The Fear of the LORD

Psalm 119:120 
My flesh trembles for fear of You, And I am afraid of Your judgments.

I'm skipping around a lot as I write about this Psalm, just taking whatever verse strikes me particularly as the next theme. This week, I was influenced by the sermon I heard on Sunday, all about the fear of the Lord. As I listened, I wondered what Psalm 119 had to say about fearing the Lord, and sure enough, here is a whole verse devoted to the subject!

This fear is no casual thing: "my flesh trembles", says the Psalmist. A similar expression is used in Job 4:14-15: "Fear came upon me, and trembling,  Which made all my bones shake. Then a spirit passed before my face; The hair on my body stood up." Similar idioms we use today are "it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up" or "my skin crawl". The phrase I like to express this idea is "a shiver of awe", because this is not a "scared" fear, but a deep awe and reverence. 

Fear not with a slavish fear, but an awful fear, composed of reverence and love.

—Thomas Manton

The direction of this fear is crucial. It is directed towards God, the only proper object of such a profound emotion. We are not to fear man, the Bible tells us in Matthew 10:28: "And be not afraid of them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Fear of men brings a snare, as Proverbs 29:25 states, but the fear of the Lord will drive out the fear of men. 

Is. 8:12-13 “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.

As Christians, under the new covenant, do we still need to be afraid of God's judgments? There are many reasons why we ought to fear the Lord.

1. It is the beginning of wisdom.

Prov. 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

Prov. 9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Prov. 15:33 The fear of the LORD teaches a man wisdom, and humility comes before honor. 

To live our lives skillfully, we need to fear the Lord. We see many examples of God's judgment throughout the Bible, and when we apply that knowledge to our own actions, we can structure our lives to be pleasing in God's eyes, rather than displeasing. 

2. It protects us in many ways.

To fear the Lord is to hate evil (Prov. 8:13), and by the fear of the Lord we can turn away from evil (Prov. 16:6). Just as young children are kept from doing bad or harmful things by fear of their parents, our fear of God's judgment makes it easier to walk away from sin. It also gives us "strong confidence", and is a refuge not only for the one who fears, but for his children as well (Prov. 14:26). Do not underestimate the power of fearing the Lord. It is a fountain of life (Prov. 14:27), and it prolongs our life (Prov. 10:27).

3. It gives us perspective.

When our focus is on God, it is easier to see what truly has value:

Prov. 15:16-17 Better is a little with the fear of the LORD,  Than great treasure with trouble.

Better is a dinner of herbs where love is,  Than a fatted calf with hatred.

Those things which have true value are our reward:

Prov. 22:4 By humility and the fear of the LORD  Are riches and honor and life.

1Tim. 6:6  Now godliness with contentment is great gain.

We are looking towards eternity:

Prov. 23:17-18  Do not let your heart envy sinners,  But be zealous for the fear of the LORD all the day; For surely there is a hereafter,  And your hope will not be cut off.

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If we want the benefits that come with fearing the Lord—if we want wisdom, protection, and perspective as we live our lives—how do we get this fear? It comes from reading and studying the Bible:

Prov. 2:1-5 My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments within you...yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding...then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. (emphasis added)

This is a simple "if...then" statement; it's not complicated!

Ecclesiastes 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

Psalm 119:1

Blessed are the undefiled in the way,  Who walk in the law of the LORD!

Psalm 119 starts with the idea of blessedness. This is a significant pattern, found throughout Hebrew writing: it is the way the whole book of Psalms starts in Psalm 1, the way Jesus opens the Sermon on the Mount, and the way Paul begins many of his letters to the early church. It is an important idea, and one we need to understand.

Everyone wants to be blessed.¹ Whether a person is a believer or not, all our lives are spent seeking contentment and satisfaction—one could call it "the pursuit of happiness"—and that is what the word "blessed" means in this passage. Unfortunately, without the grace of God it is impossible to find this blessedness. People try, of course, but they are either trying to make themselves happy in the wrong way, or they do not even recognize real happiness when they see it. God's way to blessedness is hard, yes, but the world's way simply doesn't work, as the Preacher points out many times in Ecclesiastes. 

Eccles. 1:14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind. 

Eccles. 2:1 I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure”; but surely, this also was vanity.

The false happiness that the world offers will never truly satisfy a longing heart. "Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy?" Isaiah asks, and Paul reminds us  in 1 Timothy 6:9-10 that the pleasures of this life (specifically the pursuit of riches) will cause us to stray, and will drown us if we love them too much.

So if the world cannot offer blessedness, what is the way to obtain it? The Psalmist tells us quite plainly: being undefiled in the way. He then further defines "way" as "walking in the law of the LORD. But what does it mean to be undefiled? The Bible states many times that no one is without sin, throughout both the Old and New Testaments.

