Through Godly fear, we recognize more completely how God is all powerful, loving, merciful and forgiving; yet we also recognize He is holy, just, and righteous. Knowing God and understanding His character (Proverbs 2:5) means accepting the fact that His justice and holiness (i.e., purity, perfection, completeness of character and separation from evil) cause Him to judge sin. In this sense, fearing God is to appreciate His character. Godly fear adds to and solidifies our faith in Him and ultimately grows our love of and for Him. Godly fear is not negative at all but positive and begins as a gift from Him that accompanies conversion and creates a desire to yield to Him (Philippians 2:12-13). With conversion and the desire to fully yield to Him, Godly fear creates a deep desire to not disappoint Him but instead desiring to obey and please Him above all things. “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice” (1 Samuel 15:22). In this passage, the prophet Samuel expressed God’s displeasure with Israel’s first king Saul. Saul had disobeyed God’s direct command with the excuse that “the people” had wanted to give what should have been destroyed to God instead. It is our natural to justify and rationalize, Godly fear takes into consideration that all will give account before him (Romans 12:14; 2 Corinthians 5:9-11; 1 Peter 4:5). This is true for all who have ever lived and died (Revelation 20:12). Thus, Godly fear leads to and instills obedience.
One reason why God inspired fear in the Israelites at Mount Sinai was so that they might learn to obey his law and to reject sin (Exodus 20:20). In his final address to the Israelites, Moses repeatedly connected fearing God to serving and obeying Him (Deuteronomy 5:29, 6:2 & 24, 8:6, 10:12, 13:4, 17:19, 31:12). God didn’t then, and doesn’t now, command obedience because it is simply good for Him but rather because it is good for us (Deuteronomy 10:13). God’s laws and commandments are beneficial to us; and as a result of obeying Him, we ultimately grow in holy righteous character—this is how we grow to please God; by becoming more like Him! The fact that obeying God is pleasing to Him is expressed in various ways throughout the Bible. God has “pleasure in uprightness,” He will bless those who “keep My Sabbaths, and choose what pleases Me” and who “abstain from sexual immorality” and avoids breaking any of God’s commandments (1 Chronicles 29:17; Isaiah 56:4; 1 Thessalonians 4:1-3).
According to the psalm writer, fearing God is equal to delighting in His commands (Psalm 112:1) and following the principles of His law (Psalm 119:63). The fear of the Lord has a sanctifying (i.e., purifying, separating from sin, spiritually maturing) effect on God’s people, as they live and apply the truth of God’s Word in their lives (John 17:17). It compels us to hate sin and avoid evil (Proverbs 3:7, 8:13, 16:16). King Solomon under the inspiration of God wrote that we learn “through the fear of the Lord a man avoids evil” (Proverbs 16:6; 8:13). It causes us to be careful even in what we say (Proverbs 10:19; Ecclesiastes 5:2 & 6-7). The fear of God protects us from weakening our consciences and our moral sensitivity toward what is right in His eyes. Ultimately the fear of the Lord has a spiritually cleansing, purifying and restoring effect (Psalm 19:9). Solomon came to the conclusion that the whole duty of the human race is summarized by two simple requirements: “Fear God and keep His commandments” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). That is Godly fear in action in one’s life; whereas, anyone who is content to live wickedly or defy God does so because “there is no fear of God before his eyes” and he does not learn to “abhor evil” (Psalm 36:1-4).
It is through that, that Godly fear helps us avoid sin. As Proverbs 8:13 tells us, “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate” (Proverbs 8:13). Proverbs 16:6 later adds, “In mercy and truth atonement is provided for iniquity (lawlessness); and by the fear of the Lord one departs from evil.” This is something we learn as we grow in Godly fear; that it is indeed through the fear of God (the Lord) that we depart from evil. The apostle Paul admonished the Christians in Corinth when he wrote, “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 7:1). This is something we should all diligently strive for and never lose the Godly fear that causes us to flee from sin and its deadly consequences! As our Godly fear grows, we also recognize how small we are before the infinite majesty of God, and we are in awe of Him.
