Psychologists label some emotions as `positive’ such as happiness, excitement, and calm, whereas other emotions are labelled as `negative’ such as sadness, boredom, and fear. Yet the labels are misleading as there is nothing intrinsically negative about emotions within their right context. For example, imagine that you had to cross a very busy road on a misty morning when your visibility was limited. The negative emotion of fear, within this context, would be entirely appropriate. The adrenaline rush, caused by experiencing fear, would help to wake you up, increasing your alertness for the task at hand, and improving your chances of successfully crossing the road. So, we understand that negative emotions such as anger or fear are not negative at all when used within their right context and equally, positive emotions can be extremely damaging when not used in their correct context.
Applying this to fear, there are around 400 verses in the Bible that use the word “fear”, including 84 in the New Testament and many more that talk about fear without using the word “fear” directly. In reviewing these verses, one notices that it is just as common for the Lord to exhort us to “fear” as to “fear not”. So, with this seemingly contradictory beginning, how are we to utilise the emotion of fear in a godly way?
“And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”, Genesis 3:9-10
The Fall is the first mention of fear in the Bible, although the word “fear” itself is not mentioned until Genesis 9. After Adam sinned, we read that he was overtaken by an ungodly fear that caused him to be “afraid” and run away from GOD. We know this is an ungodly fear because godly fear is never about fear and torment (I John 4:18). In this example, we read that Adam’s fear ultimately broke his relationship with GOD and subsequently lead to spiritual death for all mankind (Romans 5:12). Further examples of ungodly fear are fearing other gods (2 Kings 17:35), fearing man (Numbers 14:9) or circumstances (Genesis 46:3). The general characteristic of ungodly fear is that it drives us away from GOD and his presence, just as it did to Adam at The Fall.
“Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.;” Hebrews 4:1
Throughout the Bible, both the Old and New Testament, we are exhorted to fear GOD. Fearing GOD in the Old Testament was related to respecting GOD and hence following the Law. The Psalms and Proverbs are especially filled with references to fearing GOD, reflecting their devotional character, with blessings promised to those who fear GOD (Psalms 115:13, Proverbs 22:4). At the end of the Old Testament, we are told that those who fear GOD will be the ones who see the Sun of Righteousness (Malachi 4:2), a clear allusion to the coming of Jesus Christ.
Surprisingly, the message to fear GOD is often repeated in the New Testament. Jesus himself exhorts us to fear GOD (Luke 12:5), and the fear of the Lord is listed as one of the sevenfold characteristics of Christ (Isaiah 11:2). We are told that both the unjust judge (Luke 18:4) and the criminal who mocked Jesus at the cross (Luke 23:40) did not fear GOD. On several occasions, we are told that the emerging Church in Jerusalem walked in fear of GOD (Acts 2:43, 5:11, 9:31). The same Paul who tells us in Romans that we have “not received the spirit of bondage again to fear” (Romans 8:15), later tells us to be not “highminded, but fear” in Romans 11:20. We are told to “perfect holiness in the fear of GOD” (2 Corinthians 7:1) and to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12).
The scriptures listed above have done no more than scratch the surface regarding Godly fear, but what they demonstrate is that we should still fear GOD in the new covenant. While perfect love does indeed “cast out fear to do with torment” (1 John 4:18), we should never use this verse to stop fearing GOD altogether. It is the fear of GOD that drives us into the arms of GOD and his love then casts us free from ungodly fear. So, the characteristic of Godly fear is that, in contrast to ungodly fear, it draws us nearer to GOD and in communion with him.
“And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.” Exodus 20:20
Fear will always be with us, because it is a core human emotion. So how do we focus fear toward a godly purpose? Exodus 20:20 is probably one of the most confusing passages of the bible. It is paradoxical because the Israelites are told to “fear not”, while being told to “fear” GOD at the same time. The idea behind the passage is that they should not be in fear of the circumstances of that moment, because the experience before their faces would be remembered and bring about a fear of GOD. This fear of GOD would then stop them from sinning in the future. There is a principle revealed in this scripture, which is that Godly fear can drive out ungodly fear. Specifically, putting your fear into GOD will cause the fear of circumstances to be removed. A further contrast between godly and ungodly fear is made in 2Kings 17:35-36 and Isaiah 8:12-13.
“Do not be afraid of those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”, Matthew 10:28
The principle is repeated here by Jesus. He tells his followers to harness the emotion of fear and use it to their advantage by fearing GOD and not man. Just like other emotions such as anger or desire, fear is capable of being a positive or negative influence depending on where it is being harnessed. Fear can be used to drive us into Christ, but if we lack this godly fear, then we will be filled with ungodly fear of man and circumstances. So, the good news is that we can control where we direct our fear and use it for godly purposes.
To summarise, it seems that Satan has managed to talk us into not fearing GOD. We have heard the scriptures about ‘not fearing’ many times, but to the exclusion of the equal number of scriptures that exhort us to ‘fear GOD’. This is more damaging than might first appear because fear will always be with us in some form. The consequence of not fearing GOD is that we are plagued with the ungodly type of fear that we are not supposed to have. So, as regards fear, the key is to channel all fear into godly fear and, in the loving presence of GOD, all ungodly fear in man and circumstances will be cast out.