Holy Fear & Hillsong
“How joyful are those who fear the Lord and delight in obeying His commands.” psalm 112:1
A theme in my Bible reading lately has been the “fear of the Lord.” It keeps popping up, and I have found when that happens, I should pay attention.
Proverbs tells us that the fear of the Lord is how we start to find wisdom, and wisdom is the foundation for life. 1 Peter 1:17 tells us we must live in reverent fear of God while we are temporary residents on earth. That term “reverent fear” in Greek is [phobos] - yes, as in phobia. We usually think of phobias as bad and terrorizing- as in things that halt people’s lives, so how can we see it as good in this context?
Because it does halt our lives! It’s a good thing that a holy fear of God, a posture in awe of Him, halts my self-centered life and my short-sighted ways. Apart from that holy fear, I will start to get comfortable here on earth, and instead of His kingdom come, His will be done, I’ll be seeking out my own kingdom, one where everything decays, one where nothing lasts.
We aren’t made for this worldly kingdom. This life on earth is temporary. We are made for His eternal kingdom. We know this to be true because we “long for a better country” (Hebrews 11:6) with a loving King of kings and a gracious Lord of lords, one whom we revere yet love.
This past week we watched the Hillsong documentary on Hulu. It was hard to watch the destructive path of many in authority and to see the fall out for parishioners and students. What struck me as it concluded were the handful of people who said, in so many words, “I no longer have a fear of what God will do to me or what will happen to me. I have nothing to do with God.” I felt equally sad that they had been living out a faith that seemed to just be about heaven & hell and that they seemed so flippant about a personal, reverent, holy fear of the Lord, one that puts us in right position as the created one, not the Creator.
These hurt people unfortunately saw leadership models who weren’t humble enough to recognize a Godly fear of the Lord. They weren’t taught that holy fear leads to wisdom and joy!
So I’m left to ask God, reverently, what are you saying to me as I see this theme throughout scripture? Why are you leading me to those words in both the Old and New Testaments? I believe my right posture is to listen with holy fear and to study and remember my place as a sojourner, a disciple and the beloved of the good King of kings!
