"But the Lord
of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be
your dread." (Isaiah 8:13).
There are many
verses like this in the Bible ... verses that say we should fear God ... that
our natural response would be to fall down in His presence and tremble.
Some folks are more
than a little uncomfortable with this. They say things like, "What kind of
God is that?! He wants us to FEAR Him?! I don't want to believe in a God like
THAT!"
Yet, they fail to
realize the beauty of it. They fail to see that this is what the human heart
longs to experience.
Imagine that you
were in a high political office and were invited by a high ranking general to
view a top-secret military location. You followed him through a multitude of
metal doors as you also made your way down various flights of stairs.
When you came to a
final door, the general halted, looked you in the eye and said, "Hear that
hum?" Yes, you hear it. It was almost deafening. He said, "Behind
this door is a new type of weapon. It's been recently developed. It is so powerful
that it would make the atom bomb look like a Fourth of July firecracker that
failed. This weapon could easily blow up an entire continent."
Your jaw dropped.
Your eyes widened. Your mouth begin to feel very dry and your knees were
shaking. As he punched the code into the door lock, you almost found yourself
saying, “No! Hold on a second. We don’t need to go in that room. I’m good.”
But, he opens the door and invites you in.
There it is! This
massive weapon that was putting off that loud humming noise. And as you viewed
it, you were filled with a multitude of emotions, just a few of which were awe,
fear, elation and humility. And while you would find yourself ready to call the
visit to a close and get out of there, you would notice at a later time that
you wanted to go back for a visit. Such power that evoked such fear was almost
intoxicating. You would also find that everything inside you would want to tell
others of your experience.
Simply put, if we
don't fear God, then it's not the God of the Bible. If we properly understand
the God of the Bible in His holiness and power, He will often cause us to have
the same sort of emotions described in the story above. If He never does, then the
"god" we have in our minds and hearts is a "god" of our own
imaginations.
There are more than
a few Bible teachers and preachers who think it is not to their benefit to
speak of a God that needs to be feared. But, in so doing, they rob their
listeners of the joy of knowing such a holy and powerful God that SHOULD strike
fear in the hearts of all who know Him … and they LOVE it!
"But the Lord
of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be
your dread." (Isaiah 8:13).
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