How Fear leads to worship

Eze 2:5-7 - And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them. And you, son of man, be not afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions. Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house. And you shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious house.

We are not supposed to be afraid. Of anything. Period. And then God labels what could cause fear. Don’t be afraid of them. Don’t be afraid of their words. Don’t be afraid of their looks. He does tell them not to be afraid of their words twice. God says “Do not be afraid” because they are a rebellious house and you are going to speak my words to them. If Ezekiel were afraid, he would give have given more power to evil than to good. But, God is above all and therefore, just as important as it is to not be afraid, it is just as important to fear God rightly. We will do one or the other when faced with a hard time. Do not fear God because fearing God replaces fearing words, people or looks. Fearing God frees to face our fears with confidence and victory.

Ps 22:23 - You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!

In the midst of fear, the fear of God will not only replace our fear, but also lead us to praise Him. It is impossible to truly fear God and not be moved to praise by His power, love, goodness and mercy. As we grow in fear of God, we will grow in our confidence and our praise. The fear of God leads to the worship of God!

The blessings of right fear

La 3:55-57 - “I called on your name, O Lord, from the depths of the pit; you heard my plea, ‘Do not close your ear to my cry for help!’ You came near when I called on you; you said, ‘Do not fear!’

La 5:19 - You, O Lord, reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation.

Fearing God resolves the fear we feel. How we resolve our fear determines the result of our perspective that will either encourage or discourage us in difficult times. He comes near when we acknowledge our fear and responds with a tender command, “Do not fear!” His throne endures for ever. He is in control. But unless we go to Him in our fears, we will never fully understand that our fears will be swallowed up in His nearness. His fear is a gift. The more we seek Him the bigger He becomes and the smaller our fears become. The hard part is humbling yourself to seek Him.

Ps 33:18-22 - But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you.

This is a promise. Those who fear the Lord have the assurance that the eye of the Lord is on them. There is something special and unique about a person who fears God more than he fears anything else, and as you draw near to the God you fear, you will have a renewed awakening of fresh hope in his unfailing love. Fear involves an active hope and a faithful trust in God. It is that dependence perhaps, thrills the heart of the father, to keep His eye on you.

Don't be afraid of fear

Je 51:46 - Let not your heart faint, and be not fearful at the report heard in the land, when a report comes in one year and afterward a report in another year, and violence is in the land, and ruler is against ruler.

Don’t listen to the papers, the news or the gossip. Don’t listen to the predictions or the fears of man. Don’t listen to bad reports from anyone. Nothing is bigger than God. Nothing is more true than His words. Trust in God and His word as your answer and security. If we fear God as the only one worthy of fear, than you will not need to fear anything.

1 Ch 21:30 - But David could not go before it to inquire of God, because he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the Lord.

I think this is a great example of the only thing that is worthy of fear. Fear God only and be afraid of Him only. Rest in his His power, control, and his goodness.

Fear defined

Je 46:28 - Fear not, O Jacob my servant, declares the Lord, for I am with you. I will make a full end of all the nations to which I have driven you, but of you I will not make a full end. I will discipline you in just measure, and I will by no means leave you unpunished.”

This promise to discipline but not destroy Israel is a promise later confirmed by Paul in Romans 11. Despite their exile and the bleak future, when all seems lost, God again, gives them a promise that He will save them and so they do not need to fear! When it is true that even in discipline and bleak days that we do not need to fear, when ever should we fear?

2 Ch 19:7 - Now let the fear of the Lord be upon you. Judge carefully, for with the Lord our God there is no injustice or partiality or bribery.”

If the fear of the Lord is upon us, we will have no reason to fear anything. To often our worries are upon us, or our stresses, or our fears or our burdens. We must do what Peter commands us in 1 Peter 5:7: Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Fear is believing that you are without help in the world. Fear is belief in something that is not God, that is bigger than God, that threatens God's sovereignty. Fearing God is belief in a God. Fearing people or circumstances or systems or governments is belief that there is no God.

