What is Fear of the Lord…?

by Rev. Daniel Forster

I read the daily scripture this morning and I came across this:

Psalm 103:13 (ESV)

“As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear Him.”

Immediately my eyes and thoughts were drawn to the words “those who fear Him”. My mind raced around this concept as I thought about how I don’t so much fear my God as I revere Him. Our relationship is one of intimate love, one of a Father and a son. Can there be true fear in such an intimate relationship?

So I opened up the textbooks and began to study, and this is what I found. According to the Strong’s Concordance and Dictionary the Hebrew word for fear…does not just mean fear. In fact it is more commonly used to mean reverence. We see the Hebrew word is pronounced yaw-ray’ used in many scriptures of the Old Testament. In a perfect example of where yaw-ray’ does not mean actual fear, yet reverence; we see a scripture quoted by Jesus from the Old Testament. In quoting this scripture, Jesus does not use the same words as we have translated it to mean; in fact, He brings a whole different light to it. This scripture is:

Deuteronomy 6:13 (ESV)

“It is the LORD your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear.”

And we see Jesus quoting it in:
Luke 4:8 (ESV)

“And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’ ”

We should worship, and reverently love our Lord our God, for only Him should we serve. If we fear our Lord our God, how can we reverently love on Him? How can we surrender completely to be in Christ and let Him abide in us if we have some form of fear? Yes I know, there is such a thing as healthy fear…and its called reverence, respect, love…not fear. When we talk about or put in our minds the word fear, we open a door or a footstool for the enemy. We then allow him to twist Fathers Words around; something he is very good at doing, and has been doing since the beginning of time.

There are other places in the Old Testament where this translation error stands true as well. The King James translators chose to translate the Hebrew Word mowra as fear, although it also means reverence, object of reverence, or an awe inspiring spectacle or deed. Another Hebrew word guwr, which can mean fear, but which also, means to stir up, sojourn, dwell with, remain, and dwell in or to stand in awe.

Father, let us worship you in our lives today, not fear you…let us come to you my God, my Savior, and seek a deep and intimate loving relationship with you; not one of where I am afraid and see you as one who cannot be reached or one who is unobtainable. Father, let us remember your word, and plant it deep in our hearts…

Revelation 3:20 (ESV) “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”

 1 John 4:18-19 (ESV) “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us.”

Ephesians 3:17-19 (ESV) “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”