A Bible Study On Fear

For today's article we are going to be covering the topic of fear. We will be learning about the fear of the Lord, what the bible says about fear in general, and more.

The Fear Of The Lord

The first and perhaps what I will be discussing the most today is the Fear of The Lord or the fear of God. The first verse I will be mentioning on this sub-category is Lev 19:14, in it we see that the people were told not to curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind. Can you see from this verse how that we shouldn't sin even if we think we can get away with it before man?

The next instance of people being told to fear the Lord that i want to cover is in 1Sa 12:24 by the prophet Samuel, this was said after the people asked for a king to be set over them.  2Ki 17:37-39 teaches us that in addition to fearing God, we should not fear other gods. This is because all the gods of the people are idols (1Ch 16:25-26), which we know are powerless.

Psa 111:10 and Pro 1:7 when combines  shows us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge. Wisdom is in fact better than  rubies and nothing else should even be compared to it (Pro 8:11). Another Old Testament passage were people were told to fear God is when king Solomon was wrapping up the book of Ecclesiastes. In it in addition to fearing God they are told to keep his commands for this is the whole duty of man (Ecc 12:13).

We see from the book of Daniel that once he (Daniel) was delivered from the lion's den king Darius wrote a decree that the men of who he had dominion over should fear before the God of Daniel (Dan 6:26). In the gospels Jesus told others not to fear those who only could kill the body but not the soul, but instead fear the one who could destroy both body in soul in hell (Mat 10:28, Luk 12:5).

Some Christian's may teach that once you are saved you don't have to fear God anymore or the fear of God was only taught in the Old Testament. Well is this true? Not really, 2Co 7:1 tells us to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Eph 5:21 tells  us to submit ourselves one to another in the fear of God, and Col 3:22-23 is another passage that mentions the fear of God. It show us how servants are to obey their masters. They aren't supposed to give them eye service which means only working hard when they are paying attention, but instead work as to the Lord.  It wasn't only the apostle Paul who preached on the fear of God in the NT but Peter (1Pe 2:17) and an angel in the book of Revelation as well (Rev 14:6-7).

This doesn't mean that we as believers go through life full of anxiety dreading that God is going to strike us dead any moment and send us to hell. This does however show that although we are saved by grace through faith and we aren't saved by our works, this doesn't give us a licence to live in sin and that we should examine ourselves  to see if we are in the faith (2Cor 13:5). It means that Christians should decide on whether or not what they are about to do will please God or anger him, and choose the right thing.

So what does it mean to fear the Lord? The answer lies in Pro 8:13, which tells us that it is to hate evil. The Psalmist also makes this point when he tells us to depart from evil, when instructing us on the fear of the Lord (Psa 34:11-14), and Prov 16:6 reiterates this point.

See also: 2Ch 19:7, Job 28:12-28, Psa 2:11,Psa 89:7,  Isa 8:13, Heb 12:28

The Blessing Of The Fear of the Lord

This section covers a few of the benefits or blessing of being one who fears God. From Exo 1:17-21 we see that God dealt well with the midwives and made them houses because they feared him.
One thing the scriptures say that God does for those that fear him is that he delivers  their soul from death and keeps them alive during famine (Psa 33:18 -19).

I've come to realize that God provides for his people (those  that  fear him) the things that they need from passages such as Psa 34:9-10, Psa 111:5, and Psa 145:19. The bible also teaches us that God is merciful to those that fear him as well (Psa 103:11, Psa 103:17, Luk 1:50).

See also: Psa 31:19, Psa 103:13, Pro 15:16, Pro 22:4

The Fear of God/Lord Mentioned

In this section I will be covering some passages were the fear of the Lord/God is mentioned. When Moses' father in law instructed him to set judges over the people, we see that one of the requirements for the position was to fear God (Exo 18:21).

In Jos 4:23-24 we see that the Lord dried up Jordan and the Red sea that all the people of the earth might know the Lord is mighty so that they might fear him. We see in Neh 5:15 that Nehemiah did not use the people like the former governors did because he feared God, and we see that the man job who the bible called perfect feared God as well as eschewed evil (Job 1:1).

The next place in the bible that I'm going to that talks about  the  fear of God is Jer 32:39-40. This is a wonderful passage about a time when God will give his people one heart and one way that  they may fear him forever for their good and their children's good also, and so that they won't  depart from him.

In Act 9:31 we see that the New Testament Church walked in the  fear of  the Lord in addition to being comforted by the Holy Ghost. There was also this devout guy named Cornelius who not only feared God but was always praying and he also gave alot of alms to the people (Act 10:20).

See also: Exo 20:20, Deu 6:2, 2Ki 17:39-41, Isa 33:6, Jon 1:9

What the Bible tells Us About  Other Types of Fear

There are dozens of types of phobias in the world, many of which are  irrational such as the  fear of women, the color white, or the fear of trees. The bible teaches  us that God hasn't given us the spirit of fear; but of power love and a sound mind (2Tim 1:7).

We also as Christians ought to be mindful not to fear man for it brings a snare (Pro 29:25). What are some examples of fearing man? Well if you lie to someone because your afraid of how they will react to  the truth that's one example. Being afraid to tell people about Jesus because your afraid they might get offended could be considered another example.

1Joh 4:18 tells us that perfect love casteth out fear and he that  feareth isn't made  perfect in love. You see one of the fruits of having the holy Spirit is peace (Gal 5:22), there is no reason for a christian to fear their circumstances because God works everything for our good (Rom 8:28). We don't fear affliction because as Christians we are appointed to them (Php 1:29, 1Th 3:3, 1Pet 2:21), and we don't fear death because it means we will be with Christ (Php 1:23). Rev 21:8 teaches that one of the groups of people that will go into the lake of fire is the fearful.

In conclusion we see that the bible teaches us that we ought to fear God which means to depart from evil (Pro 14:16). He is the only one that we should fear, and not other gods or man. Finally we  as Christian's don't need to fear what life brings our way because it cannot separate us from the love of God
(Rom 8:35-39).