"2.
A greater fear of God's majesty.'Let all the earth fear the Lord;
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him' (Psa. 33:8). God is
so high above us that the thought of His majesty should make us tremble. His
power is so great that the realization of it ought to terrify us. He is so
ineffably holy, and His abhorrence of sin is so infinite, that the very thought
of wrongdoing ought to fill us with horror. 'God is greatly to be feared in the
assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about
Him’ (Psa. 89:7).
'The
fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom' (Prov. 9:10), and 'wisdom' is a
right use of 'knowledge.' Just so far as God is truly known will He be
duly feared. Of the wicked it is written, 'There is no fear of God before their
eyes' (Rom. 3.18). They have no realization of His majesty, no concern for His
authority, no respect for His commandments, no alarm that He shall judge them.
But concerning His covenant people God has promised, 'I will put my fear in
their hearts, and they shall not depart from Me' (Jer. 32:40). Therefore do
they tremble at His Word (Isa. 66:5), and walk softly before Him.
'The
fear of the Lord is to hate evil' (Prov. 8:13). And again, 'By the fear of the
Lord men depart from evil' (Prov. 16:6). The man who lives in the fear of God
is conscious that 'The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil
and the good' (Prov. 15:3), therefore is he conscious about his private conduct
as well as his public. The one who is deterred from committing certain sins
because the eyes of men are upon him, and who hesitates not to commit them when
alone, is destitute of the fear of God. So too, the man who moderates his
language when Christians are about him, but does not so at other times, is
devoid of God's fear. He has no awe-inspiring consciousness that God sees and
hears him at all times. The truly regenerate soul is afraid of
disobeying and defying God. Nor does he want to do so. No, his real and deepest
desire is to please Him in all things, at all times, and in all places.
His earnest prayer is 'Unite my heart to fear thy name' (Psa. 86:11).
Now
even the saint has to be taught the fear of God (Psa. 34:11). And here,
as ever, it is through the Scriptures that this teaching is given us (Prov.
2:5). It is through them that we learn that God's eye is ever upon us, marking
our actions, weighing our motives. As the Holy Spirit applies the Scriptures to
our hearts, we give increasing heed to that command, "Be thou in the fear
of the Lord all the day long' (Prov. 23.17). Thus, just so far as we are awed
by God's awful majesty, are made conscious that ‘Thou God seest me’(Genesis
16:13), and work out our salvation with ‘fear and trembling’ (Philippians 2:12
), are we truly profited from our
reading and study of the Bible.”
-From
A W. Pink's Profiting From The Word
Published by The Banner of Truth Trust Carlisle, PA 1998
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