Today, I spent the last 15-20 minutes of my day, just before I showered and wrote this and then hopefully went to bed, standing outside and watching the most amazing yet scary thing ever. This beautiful and frightening display of lightning was mesmerizing. As I watched, dry as a bone, with no thunderous roars around me, it occurred to me that this awe and reverence of something so dangerous and beautiful is the same fear that I have of God. Before I get into that, I am reminded also of a time where I was violently awakened by a thunderstorm as I slept outdoors while serving on a missions trip in Cambodia. The horror of being struck by lightning while also being pushed down by the cacophony of thunder is burned into my mind as we scurried from our tent on the sand and into an overhang and tried to fall asleep with a battle raging in the heavens. That experience of fear is different from the fear that I experienced today.
Now often times we look in the Scriptures and we see “God-fearing” or “fear of the Lord” and we recognize that the fear being described is not one of cowardice or hesitation, but rather a recognition of the supreme sovereignty the Creator has, to the point in which we see His power and we fear it. We awe upon and revere it. The same awe I had for this amazing display of power, is the same awe that I have of the Lord. I was able to contexualize this notion of being God-fearing. Jesus taught that fearing God is a necessity in taking steps with Him and that by fearing Him, we open ourselves up to His unwavering and unconditional love. I stood out there, and was not only mesmerized by the spectacle ahead of me, but also the reminder that God, loves me to show me this. He loves me as He protects me from this display. He loves me because I fear Him.
Yeh Heard It Here 