The Fear of The Lord - part 2

   Fear is a tool that can be used in many different ways, it is something that is used every single day, without Fear our world would be in utter chaos. It is not the written laws that keep people from breaking them, but rather the punishment of breaking them that creates fear. When you drive up to a street light and stop when the light turns red, it is the fear of getting a ticket or even crashing in to another car that keeps you from running the red light. Naturally we would teach believers that with crime (created by law) there is punishment. God created the ten commandments so there has to be some sort of punishment for breaking those commandments right? Yes, God did reign down Fire and brimstone on those that he felt were no longer worthy of holding his commandments. Why? To create fear in the hearts of man so that they would understand that God was not playing around when it came to his word.

What else is created when you create Fear? There is a positive and negative for everything in this world, a good and evil, a yin and a yang. With fear there is always a hint of trust. when that red light turns green you are trusting that the other street light is red for the other drivers and you will be able to drive straight ahead without fear of an accident. So in a way you remove Fear and replace it with trust. But what happens when you combine the two? If you are about to walk across the street and the light across from you is blinking saying that it is okay to cross the street now because all the lights are red, how do you know that the person driving the car coming towards you will stop? You don't, you trust that the lights are all red because you see that they are red, but you fear that if the person driving that car doesn't stop , they might end up hitting you. So what is it that gets you to walk across the street then? FAITH! It is what I like to call the By-product of Fear and Trust.

Let's define Faith, Trust and Fear - according to the World Enlgish Dictionary on Dictionary.com

Trust is:
1.Confidence or trust in a person or thing
2.Belief that is not based on proof
3.a person or thing in which confidence or faith is placed
4.the obligation of someone in a responsible position:
5.reliance on and confidence in the truth, worth, reliability, etc, of a person or thing; faith Related

Fear is:
1.reverential awe, especially toward God: the fear of God.
2.something that causes feelings of dread or apprehension; something a person is afraid of
3.concern or anxiety

Faith is:
1. strong or unshakeable belief in something, especially without proof or evidence
2. a specific system of religious beliefs: the Jewish faith
3. Christianity-  trust in God and in his actions and promises
4. a conviction of the truth of certain doctrines of religion, especially when this is not based on reason
5. complete confidence or trust in a person, remedy, etc
6. Any set of firmly held principles or beliefs

Let us take the first definition and apply it to how we operate today. We have complete faith in police officers or officers of the law, to do the right thing and punish those who have broken the laws. That is an example of having trust in a person. Now the second two definitions can pretty much go together, because you cant really physically prove the existence of God right? I mean nobody has seen his face, the only evidence we have of a living physical God on earth was Jesus Christ and none of us were around to see and speak to Jesus. To me there is always that slight Fear of the unknown when it comes to Faith, I mean if you cant prove something then how do you know it exists right? If someone tells you don't worry I will take care of it, how do you know for sure the job is going to get done? You don't really know, but you "hope" that he will do his best but you still have "concern" or even "anxiety" towards him not getting it done.

What do all three definitions have in common? They are all used in some reference towards God. You cant talk about Trust without talking about Faith and when you talk about Faith it is almost always referenced to religion and God. What happens when we talk about God? We talk about people or religions needing to have the "The Fear of God".

So all these things are tied together in one way or another, fear will help to create faith and within faith we can find trust. Isn't it funny how that works out? People think all the time that fearing God means to fear his wrath, but that could not be further from the truth at all. I was brought up to think that way as well, my father always would talk about having the fear of God or "Putting the Fear of God" in someone. People would associate that as being a bad thing, that without the "Fear of God" believers would go off the path and do horrible things. That is not what God has been trying to tell us at all, I have been trying to figure this out for myself for a long time now, and it has finally come to me, through the prayers of myself and my father, and the wisdom that God has blessed me with, in studying his word with an open mind. Having the Fear of God is just the beginning of what God wants in his relationship with you!


Read - The Fear of The Lord part 3 - Tomorrow!
Be sure to read Part 1 as well!