation with fear and trembling suggesting things contrary to what is said here. Then it goes deeper into then who is saved those with assurance but not the ones who merely fear God, anyway you said should regarding fear for our love for God, anyway its all very complicated. I won’t stop believing in Jesus but the new testament is hard, the good news is ALL WHO BELIEVE IN ME WILL BE SAVED, but then many verses suggesting not all believers will be saved. I’ll make the most of any fear I have but I’d prefer to get better and enter into the joy
Thanks for this. God bless your ministry 🙏
Continue to do the work for God. Never be afraid. He will guide you.