This awe and recognition of the infinite majesty of God leads one to yield to Him regardless of circumstances around us; and thus, Godly fear produces a humble and contrite spirit. This humble and contrite spirit keeps us from thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought to. Through the prophet Isaiah, God showed He desires this kind of attitude from each of us: “But on this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit (that is a repentant and humble spirit), and who trembles at My word” (Isaiah 66:2). The bible gives many examples of men who demonstrated this humble and contrite spirit. The humility of Moses was apparent at the burning bush. He said that he was not great, neither in the past nor now (Exodus 4:10). But Moses was great in the things he said he wasn't (Acts 7:22). It is interesting to note that after accepting God's commission, whenever God told Moses to do something, the Bible records, "And Moses did as he was commanded." He had learned humility and no longer took things into his own hands as he once did, like killing the taskmaster. Moses learned to fear God and to humbly follow God's lead (Proverbs 3:5-6). The bible records that God even spoke to Moses face to face as a friend. What honor God demonstrated towards him! We know that his humility, awe, and reverence for God were a large reason for this honor God demonstrated (Isaiah 57:15; 66:2). Numbers 12:3 tells us that Moses was the meekest (of a humble and contrite spirit) person at that time. This statement was made after Moses' conversion, not before. Moses learned true fear of God and understood that it was by God's grace that he became the person he was (1 Corinthians 15:10). This is the same thing we individually must learn. As Peter explains, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15).
Another attribute that Godly fear produces is true courage and confidence. King David expressed it well: “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? . . . Though an army may encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war may rise against me, in this I will be confident” (Psalms 27:1-3). When you fear God more than man, then you will fear man less than God. Fearing God brings a humble confidence and overwhelming spiritual comfort. The New Testament directly links the fear of the Lord with the encouragement of the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:31). Those who fear God and obey His Word will experience a deep sense of spiritual security and the empowering of the Holy Spirit. They can be sure that God ultimately will “deliver them from death” (Psalm 33:18-19). Those who do not fear God will not have the sense of His presence and protection. We see an example of this courage and confidence when the apostles went before the powerful Jewish leaders and were threatened with violence if they continued preaching about Jesus. Peter and the other apostles responded, “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). They then received a beating and were told to cease speaking in the name of Jesus, but they didn’t back down—they continued to do the right thing before God! Paul also encouraged his young fellow minister Timothy to have Godly courage and to avoid cowardly fear. Paul exhorted him: “Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands (this being the means to confer God’s Spirit and authorization to spiritual office). For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:6-7). When uncertainty and fear threaten to overwhelm you, take a look at creation. The sun rises and sets, rains fall, and animals have food and shelter. “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, …if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you.” (Matthew 6:25-30) The natural world is designed to remind us of God's loving and constant provision.
We know that fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but the love of God is its ultimate manifestation. The early New Testament Church was characterized by godly fear and love that led to an affectionate fellowship among the brethren. As Acts 9:31 describes: “Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied.” So, the fear of God then grows into and is manifest in the love of God in us and toward our brethren. The apostle John showed we should avoid having cowardly and paralyzing fear and worry, and that we should instead have confidence in God’s love toward us and of our love toward God and to those who truly fear Him. As John wrote: “And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:16-19). We see here that Godly fear which grows along with love expels the wrong type of fear.
Godly fear represents the specific attitude required to make the best use of God’s law. Solomon writes in Proverbs 9:10, "The fear (a deep and abiding awe and reverence tinged with terror – the aspect of being afraid) of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom." Wisdom is the right application of knowledge and understanding. If Godly fear is not present, we will not even start to build towards faith, hope, and love. Godly fear gets us started in the right direction where our focus is on God, His will, His purpose, His plan, His law and His love (agape). We must all develop that vital and proper fear of God that leads to loving Him and others and avoid cowardly fear by putting God first in our lives.