Godly fear is a reverential awe of God that simultaneously acknowledges His terrible majesty and tender mercy. God’s mercy draws us in, while His majesty ensures we approach Him with the deepest humility. Such a reverential approach to God not only pleases Him (Ecclesiastes 12:13; 1 Peter 2:17) but yields the most profound effects in the life of a Christian. While we can’t explore all of those effects in this article, let me just share three of them with you in hopes that you’ll be further compelled to cultivate a life of godly fear—both in yourself and in those you disciple. When we rightly fear God and walk in His ways, we will experience the sweet fruit of holy fear that results in courage, holiness, and a pure love for Him and others above that of self (2 Timothy 1:7).
Remarkable Courage
First, living in the fear of God produces remarkable courage. It was the fear of God that gave Abraham courage to obey the seemingly impossible command to sacrifice Isaac (Genesis 22:2, 12). It was the fear of God that gave the Hebrew midwives courage to defy Pharaoh and save the newborn Hebrew children (Exodus 1:17). It was the fear of God that gave David the courage to take on Goliath (1 Samuel 17:45–46). It was the fear of God that strengthened Obadiah to stand up against Jezebel and protect God’s prophets (1 Kings 18:3–4). Time and again we find that those who fear the Lord display unusual courage to carry out God’s will. Proverbs 14:26 captures this truth in this way: “In the fear of the LORD there is strong confidence.” This is confidence to move forward despite fear: confidence that the majestic God of Scripture is able to keep us despite the oversized dangers that may lie on the other side of our obedience.
After warning His own disciples that they were being sent out “as sheep in the midst of wolves,” and that they would be vulnerable to all the assaults of the most powerful leaders in Israel, Jesus told them directly: “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28)
In this world, others will often hold great power and authority over us. Yet none of them hold a candle to the power and authority of our majestic God. He alone has the capacity to destroy both body and soul. He alone wields absolute power over our physical lives and our eternal souls. (cf. Psalm 139:16; 1 Samuel 2:6; Revelation 20:15).
If this same all-powerful God has promised to never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5), then we can confidently say: “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:6). Such courageous confidence is the first fruit of godly fear.
Remarkable Holiness
A second fruit of godly fear is personal holiness. When we truly fear God, it drives us to obey Him. When an officer commands you to raise your hands, you comply because he holds authority and power as a representative of the law. Similarly, when God commands anything from His Word, true godly fear will compel us to eager obedience.
Consider the prophet Isaiah. Gripped by his vision of the awe-inspiring God on His throne, he immediately responded to the Lord’s call for a missionary: “Here am I. Send me!” Likewise, the one who fears God will be ready to yield in obedience even when God’s commands seem counterintuitive. Abraham was called to sacrifice his only son, Isaac—an outrageous command from a human perspective. Yet, because Abraham feared God—and believed God—he obeyed. As he was in the middle of the act of obedience, God intervened, saying, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me” (Genesis 22:12). Noah, too, was called to a task that seemed strange: build an ark to save the world. Though rain as we know it was unknown and a flood unprecedented, the fear of God (and faith) drove Noah to action: “By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence [another word for godly fear!] prepared an ark for the salvation of his household…” (Hebrews 11:7). Godly fear produces personal holiness.
Remarkable Love
The third fruit of godly fear is a remarkable love for others. Scripture and experience prove that in our fallen human condition, men and women normally fear other people more than they fear God (Isaiah 8:11–14a; 51:12–13). Of course, one of the dangers with the fear of men is that it “lays a snare” (Proverbs 29:25) that inevitably catches and enslaves its victims. Those who are fearfully enslaved to others are not free to love them; they are slavishly bound to them. Like the tides, they rise or fall with the smiles or frowns of others.
The fear of God, however, liberates us from this type of slavish fear by setting God’s evaluation and God’s praise above everyone else’s. People who fear God are able to transcend the temporal assessments of others because they realize there is only one opinion of them that ultimately matters—God’s (1 Corinthians 4:5). As a result, the God-fearer is set free to actually love others rather than fear them. By loving others, they find themselves joyfully fulfilling the great desire of the God they love and fear the most (Mark 12:30)!
Conclusion:
So there you have it. Do you want to live a life marked by unusual courage, personal holiness, and genuine love? Do you want those you disciple and counsel to live the same way? Then begin to cultivate a life of godly fear and the rest will follow.