Serving and fear

Je 46:27 - “But fear not, O Jacob my servant, nor be dismayed, O Israel, for behold, I will save you from far away, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease, and none shall make him afraid.

There is something the connects the command fear not with the phrase “my servant” that gives the command validity and assurance. And I guess the opposite is true that when we lose sight of this idea that we are His servant, when it becomes about our safety and our plans and our worries, when it becomes about us, than we fear. Submit yourself to God as His servant for Him to do whatever pleases Him for His glory, and you will not fear.

2 Ch 19:9 - He gave them these orders: “You must serve faithfully and wholeheartedly in the fear of the Lord.

I think this really gives us the other side of the connection between servanthood and fear. We must serve. Period. For us to walk in fear of the Lord, we must humble ourselves as His servants. We must be faithful in our efforts and wholehearted in our devotion. There is a direct correlation between fearing God and walking humbly as a servant before him. When we lose sight of our position we will fear.

Witnessing the fear of God

Je 42:11-12 - Do not fear the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid. Do not fear him, declares the Lord, for I am with you, to save you and to deliver you from his hand. I will grant you mercy, that he may have mercy on you and let you remain in your own land. ¹³ But if you say, ‘We will not remain in this land,’ disobeying the voice of the Lord your God ¹⁴ and saying, ‘No, we will go to the land of Egypt, where we shall not see war or hear the sound of the trumpet or be hungry for bread, and we will dwell there,’ ¹⁵ then hear the word of the Lord, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: If you set your faces to enter Egypt and go to live there, ¹⁶ then the sword that you fear shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine of which you are afraid shall follow close after you to Egypt, and there you shall die.

Again, God gives Himself as the reason to not fear. I am with you. I will save you. I will deliver you. I will grant you mercy. If I am on your side, you have nothing to worry about, literally. But, if you disobey God by not fearing Him and by not listening to His voice, than that which you fear will happen to you. It is so clear cut, and a great principle for us to consider, in that, sometimes God would allow that which we fear to happen as discipline so we can learn to fear God, only.

1 Ch 17:20-22 - “There is no one like you, O Lord, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears. And who is like your people Israel—the one nation on earth whose God went out to redeem a people for himself, and to make a name for yourself, and to perform great and awesome wonders by driving out nations from before your people, whom you redeemed from Egypt? You made your people Israel your very own forever, and you, O Lord, have become their God.

This is the desired result of fearing God, in that , God makes a name for himself. That is God’s ultimate desire and plan, to make a name for Himself through His people. As we fear God, the world will see our witness and they will fear God. If we do not fear God, who will? God wants us to fear Him and worship Him so that the world will see the glory of our God!

When we fear God only

Je 39:15-18 - The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah while he was shut up in the court of the guard: “Go, and say to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will fulfill my words against this city for harm and not for good, and they shall be accomplished before you on that day. But I will deliver you on that day, declares the LORD, and you shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid. For I will surely save you, and you shall not fall by the sword, but you shall have your life as a prize of war, because you have put your trust in me, declares the LORD.’ ”

In this case, God doesn’t command Ebed-Melech to not be afraid, but shows him God’s care in his fear, and then gives him a promise so he doesn’t need to fear. This is the first type of promise that I have seen like this, and I think it is has to be because this man wasn’t a jew, but he feared God more than the jews. I don’t think he fully understood all the ramifications of trusting God and probably had never had a the word of God to teach him about the Lord God. So, God in his compassion and care, gently encourages him with a promise that he will be saved because of his trust in Him. Ebed-Melech risks his life to care for Jeremiah and God honors that.

1 Ch 16:23-29 - Sing to the LORD, all the earth; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the LORD made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy in his dwelling place. Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength, ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name. Bring an offering and come before him; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness.

What an amazing passage. At the center of this praise and exaltation of God, is the truth that He is to be feared above all… The reason for this is because He is great and worthy of praise. He made the heavens, and splendor and majesty are before Him. Our response should be to bring an offering of praise before Him. When we trust God, we will be like Ebed-Melech, able to have no reason to fear because the fearful One cares of us. There is no reason to fear when the one we fear is the Lord over all…