From the Questions and Answers series
I’m confused about why a loving God wants us to fear Him. I have children and would never want them to be afraid of me.
This is a great question, because the answer can have a profound effect on our relationship with our Heavenly Father. So, let’s find the answer. Does God want us to be afraid of Him?
When you see the word fear in the Bible, it does not always mean being terrified or scared. Often, it means to revere, to stand in awe, to honor, and to worship. There is depth in the original Hebrew and Greek words that does not always come through clearly in our English translations.
That is why it is so helpful to keep a Strong’s Concordance nearby. When You look up the word fear in different verses and consider the context, you will discover that most of the time God is calling us to reverence Him. He wants us to recognize His holiness, His authority, and His power. Most of all, He wants us to love and obey Him because of who He is: our Creator and our Father. The only true God.
Let’s look at a couple verses:
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
In this verse, fear is not describing being terrified of our Heavenly Father. It describes the starting place for knowing who God truly is. We cannot truly love Him if we do not know who He is.
Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.
In this passage, fear is directly tied to awe. Again, this points to reverence, not terror.
I agree with you that I do not want my child to be afraid of me. But I do want them to fear the consequences of disobedience. Why? Because that kind of fear is healthy and it protects them. It helps them make better choices and keeps them from harm. It is a fear is rooted in love.
It’s so beautiful that our Heavenly Father loves us in this same protective way:
11My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction: 12For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.
For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
These verses show that God’s correction is loving discipline. It is meant to guide us and lead us in the right direction.
God does not want us walking on eggshells, afraid He will strike us down every time we make a mistake. That is not who He is, but He does want us to understand that our choices have consequences. He is patient, merciful, and quick to forgive when we truly repent. At the same time, He is also just. He will not be mocked and does not turn a blind eye to willful sin:
26For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 27But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
The bottom line is this…
If you love God and are doing your best to follow Him, there is no reason to be terrified of Him. As we are told in 1 John 4:18, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.” God’s love is perfect, and when we walk in love and obedience then fear no longer has a hold on us.
But Scripture is also clear that rejecting God and choosing to live in willful defiance of His Word is not without consequence. God’s patience and mercy are great, but they are not permission to ignore Him. A reverent fear reminds us that He is holy, just, and worthy of our obedience:
Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: 29For our God is a consuming fire.
God’s desire has never been to frighten us into obedience, but to draw us into a close and personal relationship based on reverence, trust, kindness, and love, where we willingly follow Him because we know who He is and we love Him.
I’ll leave you with one final verse, this is our Heavenly Father speaking:
For I desired mercy (love), and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
