What is the fear of the Lord?
Psalm 25:12-14
“Who is the man who fears the LORD? Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose. His soul shall abide in well-being, and his offspring shall inherit the land. The friendship (secret council) of the LORD is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant.”
The experience of fear can occur when we are in the presence of something or someone we perceive as dangerous. As Neil Anderson has famously said, a fear object must be both present and potent. For many of us this brings to mind spiders, snakes, icy roads, hurricanes, or a very angry boss. It is appropriate to fear what is present and dangerous. As it turns out, the experience of fear doesn’t arise only from what is actually dangerous; fear can also arise from what you think is dangerous, even if it is not.
My neighbor and I were working on my cinderblock wall when we found a tiny snake. It was not clear to me if it was a rattlesnake or a gopher snake. They look almost identical except that the gopher snake has brown squares rather than brown diamonds, and the head is smaller. But when this tiny gopher snake flared out its neck to impersonate a rattlesnake, I reacted with fear. The gopher snake was not dangerous but rather a helpful friend to get rid of gophers in my yard. Sadly, it fooled me.
Fearing God is a little more complex because He is invisible and needs to be known with our spiritual eyes—what Paul in Ephesians 1:18 calls “...the eyes of our heart.” In Psalm 25:12-14, David calls us to fear God. The fear of God has many aspects, including awe, reverence, and recognition that one is in the presence of tremendous power. We rightly quake when we experience this kind of fear. But, at the same time, love is also mixed in. Notice that while fearing the Lord is repeated twice in this passage, it comes in the context of covenant love, instruction, and our humility and honesty with God. This fear seems to bring with it a new level of intimate interaction with the LORD. These verses apply to those who fear God, and appear to be only for those who fear Him.
So, what exactly is the fear of the LORD? There are many aspects to it, but we can simply say that it includes the following: deep appreciation; reverence; the recognition that we are in the presence of someone much greater and more powerful than we have ever experienced; a timidity toward someone vastly more than we are or can imagine; a tender heart toward God. In the fear of the Lord, there is also commitment to act as God desires and follow in His way—an idea which is very evident in this passage. Here are Willem VanGemeren’s* comments on this section:
“The ‘fear of the LORD’ is the Old Testament concept for an inner responsiveness and willingness to learn from the LORD. The ‘humble’ (vs.9) are those who continually seek his mercy, forgiveness and instruction. Maturity in godly wisdom leads to godliness (‘the way chosen for him,’ vs. 12a), communion with God (‘the LORD confides in those who fear him,’ vs. 14a) and covenantal bliss (vs. 13). How great the benefits are! ...The Hebrew idiom for ‘the LORD confides’ is ‘the secret of Yahweh,’ which may be translated ‘intimate circle’. Those who do his will are his confidants, as was Abraham (Gen 18:17).”
From this description, we see why the fear of the LORD is a foundational element of our relationship with Him and can lead to real intimacy. Although we may not be entirely sure what the secret council is, I would propose that it is to understand God, relationships, and all of life at a higher level. It might be what happens when we meditate on a passage for an extended time and gain a new understanding from it, or when there is a word or concept that suddenly comes into focus. We may even hear God’s voice directly. Recently I was reading The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer. Tozer’s highly concentrated, clear explanation of God’s character was so refreshing. Apparently, he was self-taught, or better yet, God-taught, as he learned by struggling through ideas in the presence of God. According to the preface, Tozer wrote The Pursuit of God entirely while in a posture of prayer on his knees. His example reminds me that God shows us another level of Himself when we’ve developed a fear of the LORD. It happened for David, it happened for Tozer… and it can happen for us as well.
*Willem VanGemeren, Psalms, in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, T. Longman & D. Garland, Editors, pg. 269.