by Louis Penny

Created on: May 09, 2008

Should we fear God? One must firstly establish which God it is we are talking about. Do we mean 'Allah', the God of the Holy Qur'an? Or Shiva, one of thousands of Hindu Gods? I assume we are not but are in fact talking about the One but triune God, YAHWEH - the Christian God.

For Christians, scripture is essential. What does the Bible say on this subject? Are we told in the Word of God to fear God? The Bible is God's revelation to humanity. It portrays his character, is a record of his dealings in history, it contains commandments, it is a story of good news and most of all - it is a believer's guide to life. The Bible says "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16-17). We are therefore stuck with something - if it's the Bible that is there to teach and correct and train us, and if the Bible does say we should fear God - that is right and good for us.

Many times this phrase is found in the Bible: "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom"(Psalm 111:10, Proverbs 1:7, Proverbs 9:10 etc.). Wisdom is something every believer should desire after all, in another place God tells us "wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her" (Proverbs 8:11). If wisdom begins with fearing the Lord, and wisdom is something we should desire, we come to this conclusion - one cannot be wise unless one fears the Lord. How can one be wise if he has not even had the beginning of wisdom? Can one be wise without laying the foundations that wisdom is built upon? No, of course not. So God tells us this - if you want to be wise, you must fear me.

The problem is, that in a society that has thrown of the shackles of fear, with self help books and Saturday night television programs such as "Fear factor" - we have come up with this argument.

1. Fear is always a negative thing.
2. We want to be positive people.
3. Therefore, we should not fear things.

We are constantly trying to overcome our fears and refusing to fear people and daunting prospects (and rightly so) but we have forgotten sensible fear. The fear of the wise. An example. Imagine you have just entered a safari and you are in a field with a massive lion. You are told that the lion is a good lion and will not hurt you. You believe the keeper and you see many beautiful and good things about the lion. Its sheer size, its beautiful mane, and the way

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