Tag: fear

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Bound to Life Through Fear of the Lord

The fear of the Lord is THE beginning. We first come upon this phrase in Proverbs 1. These words fall at the end of Solomon’s introduction to this collection of instructions. Eugene Peterson, the pastor-teacher who produced The Message translation of the Bible, indicates that the “fear of the Lord” is a “bound” phrase – it is not to be dissected. These words, in the Hebrew text of the Old Testament, are always viewed as a whole. Fear of the Lord points to relationship, to responsive living. That is, we hear from God and answer Him.

This began in Eden with Adam. He heard from the Lord: “Be fruitful and multiply. … Dress and keep the garden. … Name all the animals. … Eat from all the trees, but do not eat from this one, lest you die.” These things Adam did. He listened and responded until the day that he was distracted by another voice. His faith had rested in the Voice, in the words of the One who made him. On the day described in Genesis 3, however, Adam misplaced his trust. He gathered “new” information from the serpent, who had tricked Eve with his word-play and enticed her to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The man and the woman heard and responded to the initiations of another and chose to turn from the words of the One who had made them.

The serpent enticed Adam to enter into suspicion about the motives and character of the Lord, our Maker. At once, Adam died a death – his innocence was gone and his sense of trust expired. The security of life in paradise was overthrown.

Adam felt the effects immediately. Shame overwhelmed him as he analyzed his “perfect” body. He and the woman ran into the trees and fashioned bits of clothing from the leaves.

What did they cover up? They tried to hide away the very parts of their being that were designed for their purpose to “be fruitful and multiply.” And so began man’s over-occupation and distortion of what human bodies are made for. Society – families, communities, cities, states, and nations – groan under the weight of mangled misperceptions related to our skin and bones, and to our sexuality, which God designed as very good.

Fear Fell

What fell first? Adam dropped his fear of the Lord. He let the enemy’s accusations about God cloud his relationship with the Lord and, as a result, the man became unresponsive. What entered into Adam now was a perception of unworthiness. He felt that he could not face God and so he hid. The man and the woman had begun to experience the fear that has torment. Their sense of disorder and lost-ness was immediately a great weight upon them.

In the midst of this disaster, however, we discover the thread of hope.

God did not leave Adam and Eve in the jungle of their wrong decision. He came after them. “Adam, where are you?” He sought after His lost children. The Good Shepherd went to fetch the ones who had strayed away. With this initiation, God began the process of redemption; He started His work to restore “fear of the Lord.”

The bit of good news in all of this begins with this sentence from Adam’s lips: “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

We can mark this as the first confession in our Bibles. This is the monumental moment in the Redemptive purpose: Adam answered when God called to him; he heard and he answered. Response is the key element in our “fear of the Lord.”

Adam responded; it was the beginning of the restoration of man’s true understanding of God.

Faith and Hearing

Fear of the Lord – it is the key to everything we are about.

Our ears do the heavy work in developing this right fear in us. Jesus was once asked about the greatest of the commandments. In the gospel of Mark, He answered this way:  “The first of all the commandments is:  ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:28-31).

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. We listen; we learn. We discover the love of God. This throws our human fears out the door.

Fear of the Lord begins with our understanding of the Person of Jesus Christ. He is the Christ, the Savior of the World, the Son of the Living God. Once we set our minds upon this Rock of Truth, we become settled. Once we grasp this reality, what enters us is a respect for who the Lord is. We honor His character and nature. Our lives then become lives of integrity – honesty, transparency, and faithfulness define who we are because we know who He is.

 

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Quietness and Confidence

I can remember the hush that characterized the traditional church in which I was raised. Weekly, our family attended the services and participated in what was a serious, solemn, and predicable program. The name of Christ was mentioned often and together the attendees recited the ancient Creed that dated to the Apostles and sang ancient songs.

There were incidents of rambunctiousness among the children at hand. These were met with stern shushes and steely, death ray kinds of gazes. Quietness was the order of the room, and it was to be maintained. I learned this and came to respect and even cherish it.

During my early teens, I started paying more attention. Walking home from a friend’s one afternoon, I saw people driving in for the service and felt moved. It seemed I was being drawn to the place. So I decided to go right to church. I wasn’t really dressed for the event, but I didn’t even think about that at all. I just wanted to be there, right then. There was no hesitation. It seems I was prepared for this moment.

I went in, sat down, and listened. The hush enveloped me and, perhaps, for the first time I sensed the presence of God. I left the service feeling as if I had been with Someone, with Him.

It was a beginning. I believe the Spirit awakened something in me that day. I want to be careful how I describe this. Was this a divine spark? That sounds too new age and cosmic. Besides that, sparks fly upward and die out quickly — provided they don’t land on something flammable and bring disaster. This was more than that. It was start of God shaping me for His building.

Rest and Strength

There was a mystical quality about it, and all these years later I can still recall the place, the time, the experience with clarity. And as I remember, I am grateful for the quietness, the solemnity of it all. I think the people there really wanted something from God and wanted to do something for God, so they came and prayed, came and sang, came and said the words. Only the Lord knows how many of them really meant the words they said and sang, and how many really called upon Him to be saved.

That is a matter too high for me, too high for any of us really. The point of this is the quietness, the hush in the Lord’s processes. The prophet Isaiah wrote this to the people of Israel: “…in returning and rest you shall be saved, in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength … ” (Isaiah 30:15). Elijah heard God as a “still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12).

It’s a cacophonous time we live in. So many voices saying so many things drive some to crank up the volume or utter something gross and outrageous just to get a hearing. Go large, go big, or don’t go at all is the spirit of the age. Quiet, small, consistent ways are being crowded out.

We can read in 1 Kings the detailed account of how Solomon guided the building of the great temple at Jerusalem. There, in 1 Kings 6, the atmosphere of the construction site is described. There was no hammer, chisel, or saw heard at the site. All of the stones for the building were quarried elsewhere. Once, prepared and shaped, each stone was brought and fitted into place in the temple structure.

Peace in Construction

Even in construction, the house of the Lord was not a place of noise. The Church of Jesus is defined through a number of New Testament pictures. One of these pictures is that of a building, as we read in Ephesians 2:18-22:

“For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.

Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God;

And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;

In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:

In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.”

The Spirit moves among us and draws together strangers and foreigners into a citizenship of communion in Christ, our Cornerstone. In Him, we are framed together as a habitation of God. People who would by nature remain distant and detached find themselves at home with God and with each other in His assemblies.

The preparation of God’s saints happens here and there, in different ways and timeframes. The building comes together perfectly and properly according to sovereign order of the Lord. He knows who belongs where and what time to put them in place.

The Lord’s Work

I have to confess that I have at times tried to help the Lord with His preparations. Ignoring God’s counsel to prefer the other one, to forbear with long suffering and patience, I can try to make others into something they were not meant to be. When it really comes down to it, I want to make them like me. Psalm 115 defines this as the essence of idolatry: “They that make [idols] are like unto them; so is every one that trusts them” (Psalm 115:8).

The Lord’s work in people is precise and right. His anointing flows from the Head, Christ Jesus, all the way to the edges. The oil of the Spirit touches His people from top to bottom. His still, quiet work is the one we should view with confidence and hope.