Feb
6
Written by:
Jay & Chris Henning
2/6/2010 2:19 PM
Fear and forgiveness seem to be an opposite impossible couple. These two traits, when correctly applied, provide a key to deeper understanding of God.
Forgiveness and fear? Really? Can this couple of traits possibly provide a key to deeper communion with God? Or is this couple bound for divorce court? Okay, maybe the marriage bond is a little too strong of a metaphor to be using for this instance, but let's examine a couple of verses from Psalm 130 that stuck out to me the other day:
"If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared." ~ verses 3 & 4 (NKJV)
It seems like everyone is open to discussing the goodness and forgiveness of God, but the fear pill is a bit harder to swallow most of the time. A good dose of godly fear assists in keeping us accountable and remembering the sovereignty of God. The same God who says "Do not fear" in Luke 12:32 is the same God who says "Fear God" in 1 Peter 2:17. How can the same word be used for both of these instances when they seem to contradict each other? As believers of Jesus Christ, we are not to be afraid of the devil or the world or anything they offer. 2 Timothy 1:7 directly tells us that "God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind."
Keeping this background in mind, let's examine the above verses from Psalm 130 a little closer. Verse 3 poses a question, an obvious rhetorical one. No one could stand or even come close to the holiness and sinlessness of a perfect God if our iniquities were marked or noted. The two conjunctions in verse 4 are key to tying this together. Verse 4 starts with the word "but," tying the hopelessness and despair conveyed in the rhetorical question of verse 3 with the hope and comfort that only God can truly offer in verse 4. "But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared." (italics added) The other conjunction, "that," actually expresses the purpose of the forgiveness. The purpose of God extending forgiveness toward our iniquities is to awaken and stir up our fear of who Jesus truly is.
This Word was awaken to me while listening to a song put to the words of Psalm 150. Verse 2 reads : "Praise Him for His mighty acts; praise Him according to His excellent greatness!" I thought how puny I am in the midst of 6 billion people on the earth. God's Word specifies that He knows all of our thoughts and knows the number of hairs we have on our head. Keeping track of each of these 6 billion people and every one of their thoughts is beyond mind boggling to me, but God does it and still manages to keep track of all the animals and the eco-system associated with that. Yes, He's THAT big, but yet He wants us to praise Him "according to His excellent greatness." Is that even possible? My feeble attempts at praising Him seem so futile compared to His sovereignty and His excellencies. Yet, our praises is what He covets. Our praises is what pleases Him. Our praises is what He loves from His children. Ironically, it is these very praises that will awaken and stir this fear within us and cause us to begin to realize how BIG God really is. The more I walk with God seems to be in direct comparison with how much more I realize how much bigger God really is. A good word picture to emphasize this has me on an iceberg. God is the iceberg and it is like I'm trying to break through to get to the other side. In the more than 15 years that I've been serving Him, I feel like I have taken a one-inch scratch of my finger off of the side of this iceberg. I have literally just started and have eternity to learn to praise Him better. Eternity in itself is something I cannot wrap my finite mind around and actually solidifies my argument of praising God "according to His excellent greatness." My challenge to you in this is to praise God more so that godly fear will awaken and jump start your heart on the path to the realization that forgiveness is offered for the purpose of fearing God.