Prov. 20:9 Who can say, “I have made my heart clean,  I am pure from my sin”? 

Psalm 130:3 If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O LORD, who could stand? 

Rom. 3:23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 

1 John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 

Being undefiled does not mean we have never sinned. Our sin is covered by Christ's righteousness, and we are to guard our hearts, and keep ourselves pure, searching for sin and uprooting it when we find it, with the help of His Spirit. This purity of heart is not a one-time event, it is a day-by-day walk, and we have to be consistent. There is no room for picking and choosing with God's laws, either. If you accept His right to set the rules, you must accept them all, whether or not they are popular, the ones that are difficult to follow as well as those that are easy.

Now, whether you are looking at the Christian life from the inside or the outside, this may not feel like the best way to be happy. Following a bunch of rules? How does this lead to blessedness?

First, we are blessed because of our assured future eternal state: we will see God, as Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:8, and we cannot see Him without holiness, as the author of Hebrews says in Hebrews 12:14.

In addition, we will have certain blessings even in this flicker of a mortal life:
1. We know that we are no longer under God's wrath, which is an immense relief and freedom.
2. We are Jesus' friends. (John 15:14)
3. No matter what happens, we know that God is taking care of us. (Romans 8:28)
4. We are heirs to a great kingdom, and know that we will possess it one day. (1 Jn. 3:1) Just as heirs in the world have certain current privileges due to their future status, so it is with God's heirs.
5. We experience God's goodness toward us in this life. There are many moments where we see His hand at work, or simply enjoy His presence.
6. We have the great peace of God, which the world cannot understand. (Psalm 119:165; Gal. 6:16)

All these blessings are available to every saved person, but we only experience them when we are walking in His laws, keeping His commands, in sincere, constant, uniform obedience.

I know of no part of the holy Scriptures, where the nature and evidences of true and sincere godliness are so much of set purpose and so fully and largely insisted on and delineated, as the 119th Psalm. - Jonathan Edwards 

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1 I am indebted to a great sermon by Thomas Manton, a Puritan preacher in the 1600s, for the main outline points of this post and most of the scripture references. You can read the whole sermon here: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/manton/manton06.iii.iii.html

Large Family Idiosyncrasies #7: The Van

Once a family reaches a certain size, they can no longer ride together in a "normal" vehicle. The earliest car our family owned that I can really remember well was a dark green station wagon, which seated eight people. Since I was one of the oldest children, I had the dubious honour of sitting in the back, facing the rear. It made a strong impression on me, because we went house-hunting in that vehicle when I was five, so I spent many hours staring at road over which we had already traveled.

Soon, however, the station wagon was too small, and for a few years we rode in a rusty blue beast, a fifteen passenger van which had already been well-loved by another large family before us. We christened it Midnight, took out the back seat so we had room for groceries, and nursed it along through failing brakes and an overheating engine. Whenever we went over a speed bump, we had contests to see who could bounce the highest without hitting their head on the ceiling.

Eventually we upgraded to a new twelve passenger van, which we have now been using for more than twelve years. There are many interesting facts about riding in a big van, which all large families understand, but other people may never have considered...
- It is much easier to find your car in the grocery store parking lot. It sticks out like a sore thumb.
- Unless you go to a homeschool conference, where it is virtually impossible to relocate. In this situation, it is prudent to park next to one of your friends who has a small vehicle, so you can find it again.
- A lot of people are scared to drive it, because it is so big. However, it's really not that hard to steer. Be prepared to run over a few curbs though.
- Sitting in the back, it is impossible to follow the conversation going on in the front. There's too much background noise, and too much space. This can be rather frustrating, since everyone wants to know what's going on.
- The front row is most coveted, since you have more legroom, as well as being able to hear and talk to Dad and Mom. We have to rotate seating every once in a while, so everyone gets a chance. Misbehaving children also get moved to the front, however, so that it is easier for Mom or Dad to deal with them.
- A van rides quite a bit higher on the road than most cars, so we can see further, and look down into other people's cars.
- My siblings can ride for hours in the van, squished between two other kids, but put one of them in a small car, by themselves in the back seat, and they start feeling carsick. Somehow the motion is different, and we're not used to riding long distances in small cars.
- It is a useful distinguisher when giving directions to your house to people who have never been there before. "The driveway with the big white van" is impossible to miss.
- You can fit a harp in the back. I know this from personal experience, and there are not many vehicles conducive to carrying a harp!

There are many logistics involved in getting everyone in the family to a certain place at a certain time, and having a vehicle big enough to seat us all at the same time is a major piece of that puzzle. In a big family, that is not something to be taken for granted!