What Are the Blessings of Fearing God?
How did the early Church advance the Gospel? They unflinchingly feared the Lord more than man during darkness and depravity. What can we learn from them for our spiritual journey? This blog explains how embracing the fear of the Lord is key to experiencing God’s favor and blessings.
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So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.
A Forgotten Discipline
The context of this Scripture is summed up in one word: Advancement.
God’s kingdom was advancing as the Gospel was being shared. As people came to know Christ, God drew closer and expanded His Church. The culture is not discipling the Church; instead, the Church is disciplining the culture.
“Walking in the fear of the Lord is the forgotten discipline of the modern church.”
To discuss the blessings of the Fear of the Lord, we must discover how teaching “the fear of the Lord” is not isolated to the Old Testament. The Bible uses the word fear at least 300 times about God. That is no minor thing; it’s a significant pattern of God’s Word. However, it’s often greatly misunderstood. [READ MORE: What is the Fear of the Lord?]
We don’t fear God out of inconsistency of character nor His justice and judgment, which are only measured out of His love. We fear God because of His love, mercy, grace, beauty, and majesty because, in those attributes, our hope rests. Ultimately, we fear God because we desire His blessing.
In Romans 3, the Apostle Paul describes persons living without boundaries as having “no fear of God before their eyes.” He highlights the essence of man’s total depravity, which is true in every age and generation.
When Jesus described the character of the unjust judge in a parable, He said, “He neither feared God nor cared about men.” Two important qualities are missing from his life. These are also applicable to our lives as believers.
However, on the other hand, when we journey further into the Old Testament, in Acts 9:31, the Church is described as a people living in fear of the Lord. In the New Testament, we see the Apostle Paul setting clear instructions.
He calls Christians in 2 Corinthians 7:1 to make holiness perfect in the fear of God.
In Philippians 2:12, he says to work out your salvation with fear and trembling and to be subject to one another in Christ.
He urged believers to “love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king” and “live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear.”
The fear of the Lord is a relevant and applicable matter for all believers. When Isaiah describes the coming Messiah, he shares “the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
Author Jerry Bridges said, “If Jesus in his humanity delighted in the fear of God, surely, we need to give serious thought to cultivating this attitude in our lives.”
Sometimes church as we have known it can stand in the way of Jesus as He desires to be known. For a believer to have reverence for God, to fear the Lord, has a name: Normal. This is normative behavior for believers to Fear the Lord and hold Him in awe.
But what’s important to understand, especially in light of this norm, is the incredible waves of blessings available to us collectively in our reverence.
What Are the Blessings of the Fear of the Lord?
1) The Fear of the Lord Draws God’s Supportive Gaze
“Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine.” Psalm 33:18-19
When I was about 35 years old, my dad took me to lunch, and during our meal, he looked me in the eyes and said, “Son, I’m so proud of you.”
I was a young father and husband, so to hear a father’s affirmation caused me to fight back tears. I had the blessing of my earthly father’s gaze. He was showing me support and deeply ministering to my heart.
Notice that the text says when a believer fears God, that part of God’s blessing is delivering your soul (your mind, will, and emotions) from death. Apart from a relationship with God, we are dead in our trespasses and sins, but when we’ve come alive in Christ, we are no longer in spiritual death.
When that happens, Christ is awakened within, and the capacity for human flourishing has been awakened. [READ MORE: Fear Not; How to Flourish in Your God-Given Talent]
“For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.” 2 Chronicles 16:9a
The Christian rap artist Lecrae said, “We fear circumstances so much because we fear God so little.”
Joy Dawson wrote: “Do you know the two greatest incentives you and I can have to obey God?
First, the knowledge of what He is really like.
Second, the fear of the Lord.
2) The Fear of the Lord Draws God’s Favor
“The Lord favors those who fear Him, Those who wait for His lovingkindness.” Psalm 147:11
Notice how God links His love and the fear of the Lord together in that passage. In Scripture, we often note that God’s favor is revealed through the favor of people. However, that’s not the only way God’s favor rests upon a believer.
“How abundant are the good things
that you have stored up for those who fear you,
that you bestow in the sight of all,
on those who take refuge in you.”Psalm 31:19
O.S. Hawkins wrote, “The fear of God is not so much that God would put His hand of retribution and punishment on me, but that He might take His hand of blessing and anointing off me!”
[READ MORE: How to Develop Intimacy with God]
3) The Fear of the Lord Empowers Your Walk With God
“Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has come to test you, and so that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin.” Exodus 20:20
Throughout history, and even in our churches, we see that we can have a head knowledge of Christ; however, we lack a heart awakened to Christ. The reason their hearts haven’t been awakened, and their lifestyle often reflects it, is they don’t have the fear of the Lord.
Joy Dawson wrote two things that the fear of the Lord should do to us.
Produce the same attitude toward sin God has, which is to hate it.
Give us a deep respect for and understanding of the holiness of God, the power of God, and the sufficiency of God to meet every need.
As we often hear on the surface, fearing God is a positive thing, not a negative. We are on dangerous ground when we see people as big and God as little. However, when the fear of the Lord is cultivated in our hearts and lives, we see a big God and little people.
That’s why when we read Acts 9:31, we see a church on the move! They didn’t fear anything but God, and in light of that, even though the Roman culture was very dark and depraved, they often spoke of Christians as peculiar and odd because of their righteousness.
Leslie Newbigin reminds us that comparing a culture of the past that worshipped many gods in the darkness that permeated the culture, “Polytheism does not present a new challenge to the church; for the church was birthed in an atmosphere of polytheism.”
The Church advanced because it feared God. The Book of Acts is filled with “God-fearers!” Because of it, as it says in Acts 17:6, the early church “turned the world upside down!”
We are not saved by fearing God. We are saved by grace, through faith, in the person of Jesus Christ. However, there is a posture that God invites us into, and that posture is of the heart as we are developed into an understanding that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom; It is a fountain of life.
[READ MORE: How to Meet With Jesus]
TL;DR
The fear of the Lord is a spiritual advancement. Fearing God is not about being afraid but about revering His attributes.
The fear of the Lord is mentioned throughout the Bible and is crucial for believers. It draws blessings such as God’s supportive gaze, favor, and empowerment in our walk with God.
This fear produces a healthy attitude toward sin and a deep respect for God’s holiness.
The early Church’s fear of God empowered their advancement in a dark culture. While salvation is through grace, cultivating the fear of the Lord leads to wisdom and spiritual growth.
Related Reading
How to Develop Intimacy with God by Rev. Paul Lawler
Fear Not; How to Flourish in Your God-Given Talents by Rev. Paul Lawler
The Battle of People-Pleasing: 3 Keys to Overcoming the Fear of Man by Rev. Paul Lawler
What is the Fear of the Lord? by Rev. Paul Lawler
