The Risk of Fearing God

The idea that human fear is intimately associated with God may sound and appear as either an anomaly or a contradiction. In a worldview understanding of fear, God would be typically referenced by saying his name in vain and thus breaking the second commandment due to the cause of the fear experienced. Even more, fear as a human act would be associated with being afraid of God, not because he is the alpha and omega, but instead of what he can do to you if you cross Him. Hence, a misunderstanding of fear or being afraid of God because he might do something to you, which already implies guilt, may resonate more with the common masses.

In the book of Leviticus, there is a dialogue between God and Moses where God directs Moses to tell the entire congregation of the sons of Israel on the necessity and importance of living a holy and moral life. He emphasizes this point by reminding Moses to tell Israel, I am the Lord your God.[1] Within this discourse, God reminds Moses of the necessity of Israel to fear God above all things as a way to honor God as Father.[2] Something is intriguing about God’s discourse with Moses. He reminds Moses that a fear of the Lord is a way of knowing Him more intimately. Instead of being afraid of God, a genuine fear of God is an acknowledgement of the loving God who is both Creator and Father.

One of the misconceptions about expressing a genuine fear of God is its negative connotation that God is not loving or merciful. This could not be further from the truth, as revealed through His Son Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, who would be offered as a sacrifice for the sins of humanity. A genuine understanding of the fear of God is the relationship with the gift of grace. If properly ordered and thought, fear of the Lord is a direct path to the grace of God’s love. This means that if we truly understand the power of God’s love, we would embrace it with fear and trembling and, in turn, proclaim Him with fear and trembling. We are reminded of this in the second Psalm, where the author is assumed to be King David, tells us the following,

Serve the Lord with fear and trembling, rejoice, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled.[3]

The book of Proverbs provides us with several fruitful examples of the grace associated with a proper understanding of how the Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.[4] The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil[5], and the Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.[6] These examples directly address our human condition and how sin and our response to embrace sin can quickly cloud our ability to understand the sovereignty of God and possess a properly ordered fear of Him. The risk of fearing God means that all of our supposed fears that may appear to paralyze us in some ways do not compare to the Fear of the Lord, which allows us to take all of our misplaced fears and surrender them to Him. The Catechism reminds us that Fear of the Lord is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and is ordered to Christ and makes the faithful docile in readily obeying divine inspirations.[7]

The Fear of God is not a detriment to our ability to live life to the fullest; on the contrary, with a willingness to acknowledge that you and I were made in God’s image and likeness out of pure love, fear of the Lord is a reciprocation of this love by us as direct profession and proclamation that God is love. If we come to know and understand that a Fear of the Lord is a gift of grace that no one should be afraid of, then any fear of carrying the Cross of Christ is abated. I would dare say that the way of the Cross would be joyfully accepted and embraced because it unites us more intimately with God the Father through God the Son, Jesus Christ. It is not a coincidence that after Pentecost, filled with the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Apostles began their post-ascension Apostolic journey with every believer present receiving the gift of fear associated with many signs and wonders.[8]

In his first Epistle, St. Peter reminds us how holy living is intimately associated with a conduct in holy fear,

Therefore, gird up your minds, be sober, set your hope fully upon the grace that is coming to you are the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct, since it is written, You shall be holy as I am holy. And if you invoke as Father him who judges each impartially according to his deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile.[9]

The ultimate risk of fearing God is a conversion of heart toward Him and nothing or no one else.

To love God as he ought to be loved, we must be detached from all temporal love. We must love nothing but Him, or if we love anything else, we must love it only for His sake.

St. Peter Claver, Slave of the Slaves