Left To Ourselves

While rereading a book I read over twenty years ago I came across the following statement:

"Left to ourselves we tend immediately to reduce God to manageable terms. We want to get Him were we can use Him, or at least know where He is when we need Him. We want a God we can in some measure control."

This statement can't be more true. But why? Why do we "...IMMEDIATELY...reduce God to manageable terms?" I am coming to believe that we do this for the simple reason that we want a relationship with God that is absent the fear of God. But it doesn't work that way. Psalm 111:10 states that, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Where there is no "fear of the Lord," there is no relationship with the Lord.

These days the church seems to be getting this wrong; completely wrong. Take a popular christian t-shirt slogan, for example: "No God, Know Fear...Know God, No Fear." Even though I understand the though behind the saying, it still cannot be more wrong. If you have to make a formula out of this fear concept (which is probably an unwise thing to attempt) you would need to write like this: "No God, No Fear...Know God, Know Fear." Remember that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." A relationship with the Lord is founded upon a right-placed fear of the Lord, which not to be read, terror of the Lord. A fear that is wrongly-placed is an illusion...a jumping at shadows. Jesus Himself said, "I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!." Luke 12: 4 & 5 But then He immediately tells us that the even the hairs on our heads are numbered and calls us to, "Fear not, you are of...value." So I that it's fair to say that to Know God is to Know Fear...rightly-placed fear, that is.

It also seems that without a right-placed fear of the Lord, it is difficult to be used by the Lord. Many of the people who were used by the Lord in the Bible seem to have have had healthy a fear of Him:

• Moses removed his shoes in the presence of God.
• Isaiah cried out, "Woe is me! For I am lost."
• Peter declared, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord."
• And when confronted by Christ, Paul fell blind off of his transportation.

What we fear controls us. When we fear financial ruin, that fear can gain hold of our decision making processes and lead down roads that lack integrity. When we fear relational conflict we can compromise our personal convictions in an attempt to keep the waters smooth. When we fear change we surrender control of our potential future to the comfort of a known present.

All fear paralyzes...even the fear of the Lord. And to be paralyzed is to in some way be handicapped. Still the fear of the Lord is a healthy thing and I believe that we should do whatever it takes to more fully develop a healthy fear of the Lord. Embracing the healthy and paralyzing handicaps that accompany it.

But what is handicapped by our right-placed fear of the Lord?

• Our ability to sin without conviction is handicapped by the fear of the Lord.
  
• Our capacity to hate our neighbor is handicapped by the fear of the Lord.
  
• Our tendency to judge the world harshly and ourselves graciously is handicapped by the fear of the Lord.
  
• Our demand for more is handicapped by the fear of the Lord.
  
• Our propensity to shade the truth is handicapped by the fear of the Lord. Etc., etc., etc.

Indeed the fear of the Lord is a healthy, even a needful thing for those of us who claim to be followers of the Lord God Almighty.

So, may the Lord forgive us for reducing who He is in our lives,. May He forgive us of our attempts to manage who He really is. And may He create in us a genuine and right-placed FEAR OF THE LORD. Then at least we will have - the beginnings of wisdom.

Blessings,
PB