Why Does the Bible say to “Fear God?”

I’ll start with a confession. A couple of years ago, I was helping some guys move items into a storage facility when I turned a corner and jumped out of my skin at the sight of, get this, a fire extinguisher. A co-worker happened to see it and never let me forget it.

In all honesty, I’m a bit of a scaredy cat. I don’t know what has happened to me that has made me this way. But the older I get, the more scared I seem to become. I drive more cautiously. I avoid situations that I perceive as dangerous or threatening. And here lately, I’ve noticed that I’ve become more jumpy. When I was younger, I wanted to be perceived as someone who wasn’t afraid of anything. Let’s face it, no superhero would ever be scared of a fire extinguisher. But, here lately, I’m learning to embrace my newfound skittishness.

I think we all tend to view fear as a flaw to correct. That somehow, the goal in life is to be unafraid and to have complete confidence in every situation. Yet, I’m starting to see that fear is not so much a flaw to correct, but a gift to be harnessed. While fear has certainly caused me to respond in ways that I regret, fear has also kept me from situations that could have been detrimental to my life.

Healthy fear kept me from joining my high school friends when they started making decisions that harmed their lives. A healthy fear in college caused me to prepare for exams in a way that helped me pass my tests. And now, after years of hearing this scripture from the book of Proverbs, I’m finally starting to see that a healthy fear of the Lord is a wise way to live.

The writer of Proverbs begins his teaching by saying
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7).

Jesus echoes this idea when he says in Matthew 10:28 that we should not fear man who can harm the boy but, instead, should “fear him (God) who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Now, if your understanding of fear is that it’s a flaw that should be corrected, these verses could trouble you. But if, instead, we understand the value of fear for what it truly is, we can learn to embrace healthy fear as a gift for life. Here are 4 reasons I believe the Bible instructs us to fear God.

Fear is a Survivor’s Instinct.

Now, I must admit that this first point doesn’t really sound biblical. But the reality is that fear is one of the most basic human emotions. It’s even programmed into the nervous system to help us avoid dangerous situations. From the time we’re born, we’re equipped with the survival instincts necessary to respond with fear when we sense danger or feel unsafe. Fear helps protect us.

We will fear something. The Bible commands us to fear God because the alternative is that, if we don’t fear God, we will inevitably fear something less than God. This leads us to my second point.

It frees us from the fear of lesser things.

To lack fear in God will result in us fearing things that are beneath God. Now, to be fair, snakes are beneath God and I have no problem admitting that I'm afraid of snakes. It’s not a sin to be afraid of things in addition to fearing God, but it becomes an issue when these lesser things take precedence over him in our hearts.

Fear is demanding. It forces us to act and respond. Sometimes in ways that we can’t even explain or control. When we allow lesser things to control our hearts instead of God, we’ll eventually find ourselves submitting to them in place of Christ.

It Keeps God in His proper place in our hearts/worship.

When the Bible commands us to “fear God,” it’s really commanding us to establish him as the object of our worship and reverence. The reality is that God is the most powerful being in the universe. There’s nothing, nor anyone, that can compare to his greatness. When Lucy first hears of Aslan the Lion in the Chronicles of Narnia, she’s a bit hesitant to encounter him. She asks Mr. Beaver if Aslan is safe, to which he responds:

 “Safe?...Who said anything about safe? Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the king I tell you.”

Tremper Longman, in his commentary on Proverbs, says “Only fools would not be afraid of a being who has the power of life and death over them. Such persons do not understand their place in the cosmos and thus do not know how to act in the world.”

Fearing God is not so much about cowering away from him. But rather learning to recognize Him for who he really is. He’s the great king who is righteous and just. The one who possesses all power and is not afraid to wield it. While he might not be safe, we can trust that he is good. And this is good news.

It causes us to hate evil and desire good.

My final reason for why the Bible commands us to fear God is that it causes us to hate evil and desire good. When we begin to see God for who he really is, it helps us to see life and the world with clarity and with proper perspective. Learning to fear the Lord leads us to fear the things that he hates. It creates a desire to remove evil from our lives and our experiences. Unlike Israel, whose misplaced fear led to holding on to wickedness, a reverent fear of God leads to pursuing righteousness and goodness with zeal and intensity.

Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll ever be cured of my jumpiness on this side of eternity. But by God’s grace, I can learn what it means to fear him and walk in his ways. And if the one I fear is actually the one who loves me most dearly, what else is there to be afraid of?