“She is Strong. She is Fearless. She is enough”
“Once you become Fearless, Life becomes limitless”
“You control your destiny. Be Fearless”
Walking through Target you can find plenty of wall décor, pretty wood pallet art, or inspirational notebooks with quotes about being Fearless.
As a society, we admired fearlessness. We honor soldiers who fearlessly put themselves in danger to save their fellow soldiers, or Rosa Parks who fearlessly stood up (or rather sat down) against injustice, or the teacher who used his body to shield his students from a shooter.
The Bible has many passages about being fearless – Isaiah 41:10 “so do not fear, I am with you”, it’s among the most famous ones. However, it does not teach us to be 100% fearless- It tells us to Fear God:
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. – Matthew10:28
I have for a long time heard over and over, that when the Bible means “fear”, it means a deep level of respect towards God. Respect is a small part of it but it’s much more than that.
Let’s look at Moses:
Then he said, “I am the God of your father,[a] the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. – Exodus 3:6
Let’s look at Joshua
As commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord[e] have for his servant?” The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so. – Joshua 5:14
Let’s look at Abraham:
“And he said, ‘Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me,’” – Gen. 22:12.
Now, I have a deep respect for many people, that includes my dad, my boss, my pastors, but I have never hidden my face, fallen facedown to worship, or almost sacrificed a family member for them.
Moses, Joshua, and Abraham understood what it meant to “Fear the Lord”. Their actions were appropriate, and it is through this understanding that they were able to be successful in their massive feats.
Don’t get me wrong, God is our loving merciful Father. He wants us to build a relationship with him, to cry out to him for help. However, a healthy understanding of the fear of God is a founding rock to our Faith.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments; His praise endures forever. -Psalm 111:10
The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, That one may avoid the snares of death.- Proverbs 14:27
Better is a little with the fear of the Lord Than great treasure and turmoil with it. Proverbs 15:16
The Bible does not teach us to be fearless, it teaches us to realign our fears to the One who is Worthy.
It is through the lenses of fearing the Lord that we are able to become fearless in everything else. Fear of the Lord creates fearlessness of the world and we are able to achieve great feats and victories for God.
The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God you fear everything else. “Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord”- Oswald Chambers – The Highest Good—The Pilgrim’s Song Book
So be fearless, except for the one Who is Worth
Milo
