The Surprising Fear of the Lord

by Dotty Schmitt

The longer I walk with the Lord, the more I grow to love Him, the more I am surprised by His unpredictable ways and methods in winning the hearts of men to Himself. For as long as I can remember there has been a deep hunger and an intense quest arising from deep within me to penetrate into the awesome secrets of His heart and of his ways. From the writings of David in the Psalms we catch glimpses of a man who himself was intensely pursuing the Lord. David yearned to intimately know him and to more deeply understand the secret of His ways! Listen to the cues of David's heart:

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? Psalm 42: 1,2

O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. Psalm 63: 1

As David eagerly sought after a deeper revelation of the very nature and ways of the Lord, I believe he heard Jehovah whisper into his ear:

The LORD confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them. Psalm 25: 14

I also believe that the Lord put a key into the hand of David which enabled him to open the heavens so that he could behold the very beauty and majesty of the God he so deeply loved. The “fear of the Lord” encompasses so very much of kingdom life. This “fear of the Lord” certainly has nothing to do with the negative and destructive emotion of fear that often immobilizes us. Indeed Jesus died to deliver us from these irrational fears and anxieties.

The scriptures are clear that we are redeemed from the fears that come from our fallen, unredeemed natures:

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. II Timothy 1: 7 (KJV)

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. I John 4: 18

Through Jesus' death on the cross we are especially delivered from the fear of death: Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death--that is, the devil--and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. Hebrews 2: 14,15

Indeed, the fear of the Lord delivers us from all other fears!

Thus when we read the frequently used biblical phrase “the fear of the Lord”, we know that there is a knowing of God that evokes from our deepest being a sense of awe, respect, honor and worship of Him. Loving obedience comes from a living encounter with our majestically holy, loving and omnipotent God. No wonder “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” (Psalm 111:0)

The more David followed the passion of his heart to seek the Lord, the more he discovered that captivating beauty of the Lord in worship and in the revelation of His covenant. The deeper implanted into his very soul was the purifying experience of the fear of the Lord. In Psalm 19, David writes:

The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever… Psalm 19:9

As our knowledge of the Lord deepens so will a healthy, cleansing and healing “fear of the Lord” increase. To know Him is to love Him, and to love Him is to obey Him. As His covenant is inscribed more deeply into the very fabric of our being, we will become increasingly sensitive to that which increasingly sensitive to that which both welcomes and grieves His Spirit. Proverbs 8:13 boldly states: “To fear the Lord is to hate evil, I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.”

Because the deep cries for greater intimacy with Jesus, the Bridegroom, are increasing from His Bride, we also see Him, answering with the kiss of a fresh baptism of the Spirit and of fire. His Spirit brings life and His fire brings holiness, and “the fear of the Lord.”

So let us continue to pursue Him with all of our heart, and expect Him to wonderfully surprise us with the joyful and awesome impartation of “the fear of the Lord.”

“Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored his name (Malachi 3:16)”